The online chats with reporters at Washingtonpost.com offer an interesting forum to see liberals unfurl their views, especially as they groan and moan over patriotism as a campaign issue. Reporters letting loose is most interesting, but the questioners can be loose-lipped (or is it loose-typed?) It’s striking to see how they associate love of country with blindness, fear-mongering, and saluting the neocon war machine. Wrote one questioner to Post political reporter Peter Baker yesterday on flag pins:

I don’t think Barack is using it as a convenient crutch to get elected. He stopped wearing the lapel because of the Sept. 11 fearmongering attached to it. He’s in the unusual — and possibly untenable — position of being something other than a rich white man running for president. He is going to see the country as something far more flawed than members of the demographic America favors most.
Saying this a white woman who supports Hillary, Obama articulates very reasonable thoughts on why he’s not a blind-faith cheerleader for patriotic optimism. His views may be much closer to the truth of our country, but the truth might also be political suicide.

How can you love this country when it’s full of dunderheads who can’t handle the truth? This Baker questioner was also instructive:

Do most politicians wear flag pins? I thought they were sort of a partisan thing on the Hill — a friend used to call them right-wing fraternity pins.