How I Love America (And Why I Sent Money To Al Franken)

I know Al Franken's book, "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them," is old news by now, and the paperback promised to include the transcript of proceedings of FOX's suit against him over the title. But I'd like to add a note about the book that no one else seems to have noted. In academia, you earn a doctorate, a PhD, by adding a new idea to your chosen field. In that case, among the devastating analysis, satire, and flat-out great jokes, Al earned a PhD in Poli Sci for the following opening to his fifth chapter:

    If you listen to a lot of conservatives, they'll tell you that the difference between them and us is that conservatives love America and liberals hate America. That we "blame America first." That we're suspicious of patriotism and always think our country's in the wrong. As conservative radio and TV personality Sean Hannity says, we liberals "train our children to criticize America, not celebrate it."

    They don't get it. We love America just as much as they do. But in a different way. You see, they love America the way a four-year-old loves her mommy. Liberals love America like grown-ups. To a four-year-old, everything Mommy does is wonderful, and anyone who criticizes Mommy is bad. Grown-up love means actually understanding what you love, taking the good with the bad, and helping your loved one grow. Love takes attention and work and is the best thing in the world. 

    That's why we liberals want America to do the right thing. We know America is the hope of the world, and we love it and want it to do well. We also want it to do good.

    When liberals look back on history, we see things we're very proud of. And we also see some things, which might have seemed like good ideas at the time, but turned out to be mistakes. And some things we did, well, they were just bad. That doesn't keep us from loving our country --- it's part of loving our country. It's called honesty. What do you think is more important to a loving relationship: honesty or lies?

beginning of Chapter Five, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, by Al Franken

I use this to comfort me, that I am dealing mostly with the immature when I meet Republicans, led though they are by some genuinely mean, bitter people....

PS: A simple comparison of signs from Glenn Beck's 8/28 rally and those at the Rally To Restore Sanity on 10/30/10 demonstrate a lot of this.