Since when did Islamic fundamentalists who commit terrorist acts become liberals and card carrying members of the Left?
Indeed, when have prominent liberals and Democrats ever jumped for joy that US soldiers were killed — anywhere? Or claimed that US soldiers deserved to be killed?
The truth? Islamic extremists who commit acts of terrorism and violence do so based on perverted religious beliefs that justify murder. They are not liberals or Leftists or or Socialists or Marxists, nor do liberals support their violent actions. Indeed, one of our principle criticisms of the Bush administration was that it failed to protect us from these extremists and then pursued policies that allowed Al Qaeda and the Taliban to reorganize and rearm while fighting a needless war in Iraq.
Islamic jihadists have more in common with the extreme elements of the Right Wing Christian Fundamentalists in America who find nothing wrong with the murder of Dr. Tiller or the actions of Christian terrorist Eric Rudolph, than with liberals who believe in the rule of law. Both groups believe their religion is the only true faith and both believe they have the right to employ violence to convert and intimidate non-believers. Their ultimate goal is a government dominated by their own religious faith and which excludes other faiths. Both hate homosexuals, oppose rights for women, and have no problem with torture and other human rights violations if done in pursuit of their goals or to enforce belief in their version of “God’s law.”
The claim that liberals and Democrats don’t “support the troops” and want to see them killed and defeated by Islamic terrorists is an Urban Myth at best, and a conservative Big Lie at worst. Just look at the makeup of Congress. The percentage of Democrats who served in the military is significantly higher than the percentage of Republicans who did. The party that has consistently voted to cut Veterans benefits? Republicans. The party that passed increased veterans’ benefits? Democrats. The party that courts and favors the extremists in the religious right,a nd uses violent, eliminationist rhetoric against liberals? Republicans. The party that adopted racism as a political strategy? Republicans. The party that includes among its prominent members and funders white supremacists and Christian Nationalists? Republicans. The party that denigrates the rule of law and attacks the judges who are required to uphold it? Republicans. The party of torture and warrantless wiretapping and and the abandonment of habeas corpus? Republicans.
And who is the party that courts and favors Islamic fundamentalists who advocate violence? Uh, there isn’t one. Certainly it isn’t the Democrats who pushed for increased funding for homeland defense when President Bush and his Republican controlled Congress kept cutting funding.
But that won’t stop the more extreme elements of the right, and their mouthpieces in the media (Fox News, Limbaugh, wingnut bloggers like Michelle Malkin, etc.) from pushing this load of bull crap on the American public. Their hatred is so great, and their belief in the righteousness of their “cause” is so strong, that they will say anything to slander those of us who disagree with their political or religious views. They have no viable solutions for the challenges and problems we face collectively as a nation. All they have is their festering bilious ire.
The First Amendment gives them the right to express their vicious ad hominem attacks and bigoted statements. And maybe that why they are losing adherents. Maybe most Americans have finally grown sick and tired of the politics of hate. Let’s hope so. Because the rhetoric of the right and its corrosive effect on our national discourse has not only coarsened our politics, but it has made these outbreaks of violence by their more deranged members and followers more likely, not less.
Liberals want to save the country we love for all Americans. We’re the good guys. Right Wing Republicans and conservative extremists? They want us to fail. And they don’t care who gets harmed in the process, because failure is their only possible path back to power. I think you know what that makes them.
