Last week at the Jefferson Jackson Baily Dinner in Connecticut,
Senator Hillary Clinton appeared to have a near meltdown. “I am
sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and you
disagree with this administration somehow you’re not patriotic,”
she howled. “And we should stand up and say we are Americans and we
have a right to debate and disagree with any administration.”
Merely quoting her words cannot do them justice. You had to hear
her tone, which can best be described an indignant screech. After
playing her remarks on his radio program, Rush Limbaugh criticized
her tone as “unprofessional.” In fairness, though, she probably
can’t help it. It is likely a conditioned inflection after years of
berating Bill for his bimbos.
Perhaps more interesting than Hillary’s tone is the commonality
of her sentiments among Democrats and liberals. About a year ago at
Florida’s Democratic convention Al Gore zinged Republicans who
supposedly implied “that those who stand up to them are somehow
unpatriotic.” John Kerry griped that Republicans should be reminded
“that the freedom they love to preach about includes the freedom to
disagree and the right to dissent.” Back in March both the New
York Times’ editorialists and columnist Bob Herbert echoed
similar concerns.
To listen to politicians and commentators one has to conclude
they have faced a barrage of criticism questioning their patriotism
in the wake of 9/11. But have they?
As a test, I ran the word “unpatriotic” through the search
engines of three prominent conservative websites: this one, the
Weekly Standard, and the National Review. The
search of this website revealed only four articles, only one
of which criticized Democrats as unpatriotic. The Weekly
Standard search yielded 20 different articles. Only
one article suggested that a liberal was unpatriotic, and that
one weakly. Three articles actually stipulated that the liberals or
Democrats they were criticizing were not unpatriotic. At the
National Review a search yielded 18 articles written since
September 11 using the word unpatriotic. Of those, five criticized
liberals or Democrats as such (here,
here,
here,
here, and
here).
Thus, only seven articles questioned Democrats’ or liberals’
patriotism, an infinitesimal amount when you consider all the
articles published at these three sites since September 11, 2001.
(Somewhat ironically, the only article that has questioned anyone’s
patriotism at length was a recent article by David Frum
for National Review about paleoconservatives.)
Just be sure, I ran the terms “unpatriotic,” “Democrats” and
“liberals” through Google. A look through the first ten pages of
the search revealed few pieces in major publications like the
New York Post, Wall Street Journal, or
Washington Times. Thus, it seems that Democrats and
liberals are hardly facing a barrage of cries of unpatriotic. One
might even suggest that mainstream conservatives have been
circumspect about not questioning their patriotism.
So why do Democrats and liberals keep portraying themselves as
victims of such criticism?
One answer is obvious after hearing the audience cheers
following Hillary’s tirade. Democratic politicians find an
effective rallying cry in lashing out at Republicans for supposedly
questioning their patriotism. This is vitally important at a time
when the Democratic rank-and-file is dispirited.
A slightly less obvious answer is liberals’ prejudice about
conservatives. Many view conservatives as war-mongering jingoists
who won’t hesitate to call their opponents’ patriotism into
question, especially during a time of war. For liberals, it’s
McCarthyism all over again.
Perhaps the least obvious explanation is psychological. Thinking
of oneself as a victim is, in a perverse way, pleasurable. It
enables Democrats and liberals to think of themselves as morally
superior. They can view themselves as standing up to oppressors and
representing liberty and justice. After the 2002 election debacle
and Bush’s success in the War on Terrorism, it is little wonder
that Democrats and liberals are eager to indulge their penchant for
victimhood.
Given that the Democrats’ fortunes aren’t likely to improve in
the near future, we can expect to hear more screeds like Hillary’s
from the left. But such sentiments reveal more about the screechers
than they do about their opponents.
