When Deranged Blue Voters Attack!

After reading this lovely missive from Jane Smiley, and these two angry rants from Ken Layne, I am slowly becoming convinced that a significant number of John Kerry's supporters have (probably temporarily) lost their bleepin' minds. The meanness, paranoia about religion, contempt for those who disagree, and lack of understanding of them in these posts boggle the mind.

First Ms. Smiley. She opens by calling over half her relatives ignorant and greedy. That'll make the next family gathering interesting. But wait, there's more! She attempts to associate red staters with the Confederacy (and all the 'positive' stuff associated with it) in an attempt to vilify them. Setting aside the fact that using the labels 'red' and 'blue' for the two opposing sides of the Civil War is meaningless, she would do well to remember that the GOP was the party of Abolition, and the Democrats who represented the South (and the institution of slavery). 'Twas also the Democratic Party who institutionalized Jim Crow and segregation.
After that, she moves on to explain that people in the red states are not only ignorant, they are so willfully ignorant as to be uneducatable, so she basically writes off as hateful morons anyone who voted GOP. They were brainwashed by the Cheney-Bush capitalism/religion machine, you see. The combination of unthinking arrogance, condescention, and bigotry (without anything resembling a reasoned argument) in her essay is truly breathtaking. And here I thought that the liberal Left is supposed to be rational, tolerant, and open minded. I don't suppose it ever occurred to her that people who voted for the GOP/Bush/Cheney arrived at their conclusion via a rational process similar to how she made hers. (Judging by her essay, a more rational process than hers. - ed. ) The whole article has the stink of hate and fear about it. Perhaps Ms. Smiley should examine her own assumptions before putting fingers to keyboard next time.

Ken Layne: Control your anger, young Jedi. Instead of demonizing them, attempt to understand those who voted differenly than yourself. Understand that intelligent people can and do come to reasonable conclusions on the issues of the day that *gasp* are different than yours! Not to mention that insulting people is not a likely way to win them over to your way of thinking. In a bit harsher language - what the hell is your goddamned problem with religious people? Listen carefully you arrogant, bigoted jackass, there are a few facts that need to be considered. First, the person that you call "Jesusland's No. 1 Convert" is not an evangelical. He's a Methodist, and he doesn't really mention his faith all that much more than the White House's previous occupant did. Next, it isn't President Bush's fault that he gets letters of congratulations from idiots like Bob Jones. That's like claiming that John Kerry is a believer in the goals of International A.N.S.W.E.R. . Furthermore your characteriztion of Christians probably doesn't fit the vast majority of those who voted for the President. Additionally, the evangelicals didn't even push Bush over the top - atheists did. So, get off your condescending high horse and grow up. You sound like an angry, angst-ridden teenager.