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During the run-up to the Iraq War, it was conventional wisdom among truculent Republicans that anyone who dared to question George W. Bush's logic for invasion was an unpatriotic defeatist who hated America. Anti-war liberals rightly took umbrage at the popular smear, noting in turn that dissent can be a form of patriotism.
Well, except when that dissent is directed at a Democratic president. Last week, conservatives who mocked President Obama's failed Olympics bid were charged with rooting against America. Today, the Democratic National Committee equates RNC chairman Michael Steele with the Taliban because both denounced Obama's Nobel Peace Prize. Here is a small sampling of the many America-hating accusations leveled at critics of the president.
Ann Coulter in 2002: "Liberals hate America, they hate flag-wavers, they hate abortion opponents, they hate all religions except Islam, post 9/11. Even Islamic terrorists don't hate America like liberals do."
Neil Cavuto in 2005, on Canadians: "Do the Canadian people hate America as much as your politicians seem to?"
Joe Klein in 2006, on Democrats' election prospects: "Well they won't if their message is that they hate America -- which is what has been the message of the liberal wing of the party for the past twenty years."