Over at NPR.org, they reprint some hysterical blather from The Nation about how conservative spew hysterical blather about soccer. Here’s the kicker:
But maybe this isn’t just sports as avatar for their racism and imperial arrogance. Maybe their hysteria lies in something far more shallow. Maybe the real reason they lose their collective minds is simply because the USA tends to get their asses handed to them each and every World Cup. After all, as G. Gordon asked, “Whatever happened to American exceptionalism?” When it comes to the World Cup, the exceptional is found elsewhere. Could Beck, Liddy, and company just have soccer-envy? Is it possible that if the USA was favored to win the World Cup, Beck himself would be in the streets with his own solid gold vuvuzela? I feel that to ask the question is to answer it. In fact, this is as good a reason as any to hope for a mighty run by the US team. It would be high comedy to see Beck and Friends caught in a vice between their patriotic fervor and their nativist fear.
First of all it’s vise, not vice (unless I’m missing the pun amidst all of the nuance). I don’t read NPR’s website much, so maybe they run a whole lot of rightwing commentators too for balance (stop laughing). But you have to wonder why an outfit that tries so hard to dispel the widespread perception it’s leftwing would bother reprinting this stuff.