Wingnut hypocrisy on attacking the U.S. “on foreign soil”

Another silly right-wing notion is that whilst criticizing the U.S. on American soil is A-okay (unless you’re a commie liberal, of course), daring to speak ill about any part of America when you’re on “foreign soil” suddenly becomes an impardonable offense. It’s also interesting to note how this “outrage” always seems to come from the right whilst being aimed at the left, yet whenever it’s a conservative who says anything critical of America or its government … suddenly, the angry voices mysteriously fall silent.

For example, just ask Bill Clinton. When he criticized the Vietnam War whilst at Oxford, he was attacked. In 1992, then-President Bush Sr. disparaged the fact that Clinton “mobiliz[ed] demonstrations in a foreign country” when kids were being deployed to die in a useless war that would put even the modern Iraq conflicts to shame in their pointlessness.

Then, when Clinton had the audacity to actually apologize in America’s name (this time, for the States’ history with slavery), Tom DeLay also flamed him, accusing him of “apologizing for the actions of the United States” as though it were somehow a bad thing to show some humility and acceptance towards the fact that, yes, America did some bad things in the past.

And yet … Now, Sarah Palin is in Hong Kong and eagerly lambasts the Obama administration, using nothing but the same, tired old canards and ridiculous accusations (read: clueless assertions).

Of course, I couldn’t care less about who said what about which country, wherever they are, if said criticism is actually accurate (which, of course, is another story for Palin). It’s their right to criticize anyone, from anywhere. But … where’s the right-wing outrage? The anger at someone daring to criticize the U.S. “on foreign soil”?

Huh. Nothing. That says something, doesn’t it?

(via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)
Technorati tags: Republicans · hypocrisy · Bill Clinton · George Bush · Sarah Palin