The greater threat

A short time ago, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was publicly demonized for quoting the Ayatullah Khomeini's militant, decades-old statement (widely misrepresented in the Western press as Ahmadinejad's own, I might add) that Israel should be "wiped off the map." As should have been expected, given the implications inherent in the MSM's not-so-accurate reporting, world reaction was instantaneous.

Around the globe, and especially in the White House, there were loud, belligerent calls for Iran to be immediately dragged before the U.N. Security Council; demands for swift condemnation and punitive sanctions; threats of potential military action as a means of pre-emptive containment. Ahmadinejad was labeled by our Administration as the fanatical rogue leader of a terrorist state, an anti-Semite with horrific nuclear intentions, a threat to the safety of our troops abroad and those of us at home.

And he wasn't even threatening Americans.

What then to do about Bill O'Reilly? Apparently, this charter member of the Prophets of Hate club said the following to the citizens of San Francisco during his election day radio broadcast:

"And if al-Qaida comes in here and blows you up, we're not going to do anything about it. We're going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you, except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead."

So what I want to know is this: Where is that same immediate, forceful, purple-faced outrage from the White House and its radical Conservative followers?!

Now, this is not to say that I'm foolish enough to consider Bill O'Reilly and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on equal footing regarding their relative danger potential. No, no, no, kids. As an insidious, long-term threat to the very character of America, the kind of reckless, ignorant intolerance and hypocrisy demonstrated by Mr. No Spin Zone is much more ominous.

President Bush has been quick to accuse those who criticize his disastrous Middle Eastern policies of undermining our nation's efforts to combat global terror. He has said, in so many words, that Liberals in America are consistently guilty of seditiously aiding and abetting the enemy, and stabbing our troops in the back. He and his minions have called our justified demands for truth and accountability from this Administration "unpatriotic", "anti-American", and "treasonous."

But not once has any Liberal I know invited a terrorist organization to bomb Crawford, let's say, or any other American city whose residents happen to hold differing political views. Not in anger, nor in jest. Not accidentally or intentionally. Not publicly or carelessly or tauntingly. Not one f#%king time!

Am I just missing the broad public outcry here?

I mean, let's imagine for a moment that the proverbial shoe was on the other foot, and an icon of the Left with an equally wide and influential public reach had made a similar comment. If Maureen Dowd had called for the destruction of Topeka, for example. Or if Al Franken had reached out to suicide bombers, inviting an attack on Dover, PA (oops, I forgot - Pat Robertson already covered that one). The airwaves, front pages, and Congressional hallways would be filled with shrill criticisms and condemnations, calls for protests and/or firings, and demands for timely public apologies.

But O'Reilly's invective has amazingly generated little more than a whimper.

We villainous "spawn of Satan" (as sister hate-monger Anne Coulter once described Democrats) simply would not consider such an egregious display of reckless hostility toward our fellow citizens. O'Reilly's shameful outburst goes beyond Red or Blue, Left or Right. It is an affront to the memory of those Americans who've already died in actual al Qaeda attacks. It's a call for direct and murderous action by our enemies against U.S. territory in a time of war, and doing so as a petulant act of political posturing. It is subversive, criminal behavior, an abuse of his FCC-regulated (supposedly) public forum, a dangerously irresponsible act by a man with real attitude-shaping power that must be fiercely decried by us all, including our elected representatives.

And it is inexcusable that Conservatives in particular - the self-proclaimed defenders of family values and patriotic virtue - have not risen in swift, unified condemnation of what is undeniably a shocking threat by one of their own toward San Franciscans, apparently for... well, for voting, I guess.

Here's a Talking Points Memo for you, Bill. With each passing day, you and your ilk are revealing to the American public the abominable rot that festers at your very core, a cancer that has eaten away at the soul of our once-great nation for five unbearable years. It's time for you to suffer the consequences of the traitorous anti-Americanism you've gotten away with for far too long, and time for every citizen to recognize that individuals like you are a far greater threat to the moral fabric and long-term survival of our nation than isolated Islamic jihadists will ever be.