A few years ago, the WaPo’s Charles Krauthammer coined the phrase “Bush Derangement Syndrome,” which was intended to identify the madness that befalls critics of the president. It was quickly embraced by the far-right, which insists opposition to Bush and his policies has led to some kind of mass hysteria.
Andrew Sullivan, however, recently noted that the BDS label is more appropriately given to the president’s supporters, not critics. “At some point, someone will surely point out that ‘Bush Derangement Syndrome’ is more accurately applied to those who still believe the president is even minimally competent,” Sullivan noted.
Take National Review’s Thomas Sowell, for example. In a column that really needs to be read to be believed, Sowell spends nearly 700 poorly-written words ranting incoherently about society’s failings. It’s as if he made a list of things that bother him — immigration, environmentalists, the news media, the New York Review of Books, modern pitchers’ inability to go nine innings — and then just strung them together for publication in a major and widely-read political magazine. The key paragraph:
When I see the worsening degeneracy in our politicians, our media, our educators, and our intelligentsia, I can’t help wondering if the day may yet come when the only thing that can save this country is a military coup.
As Kevin Drum explained, “[T]here’s no further context. That’s the whole quote. It’s one bullet point in a long series of dyspeptic observations about how liberals have ruined the country.”
In other words, apropos of nothing, Thomas Sowell wrote a column for one of the biggest political magazines in the country, suggesting that the military might need to overthrow the country. And he didn’t elaborate.
Bush Derangement Syndrome claims another victim. Unfortunately, Sowell isn’t alone.
National Review also ran an interview yesterday with retired Air Force Lt. Colonel Robert “Buzz” Patterson, who has written a book, “War Crimes: The Left’s Campaign to Destroy Our Military and Lose the War on Terror.” Patterson is accusing “Democrat politicians, big media, academia, popular culture, and nongovernmental organizations” of forming “a Fifth Column” that is “facilitating defeat against Islamo-fascism.”
Kathryn Jean Lopez: Your upcoming book begins with a quote from Cicero about how a nation “cannot survive treason from within.” Surely you’re not calling Democrats traitors. Or are you?
“Buzz” Patterson: I am. They certainly are if their behavior during our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is held up to the light of the U.S. Constitution. Article III, Section 3 defines treason against the United States as “adhering to (our) enemies, giving them aid and comfort. Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Dick Durbin, and John Murtha, amongst others, are guilty of exactly that. […]
It’s not just the Democrats though but many on the Left — its faculties and administrations on college campuses, big media, Hollywood, and left-wing organizations such as the Ford Foundation, Moveon.org, United for Peace and Justice, etc. What is particularly disturbing to me is that these Americans are doing it while their fellow citizens are fighting and dying in combat. The best ally that al Qaeda has these days is the Democrat Party leadership. It’s reprehensible.
Keep in mind, Patterson is not only demonstrating clear BDS symptoms, but National Review promoted this lunacy, which should probably be considered a form of BDS in its own right.
As TP noted, “Previously, this kind of attack was mainly found in the fever swamps of talk radio or the conservative blogosphere, but the National Review is the largest conservative magazine in the country. Its columnists regularly appear on major media outlets like NBC’s Meet The Press. They should have higher standards than aiding and abetting such derogatory attacks on the patriotism of literally millions of Americans.”
I don’t disagree in the slightest, but it’s not necessarily conservatives’ fault. Bush Derangement Syndrome can sometimes strike without warning.