Democrats play pot to Rush Limbaugh's kettle

Keith Olbermann, MSNBC's answer to a question no one asked, declared last week that I'm the "worst person in the world." This is not as bad as it might seem. It's sort of like being called uncool by the asthmatic assistant recording secretary of the high-school chess team.

I'm the worst person in the world — the designation is apparently a nightly feature of Olbermann's show — because during a Fox News interview about the current idiotic Rush Limbaugh flap, I said that conservatives don't actually question the patriotism of liberals, they merely call attention to the statements of liberals.

Olbermann lifted his objection to my statement from the group that launched this Limbaugh flap, Media Matters for America (you should read "for America" as "for the Democratic Party" and "for the Democratic Party" as "for Hillary Clinton"). Olbermann & Co. asserted I was wrong, citing a monologue on Rush Limbaugh's show that later appeared on his Web site under the heading: "You're Damn Right American Left, We're Questioning Your Patriotism."

To which I have to respond: Touché!

However, one could split some ideological hairs here. There is a difference between the "American left" and "liberals," after all. And usually when fringe leftists openly denounce imperialist America or express hope that she will be bloodied abroad or at home, self-described liberals are usually the first to respond, "Hey, liberals aren't leftists." If Olbermann and Media Matters now want to ditch that distinction and hence claim every nut-job leftist as their own, fine by me.

Anyway, the point I'd been trying to make was that liberals routinely and righteously condemn the "questioning" of anyone's patriotism — until they have a chance to do it themselves. For example, in the debates over the formation of the Department of Homeland Security and the passage of Patriot Act, Democrats accused George Bush and the GOP leadership of questioning Democrats' patriotism. But they never did any such thing. Rather, Democrats asserted that Republican criticism of their opposition was tantamount to questioning their patriotism.

John Kerry was the all-time champ of this sort of thing. He routinely insinuated that criticisms of his positions on national defense were tantamount to McCarthyism. Indeed, like Johnny Carson's Carnac the Magnificent, Kerry could psychically predict the reaction before it happened. Addressing the Council on Foreign Relations, he prophesied, "I know what the Bush apologists will say to this — that it is unpatriotic to question, to criticize and to call for change."

This in itself is a backhanded way to question the patriotism of your opponents. After all, to liberals, Joe McCarthy is synonymous with "un-American." So, by preemptively and wantonly declaring any criticism to be McCarthyite dirty pool, Democrats are questioning the patriotism of their opponents in order to silence dissent (they play a similar preemption game with charges of racism as well).

But Democrats did worse than merely question the patriotism of their opponents; they flat-out denied it. Sen. Bob Graham called Bush's war policy "antipatriotic at the core." Kerry dubbed Bush's "creed of greed" — you guessed it — "unpatriotic."

Howard Dean, the nearly invisible chairman of the Democratic National Committee, used to get himself into those I'm-turning-into-the-Hulk rages over the merest hint that Republicans questioned the patriotism of Democrats. But he saw nothing wrong with righteously proclaiming that John Ashcroft "is no patriot. He's a direct descendant of Joseph McCarthy."

And now with Limbaugh, Democrats, starting with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, are lining up to call the radio host "unpatriotic" and do whatever they can to discredit him.

Now, the fact that no serious person actually thinks Limbaugh really or intentionally called soldiers dissenting on the war "phony" doesn't matter to the Democrats. Rather, they're just gleeful to play the pot to Limbaugh's kettle. Never mind that it's unfair and dishonest, never mind that what they're doing is far closer to the McCarthyism they routinely denounce, never mind that such Limbaugh-lynching Democratic senators as John Kerry and Dick Durbin have suggested, respectively, that American troops are "terrorizing kids" in Iraq and are akin to the torture masters of Nazi Germany or Pol Pot's "mad regime."

All that matters is that Democrats get a free hand — thank you, mainstream media — to do what they've spent years denouncing as the worst, lowest form of politics. And, unlike Republicans in most cases, the Democrats actually know they are lying. They just don't care.

But don't take my word for it. I'm the worst person in the world.

Jonah Goldberg's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. His e-mail address is JonahsColumn@aol.com