Five Before Chaos

I’ve often lamented how many modern conservatives, in their neverending pander to Redneck Nation®, have taken anti-intellectualism and low culture to an art form.  If you don’t praise gay-hatin’-the-world-is-only-10,000-years-old Jesus, believe the best way to support the troops is to keep getting them killed, eat iceberg lettuce, read books with pictures or monosyllabic words, and drink the cheapest swill you can find in a can, you’re just not a real Amurricun. Hence, the phony outrage over Obama’s recent comments on the importance of Americans learning a second language at a young age. But for once, even a conservative has had it with the ridiculousness of it, and in the process, succinctly defines the problem in stark, no-bullshit terms:

Frankly, all this seems to be is a pathetic attempt to feed the “Barack Obama is Unamerican” narrative. A narrative that, I might add, has the result of making Americans sound like ignorant hillbillies. “He’s got a funny name!” “He likes food that tastes good instead of crap that’s fried in lard!” “He likes foreigners!” “He wants to speak other languages!” “He’s educated!” “He played basketball instead of football!” Embarrassing, really.

Indeed.

Oh, and Senator Obama, thanks for bending over on FISA yesterday. Somehow I suspect our asses hurt more than yours do right now.