Republican Patriotism [sic]

"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country."
— Theodore Roosevelt

Sure, Republicans have no problem with the first part of FDR's quote on patriotism and will happily cite it as a justification for their campaign of insurgency against the Obama government.

But have they even noticed the qualification at the end that puts the whole quote into context for the benefit of the simple-minded? Have the RNC honestly and rationally considered the degree to which Obama is standing by his country or the degree to which their own opposition might have gone full circle from patriotism to open treason by FDR's standard?

During the Spanish Civil war, as Franco besieged Madrid, the term 'Fifth Column' was coined for his forces working secretly from within to undermine the capital's defenses. Ever since then, the idea of the 'Fifth Column' has become synonymous with treachery.

Now the Republican party is fast becoming our very own American 'Fifth Column'. While they talk a good talk about doing the best by their country, everything they do would indicate the opposite. Truly, Republicans love America like Ted Bundy loved women. They don't give a rat's a** about the country or the people. All they want is for Obama to fail. And if that means taking America down with him, oh well.

This week we saw the Republican party cheering America's failure to win the 2016 Olympics because to them, it's way more important to frame it as a loss for Obama. They've heckled US strategies on Iran because, God forbid, the 'loyal opposition' should be expected to put aside party politics and support their own country during a crisis.

And, right now, Republicans are supporting a right wing coup in Honduras because Obama has expressed opposition to it. They are headed to the upcoming climate change conference in Copenhagen in order to publicly oppose US official policy. They've been to Israel to speak against Obama's position on expanded settlements. They've even 'warned' the communist government of China not to trust our government saying that the Obama administration's budget numbers "should not be believed."

Add to all that, Sarah Palin's willingness to bad-mouth Obama to any foreign audience with a checkbook, and it's not unreasonable to conclude that today's Republicans are some of the most treacherous and amoral sons of bitches ever to crawl out of the gutter. How f***ing dare they try to own the concept of patriotism. If the situation was reversed, they would be putting us all on lockdown and calling for treason trials.