The anger of the Left

In the hours immediately following President Bush's re-election, the news was primarily about the result itself. However, as the days passed, more attention became focused on why the President won. Although the War on Terror was the most widely discussed issue, it became clear that the issue of gay marriage played a big role in voters' thinking. And it also became clear that traditional, moral values still matter to a majority of Americans.

This is something that many on the Left simply cannot understand (and by "the Left" I don't mean all Democrats. I mean those who read Roe v. Wade like a fifth Gospel and equate the gay marriage issue to the abolitionist movement). But, those individuals are not just baffled. They are enraged and terrified. And they are beginning to lose touch with reality. There is no better example of this than New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd.

The day after the election, Maureen Dowd wrote the following in her Times column:

The president got re-elected by dividing the country along fault lines of
fear, intolerance, ignorance and religious rule. He doesn't want to heal rifts;
he wants to bring any riffraff who disagree to heel.

W. ran a jihad in America so he can fight one in Iraq - drawing a devoted
flock of evangelicals, or "values voters," as they call themselves, to the polls
by opposing abortion, suffocating stem cell research and supporting a
constitutional amendment against gay marriage.

This anger borders on the delusional. Using the word "jihad" to describe any democratic election goes far beyond all resonable discourse. But, I remind myself of the tantrums I have thrown following the defeat of sports teams I have loved and would be willing to dismiss this venom. However, Dowd refused to back off from this statement when she appeared on Meet the Press this morning. In addition, in today's column Dowd stepped up the attacks on the Christians and conservatives that she disdains and despises.

Dowd's column from today's New York Times, entitled "Rove's Revenge," says the following:

W.'s presidency rushes backward, stifling possibilities, stirring
intolerance, confusing church with state, blowing off the world, replacing
science with religion, and facts with faith. We're entering another dark age,
more creationist than cutting edge, more premodern than postmodern. Instead of
leading America to an exciting new reality, the Bushies cocoon in a scary,
paranoid, regressive reality. Their new health care plan will probably be a
return to leeches.

America has always had strains of isolationism, nativism, chauvinism,
puritanism and religious fanaticism. But most of our leaders, even our devout
presidents, have tried to keep these impulses under control. Not this crew. They
don't call to our better angels; they summon our nasty devils.

This is truly outrageous. Not only does this column display Dowd's hatred, but it displays her bigotry and fear. Like many others in the elite press, Dowd is simply unfamiliar with evangelicals and conservatives. She doesn't know any. She doesn't socialize with any. Therefore, she doesn't understand them. And like many whites in the old days of segregation, Dowd chooses to hate and fear what she does not understand.