More from the Values Voters

Wackjob Christine O'Donnell took to the stage yesterday, and evidently was quite popular. The Tea Party is everywhere.

Couple of things about her speech. I didn't watch the entire thing, but heard a little on the radio when I ran my errands yesterday. As TPM notes here, she follows the Palin line and lambastes the "elites" even as she doesn't seem to quite get how many "elites" in the conservative movement are running things. The Koch family is hardly mom and pop, and Dick Armey isn't some shmo off the street. And let's not forget that Sarah Palin is now part of the same media elite she loves to both avoid and attack.

But she had a line that is not listed here (and you can't make me watch any of these people speak). She said something about not wanting to "reclaim" her country, because (to great applause) she said, "we are the country." Or something along those lines.

That sentiment is repeated so often. I have heard the same from distant relatives who patted me on the head for my frustrations with Bush, but who have decided to not even talk to me because I support Obama. One jumped me on a FB wall about a year ago, when I dared defend Obama speaking to the school kids (remember that insanity?). His mother told me that he was just "very worried about the direction of the country." Yeah, and I wasn't when Bush and Cheney were torturing? Or wiretapping?

No, their patriotism is superior--their concern is more valid, and ultimately, they believe that as conservative Christians, this country is theirs. Not mine. One from that same family told me that I was overly sensitive to the charge that Democrats were disloyal, because they actually were, and I didn't want to admit it. Republicans and conservatives can never be disloyal or unpatriotic, because they define those terms.

The arrogance is amazing. I believe there is a strong progressive thread in this country, but I would never say that conservatives don't belong here. But they truly believe that it is their country. I think that explains the conservative angry about disrespect of the flag who has the tattered and ragged mini-versions hooked to his truck windows. It is only disrespect when a liberal does it.