With her judgement perhaps clouded by grief over the recent passing of her father, former President Ronald Reagan, Patti Davis has penned what I believe is the dumbest commentary I have read in quite some time. Davis wrote a piece for last weeks edition of Newsweek titled Defining Love of Country: We ought to ask our presidential candidates whether or not they love us.
Patti states the anger so many people supposedly feel in America today is a manifestation of love of country. While I believe that may be true in the vast majority of cases, Patti points to controversial filmmaker Michael Moore, saying his documentary – and I use that word loosely – Fahrenheit 9/11 is an example of patriotism. (I havent seen the movie myself. I will say, however, if its anything like Moores previous film, Bowling for Columbine, which I have seen, then its full of inaccurate history, half-truths, misleading editing and non-substantive publicity stunts.)
Patti contends Fahrenheit 9/11 was not motivated by rage at the Bush administration, which I find hard to believe, considering the clips of the film Ive seen. Moore has also made numerous quotes about how dumb and ignorant Americans are and how evil America is, so, no, I dont believe Moore loves his country. But he sure does love all the money he makes in America.
Patti says asking if the candidates love us is the most important consideration during this presidential race. Not surprisingly, she asserts that President Bush doesnt love the people that make up this country, but instead loves a conceptualized idea of America.
Patti saves her most insightful comments for the end of the article, however, complaining that the U.S. doesnt seem to be looking for al-Qaida head Osama bin Laden. Of course, youd have to be a special kind of naive to believe the U.S. is not actively hunting for him. Patti writes, Osama bin Laden is six feet, eight inches tall, he wears white robes and he reportedly suffers from kidney failure, requiring him to be on dialysis. I havent researched this, but I assume there arent many dialysis machines in Afghanistan. So wouldnt it make sense to stake out the ones that are there? He could have a portable one, which would require a generator. That should make him easy to spot, too.
With that kind of outside-the-box thinking, who else believes President Bush should pick her to fill the vacant CIA directors job?
My Two Cents is a weekly column where the author – who believes Patti is giving a bad rap to editorial writers with the last name Davis – gets in his two cents worth in spite of the old saying that you only get a penny for your thoughts.
