It probably is safe to say the email letter of congratulations to certain journalists at The Morning Call was not sincere.
Copies of the letter, applauding the success of newspaper people's evil left-wing schemes, were sent to fellow columnist Bill White and a few others at the paper, but the salutation stipulated "Paulieboy," so I bet it was meant mainly for me.
The letter was signed, as have been previous barrages from the same guy, but I've tried to verify his identity and he declined, so I'll just refer to him as "Jimmyboy" of Easton.
He began by assailing my use of the term "die-hard Democrat," which I have used to describe both my wife and, on Wednesday, President Obama. (In my house, we would have marital bliss except for politics. My wife refuses to listen to reason when I prove, with geometric logic, as Capt. Queeg would put it, why she should abandon the Democratic Party.)
Anyway, Jimmyboy angrily clashed with the way I described Obama. "Your beloved messiah is a die-hard Marxist, just like you," he wrote. "Both of you are die-hard communist manifesto lovers."
Actually, I have read the Communist Manifesto and I cannot quite say I love it. In fact, I detest everything the communists ever stood for, except for the way they dealt with the age-old problem of royalty.
That's another flap at home, because my wife is from Japan and thinks royals should be allowed to live. Her ethnicity has brought other salvos from Jimmyboy, such as when I suggested the problem of dangerous and annoying dogs could be lessened if we'd "encourage the development of certain segments of Korean and Chinese cuisine."
He accused my "little wifey-poo" of specializing in "Doberman stew" because, you know, all people of Asian descent are the same. (Her native culture, it happens, does not care for canine casseroles.)
I once believed Jimmyboy and his ilk were isolated, what I called the GOP's lunatic fringe, nuts who follow the gospel according to Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. Increasingly, mainstream Republicans seem afraid of being labeled heretics for embracing decency or sanity, and some of Jimmyboy's ravings are starting to sound like the orthodox party line.
I find that sad.
My favorite modern president was Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican who initiated civil rights efforts and who warned us about letting the military-industrial complex run wild. When Ike was in office, rich people had to pay a higher percentage in income taxes than did the nonrich.
Today, any Republican who suggests that the rich be similarly taxed is reviled, and Jimmyboy has another view that has become standard GOP rhetoric. He once expressed rage that the U.S. military's budget was only $600 billion-plus, decrying bigger spending on vile "human services."
Jimmyboy ended his most recent letter with a dig at all those at the paper who conspired to help get our Marxist messiah re-elected. "Congrats to the loyal foot soldiers of the DNC there at the mcall," he wrote. That has become a GOP theme song; the liberal press is nothing but a tool of the Democratic National Committee.
So I guess I should confess that my DNC credentials are not very solid. I've never been a Democrat and I was a registered Republican until Richard Nixon was nominated for president. Bill White confessed that he is still a registered Republican, and I think he is 10 times as liberal as I am.
Here is the biggest shocker, and I hope Jimmyboy is sitting down as he reads this, because I voted for somebody other than Obama on Tuesday.
I never liked Obama, although he was a dramatic improvement over his predecessor, the darling of the Jimmyboy-Limbaugh-Rupert Murdoch factions.
The thing that bothers me the most about politics these days is the direction the Republican Party has been heading.
I gave up on the Democrats long ago. That party is in the pockets of union bosses, ambulance-chasing lawyers, Keynesian economists and organized parasites who feed on taxpayers one way or another. Ayn Rand got it right, and liberals try to discredit her so they can justify their suppression of individualism and self-reliance.
I had hope for the party of Abraham Lincoln, feeling there must still be some Republicans who cherish rights and equality, who admire the environmental devotion of Teddy Roosevelt, who understand the fairness of the Eisenhower era's taxes.
Now I'm not so sure. We once just laughed off people like Jimmyboy. Now, it seems they have polluted the core of the Republican Party's soul.
As a story in The Morning Call on Friday revealed, elements of the GOP are condemning New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for working with Obama to deal with the consequences of Hurricane Sandy. You cannot be a true-blue Republican unless you demonize anybody who fails to toe the righteous Rush Limbaugh line.
For years, I have hoped for the success of third-party movements to put a chink in the armor of the two-party monopoly.
Maybe the current trends of the Republican Party, which seems to stand for nothing other than avarice and bigotry, as reflected in some of the rhetoric of the last election, will bring that happy day closer.
paul.carpenter@mcall.com 610-820-6176
Paul Carpenter's commentary appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
