PATRIOTISM! A job for baseball cap-wearing white man

Google News results for "patriotism" -- 11,696.

If you weren't living in country, the foreign press had a different take on our patriotism.

"[There] are two common threads," wrote the Independent. Those whacked by the patriotism stick are always Democrats and liberal "and therefore 'un-American.'"

The Independent, paraphrasing a famous quote, "described patriotism as the last refuge of the scoundrel; in the US it is the first resort of the Republicans come election time." See here.

"In the last quarter century, losing Democratic presidential nominees have found themselves on the short end of the patriotism argument with their Republican foes," wrote a pollster at The Wall Street Journal.

"The GOP has benefited from a stereotype in the voters’ mind that its candidates are tougher when it comes to defending U.S. national security."

And who could have been more GOP than dead Senator Jesse Helms?

Google News results search of stories including "patriot" and "Jesse Helms:" 724.

This figure was overturned by another stat, the Google News search result for "racist" and "Jesse Helms:" 758.

Over half the country seemed to realize exactly what Jesse Helms was, a redneck and a bigot, a fool who would not yield.

As a TV commentator prior Helms set the stage for his career in politics, "[railing] against 'Negro hoodlums,' 'sex perverts,' Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ... civil rights 'agitators,' [and] welfare recipients," informed this acerbic commentary from the World Socialist Workers' news.

"Jesse Helms will be remembered as one of America’s great patriots," wrote the National Review with nary a trace of humor.

"5-time senator 'great patriot'" read the headline of the Helms obit in the Chicago Tribune newspaper. It was a reprint of a piece authored by the Los Angeles Times. However, in its travel to the Windy City, editors appeared to have cut most of the stuff concerning Helms' claim that all AIDS cases were the result of sodomy, his desire to forbid people with AIDS from handling food in their jobs and his opposition to a treaty which attempted to limit the use of landmines.

"A White House spokesman [called] Helms a 'great public servant and true patriot,'" reported Associated Press, again with no obvious sense of humor.

Returning to Google News, we find the hit rate for "Barack Obama" and "patriot:" 716.

It is only half-cancelled by the News search for "Barack Obama" and "unpatriotic:" 373.

"His campaign understands that he needs to look reassuring and familiar -- like a patriot," wrote the Los Angeles Times. Soberly.

"McCain and Obama both Clueless on Patriotism," blared a headline from something called Zeal for Truth.

There are ten stages to the career arcs of drunks and politicians, opined an editorial writer at the Palm Beach Post.

The sixth stage for both is "patriotism." The patriot politician, or the drunk, always implies: "I clearly love my country more than my opponent, which is why you should love me more ... In fact, you would be unpatriotic yourself if you didn't love me more."

Surprisingly, it possessed a sense of humor. Very strange on a Sunday, especially in the formerly great US of A.

Always helpful, Google News produced the most common searchs related to the keyword "patriotism:" lapel pin flag of the united states, mccarthyism, joseph mccarthy, god bless america and pledge of allegiance.