The Patriot Post® · The Disconnected Left

By Burt Prelutsky ·
https://patriotpost.us/opinion/9327-the-disconnected-left-2011-03-19

A question that I have yet been able to answer is whether liberals are even aware of their double standard. For instance, when they complain about America’s occasional alliances with despots, does it ever trouble them when some of their own embrace – sometimes literally – a dictator?

For instance, over the past decade, we’ve had Sean Penn defending Saddam Hussein; Oliver Stone, Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Michael Moore and several members of the Black Congressional Caucus, singing the praises of Fidel Castro; and Danny Glover and Harry Belafonte all but dancing cheek to jowl with Hugo Chavez.

At least when America makes these unholy alliances, it’s generally for a very good reason. We hooked up with the Soviet Union because it was in our mutual interest to defeat Nazi Germany. We supported the Shah of Iran because he kept his well-shod shoe on the necks of jihadists. At least he did until the holier-than-thou/dumb-as-a-doornail Jimmy Carter sold him out, thus unleashing three decades of Islamic terrorism on the world. On the other hand, it brought Carter untold millions in Arab petrodollars to fund his library.

America has also shackled itself to any number of Middle East tyrants for no better reason than our refusal to drill for our own oil.

But what possible reason do these notable loons have for aligning themselves with some of the most brutal regimes in the world, and why are their colleagues on the left so reluctant to call them on it?

Another problem I have with these screwballs is their constant harping about Big Business, Big Oil, Big Agriculture and Big Pharmaceuticals. When it comes to condemning big things, they exhibit a very narrow-minded attitude. When it’s a business that provides us all with food, fuel, transportation or medications, they want the feds to demolish it and send all of the various executives to gulags. However, when it comes to Big Government – so long as leftists control it – the bigger the better. And when have we heard Obama or anyone else on the left utter a harsh word about Big Unions?

Something else that galls me is the way that politicians have come to regard “I misspoke” as the verbal equivalent of a Get Out of Jail Free card. I’m not referring to Obama’s reference to our 57 states or Mike Huckabee’s saying “Kenya” when he meant “Indonesia.” I’m referring to those occasions when a politician makes a profanity-laced rant, and when called on it, insists he merely misspoke.

I recall the first time I became aware of this technique. It came during the 2008 primary campaign when Obama claimed his father had served in the military during WWII. He claimed it was an honest mistake and he had merely misspoken when it came out that it was his maternal grandfather who had served. Naturally, it was brushed under the rug by the same fawning media that dismissed his connection to Bill Ayers, ACORN and Reverend Wright. But, to be fair, which of us hasn’t at one time or another confused his father with his maternal grandfather or, for that matter, his mother with a trolley car?

Those leftists who infest the entertainment industry present us with yet another example of the double standard. Even if we overlook the fact that they drive around in gas-guzzling Hummers and limousines, travel in private jets, and reside in homes the size of palaces – thus consuming more energy in a week than most folks consume in a year – there is the matter of the product they churn out. Although they all profess to be greenies, constantly swearing their devotion to the environment at gala events, they never give a second thought to the filth with which they pollute the very air that we and our children breathe. I guess they’re simply too busy with far more important matters, such as separating their paper and plastic.

I suppose the truth is, if they didn’t have double standards, left-wingers wouldn’t have any standards at all.