Well, so much for that...

A couple weeks ago I realized I was talking like a Paulite.

Then I read my Gateway Pundit feed and, by golly, there he was, yakking about how They Hate Us Because of our Presence in the Middle East.

In the immortal words of Nero Wolfe, phooey.

Des Moines Register: Two weeks away from the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, presidential candidate and Texas Rep. Ron Paul says that U.S. intervention in the Middle East is a main motivation behind terrorist hostilities toward America, and that Islam is not a threat to the nation.

They hate us because we're us.
They hate us because we're rich and powerful.
They hate us because we allow, nay, encourage women to get an education and a job.
They hate us because we allow women to dress how they please, and to express themselves freely. Even if that makes some of uncomfortable at times. (SEE: Me and Rosie O'Donell, or any randomly selected Democrat and Sarah Palin.)
They hate us because we allow, nay, encourage all varieties of Christians, and Jews, and whichever variety of Muslims they disapprove of, and Sikhs and Hindus and Buddhists and all sorts of "pagans*" to worship pretty much as they please.
They hate us because this whole "Freedom of..." thing is anathema to them.
They hate us because, the first day any jurisdiction in this country decides to abide by Shariah law, there'll be blood--theirs, and that of whichever dhimwit government official decided to go along with it.
They hate us because that whole representative democratic republic thing is a total mystery to them.

At the same time, they despise us, because they see the workings of a representative, democratic republic, they don't understand it, and they think it means we're weak.
They despise us because they see us allowing just about any dhimwit to blather about how horrible we are, and they think it means we're weak.
They despise us because we didn't turn their benighted paleolithic asses into radioactive ash the first time they attacked us.

They mistake our strengths for weaknesses, and the hate and despise--and maybe fear--us for them.

I can forgive these misunderstandings in a journalist, or a pundit, or an entertainer, but not in an elected representative, especially one who aspires to be Commander in Chief.


***
*Many of whom are friends of Mrs. Drang and I; the quotes around "pagan" is because many of them resent the phrase, and I didn't want to catalog the various titles or sects, as that's not the point...