One thing that disgusted me equally about Sarah Palin and Joe Biden last night was their proclamation of a “passion” and deep, abiding “love” for a foreign country during an American presidential campaign.
I turned to those watching with me and said, “Could they get away with saying that about any of our other allies? Imagine Biden saying, ‘I’ve been England’s greatest supporter during my 30 years in the US Senate’ or ‘I wouldn’t have joined Barack Obama on this ticket if he didn’t share with me a passion for England.’”
Of course, no at-home swing voter mentioned this in the post-debate follow-ups, the mainstream media hasn’t touched it, and it seems to be perfectly acceptable in America today to love a foreign country, but only if it’s a certain foreign country. I’m glad to see that at least Glenn Greenwald, a very smart guy, was thinking the exact same thing I did during this exchange.
Could Sarah Palinget away with saying “I’m glad to see that we both love Spain” or “I’m so glad you love France, too” during an American debate like this? Just think about it for a minute, and you realize how absurd it is.
Americans are so patriotic, it’s disgusting. Just because Biden and Palin can consider another country exists with massive problems APART from America, doesn’t mean they secretly desire to become the next president of Israel.
Get a grip.
Rubio
October 4th, 2008
Good to see you back, LG.
Here in the American southwest, it’s commonplace for local city councils to have flags of the United States and Mexico standing side-by-side in the city council chambers. Really frosts all the conservative Anglo types (and, I’ll admit, it doesn’t exactly ring my bell, either) but you see it all the time in many of the predominantly Hispanic communities of the southwest.
So, having American citizens overtly expressing their passion for another country isn’t exactly all that unusual.
It’s odd, however, when one considers that neither Palin or Biden are of Israeli heritage. In Palin’s case, I suspect that her zeal for Israel is her Christian fundamentalism running on overdrive. Biden, I think, may just be pandering for the Jewish vote.
Or, maybe I’m just an eternal cynic.
Arizona Highlander
October 6th, 2008
Very interesting points about the Mexican flag in the Southwest, I can see how that would go down well there.
I think they’re each trying to get the “Jewish vote,” despite the fact that most Jewish people think the US should remain neutral on Israel and Palestine, among other things. That can carry with it a lot of campaign donations as well.
It’s also incredibly easy to be misconstrued as “anti-Israel” if you do anything less than proclaim your love for Israel to the heavens, as Howard Dean could tell you.
libertariangirl
October 6th, 2008
Indeed, US intervention in the Middle East has resulted in the progressive wussification of Israeli politicians, as exemplified by Ehud Smolmert. What the Jewish state needs is for America to get off Israel’s back.
http://www.zionistsforronpaul.blogspot.com.
Jacob Stuckey
June 12th, 2009