The Battle of Thou

More than the prevalence of cowboy hats; more than Rudy Guliani's butt kissing speech; more than McCain's disappointing attacks on Kerry (and Michael Moore), I think the purple hearts on bandages being proudly worn by convention delegates, irritated me the most:

"A GOP delegate handed out bandages with purple hearts on them Monday night at the Republican National Convention in a swipe at Democratic nominee John Kerry's war record, but national GOP officials have asked him to stop.

The bandages were handed out by Morton Blackwell, a longtime GOP activist from Virginia, with the message: 'It was just a self-inflicted scratch, but you see I got a Purple Heart for it.'
Kerry won three Purple Hearts, a Silver Star and a bronze star for his service in the Vietnam War. A group calling itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has been attacking Kerry as a liar through campaign ads and media interviews, but Kerry's wartime experiences have been backed by crewmates and official records."

In addition to insulting Kerry, this was a slap in the face to every soldier who has ever received a purple heart - whether it be for a scratch or the loss of a limb. And this gets back to the message that, in jest or not, the GOP consistently sends. There is always a battle of THOU ... The holier than thou, the more patriotic than thou, the tougher than thou, the more touched by 9/11 than thou and, now, the more injured than thou ...

True, the Democrats tried to take a "higher road" than thou during their convention. While I don't promote nastiness, I think they could have shown a little more edge than they did. But, after the first night of the RNC, I think I'm glad the Dems did keep it clean and positive. The two minute booing of Michael Moore after John McCain spoke an untruth about Moore's view of pre-invasion Iraq, the bandages and the flip flop sandals really showed who has less class than thou, less cooth than thou and less of what the spirit of America is supposed to be about than THOU.

I'll try to watch Ah-nold tonight for he is my Governator. I saw and heard Laura at my sorority's Boule and don't necessarily want to endure her sing-songy, Polly Purebread soft sell again. The bandages will supposedly be gone. But I am sure something else or some other behavior will replace it. That is, afterall, who thou are.