From: John Cuccia 

You're an unaware victim of the Republican Mind Meld.

On Tue, 30 Aug 2005 11:12:17 -0400, "Gary Britt"
 wrote:

>I've noticed recently on two blogs that two of my pet phrases are being used
>by many others.  I thought these were my phrases.  Everyone here knows how
>long I've been using them, but now they have been stolen without
>attribution!!!
>
>The phrases to which I am referring are:
>
>"Hate America First Crowd" or variations thereon and
"Democraps".
>
>Was I the first to use these or just the victim of my own independent
>creation??
>
>For an example of this.  Here from http://www.powerlineblog.com/ is a story
>today of a blogger and his conversations over 2 days at Camp Casey:  Note
>the use of "Hate America crowd" in the third paragraph below??!!!
>
>Most of the Sheehan protesters were either professional (paid staff of
>Fenton Communications or the radical organization Code Pink or the like), or
>were long time protesters, some admitting to beginning vigils against the
>government as early as 1965. I had conversations with approximately 50 of
>these people over 48 hours, and all seemed like interesting and engaging
>people. We talked sports, and cars and how wonderful California is, and just
>about everything that could be discussed without my divulging that I am a
>conservative. But when “scratched” just a little with some mild political
>talk, they all responded the same way…”it is America's fault”. No matter
>what the issue, each and every one of them had the same default…”bad things
>are America’s fault”.
>
>Toward the end of my time there, I decided to innocently toss into the
>conversation different issues just to elicit a response. One issue I
>politely deposited into our talks was of the peasant unrest in rural China,
>and the brutality shown to the peasants by the government and their hired
>thugs. There response to this problem was…”well, look how we treated the
>blacks in America”, or, “gays are being beaten every day in America”.
>
>So the clich‚ of the “hate America” crowd is indeed true. It is as if the
>protesters were intellectually bulimic, and having ingested all of the hate
>America bile, they looked forward to regurgitating it as a show of their
>steadfastness to their cause of peace and love.
>
>Cindy Sheehan spent most of her time huddled with VIPS in and
>air-conditioned trailer. When she ventured out it was for a scripted and
>often televised moment. She was always trailed by her media people, and they
>were quick to keep her on point. During one conversation I had with her I
>tried to ask her a pointed question about how much time she would actually
>be on the bus tour to Washington (I had discovered she would only be on the
>tour for two days, and would be away giving speeches during the rest of the
>trip…and I wondered if she were being paid for these speeches) Her media
>person grabbed her arm and led her back to the trailer, and away from me.
>The message was protected. I was left standing there…alone, and feeling a
>little less secure about my status at Camp Casey.
>
>But just a few minutes later, she emerged from the trailer, smiling, and
>performing for the cameras. Like the chicken at the local carnival that
>plays tic tac toe, she eagerly performs for any microphone. She is
>relentless, and professional, well financed and on message.
>
>And the message is “All things bad are America’s fault."
>
>
>Gary
>

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