Proud to Be an Okie

I heard a couple of days ago about a Republican lawmaker said "if George [W.] Bush loses the election, Osama bin Laden wins the election." Naturally something so stupid stuck out and I immediately tried to dig up who said it, but couldn't find anything. Until this morning, when I found this news story on Salon.com where the same lawmaker denied making comparisons to Democrats and Hitler.

There are two things wrong with this man's statement (aside from the obvious). First, it plays off of the whole "if you're not with us, you're against us!" motif that conservatives have been spinning since 11 AM on September 11th, 2001. The same motif that leads people like Ann Coulter to declare liberals "traitors" for wanting to give health care to infants. Second, it equates all Democrats with Osama bin Laden, and if taken in its best context (a difficult proposition) it merely insinuates that Democrats are in league with bin Laden.

And where is this lawmaker from?

That's right, Oklahoma!

Ah yes, Oklahoma. This reminds me of the heady days back in the late 1990s when conservative Republican Senator Tom Coburn said that Schindler's List shouldn't be shown in national TV because it was "pornography." Now, I don't find images of naked Jews about to be gassed pornographic, but conservative Republican Senator Tom Coburn from Oklahoma did.

Makes ya think, doesn't it? Because they sure aren't.