The Obama/Hassan Connection b/w Your Patriotism Is Smaller Than Theirs

This was to be expected....



And while it is predictable that someone like Fox"News" and Hannity would draw a direct line from what Hassan did and what Obama has done since entering office, this is about as relevant a line of question as asking what the actions of drunk sorority girls say about the performance of the physics class at your local high school.

But this is one of the not-so-subtle nuances within the broader conservative meme that their love for their country, their patriotism, is so much larger and powerful than your that they are excused from thinking and acting irrationally, as it is in the continued struggle for the soul of the nation.

This is a rather popular line of reasoning with conservatives on Twitter. I can't count the number of times that I have encountered a profile on Twitter that espouses a person's patriotism, how they are the ultimate patriot, or even using the word patriot for their name.

Patriotism isn't really something that you laud upon yourself, and certainly not to the extent that these people are doing it. Coupled with their willful ignorance towards most of the history of this country, they come off as arrogant amateurs of socio-political thought.

But the Obama/Hassan connection is relevant only in their minds, remember that. They feed of the very notion that Obama has actually done something that made this man think he needed to kill these people. They need to feel this way toward not just Obama, but to anyone who does not toe the line of Hannity, Beck, and Bachman. And, as we all know, that's the wingnut holy trinity.