Feel the Hate: The GOP Convention
by Paul Krugman, New York Times
For many
months we've been warned by tut-tutting commentators about the evils of
irrational “Bush hatred.” Pundits eagerly scanned the Democratic
convention for the disease; some invented examples when they failed to
find it. Then they waited eagerly for outrageous behavior by
demonstrators in New York, only to be disappointed again.
…Why
are the Republicans so angry? One reason is that they have nothing
positive to run on (during the first three days, Mr. Bush was mentioned
far less often than John Kerry).
The
promised economic boom hasn't materialized, Iraq is a bloody quagmire,
and Osama bin Laden has gone from “dead or alive” to
he-who-must-not-be-named.
Another
reason, I'm sure, is a guilty conscience. At some level the people at
that convention know that their designated hero is a man who never in
his life took a risk or made a sacrifice for his country, and that they
are impugning the patriotism of men who have.
That's
why Band-Aids with Purple Hearts on them, mocking Mr. Kerry's war
wounds and medals, have been such a hit with conventioneers.
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