America, land of the Ashcroft-haters (Thanks to Chris Schroen...besides, you've got to love something presented to you as "political pornography")
It is not the incivility of the Ashcroft-haters that galls me. It is the unmitigated insipidity and apathy they display toward what this man and his department have done to protect their right to be free, safe and stupid....John Ashcroft has nobly taken on the grueling job of protecting a nation of ingrates who take joy in his illness while terrorists continue to plot to kill us all. God bless you, Attorney General, and get well soon. America, land of the free and home of the thankless, needs you back.
- Michelle Malkin
I'm normally not in the business of providing clueless Right-Wing trolls with free advertising, but every now and then I run across something so monumentally stupid and mean-spirited that it's difficult to let it pass.
Those oh-so-compassionate liberals could hardly contain their glee upon hearing the news that Attorney General John Ashcroft is suffering from a severe case of gallstone pancreatitis.
"He has it coming. He is utterly sub-human and evil. Suffer, bastard," gloated an Internet user on the DemocraticUnderground.com Web site. "(T)he world would be better off without him," responded another writer on the forum. "I hope he is in the most severe pain a human being can suffer, and after that, I hope he remains in constant pain with no hope of relief," chimed in yet another bleeding-heart Democrat. Out in Hollywood, comedian Bill Maher echoed these unsparing sentiments during his HBO talk show monologue, speculating that Ashcroft contracted his unimaginably painful and potentially deadly illness from "wiping his (expletive) with the Bill of Rights." The audience roared with laughter.
Yes, it is unfortunate that someone would find enjoyment in the pain and suffering of another. This travesty, however, has nothing to do with being "Liberal" or "Conservative". Is Malkin truly going to argue that Conservatives are so compassionate that they would never dream of doing something similar if, say, Hilary Clinton were to fall ill? Spare me the faux righteous indignation, willya??
I do not hate John Ashcroft. I don't even know John Ashcroft. What I hate is the fear-based, reactionary, everyone-different-is-a-terrorist attitude that Ashcroft and his boss are operating under. 9.11 has pointed out our vulnerability, but it has also brought out the worst in our government (The PATRIOT ACT, anyone?).
John Ashcroft has made his own bed as an intolerant, Evangelical Christian willing to kill civil rights in order to save them. If those on the Right cannot understand why those of us on the Left despise the direction that Ashcroft (and George W. Bush) would take our country, that is not our fault. This does NOT mean that those of us with our heads on straight would wish the worst for him.
Yes, there are those who wish Ashcroft all manner of ill will. I do not stand with them, nor would any compassionate person of ANY political persuasion. For Malkin and her ilk to blame this sort of misguided sentiment on "Liberals" makes me sick. This truly IS political pornography of the worst sort, but then this is the sort of thing you get in a free society. The beautiful thing is that you are free to ignore trolls like Malkin. Lord knows I'm going to.
If a troll publishes a vicious, hateful screed, and no one is there to read it, did she even make a sound??
