Shifting of goalposts

If you want to measure how far the goalposts have moved for John Brummett and his fellow travelers, just take notice of how some names have been treated lately. Over 10 years ago, ol’ Spanky wrote a column in which he wrote disparagingly about American exceptionalism. He called it a “partisan Republican tactic” spilling from the lips of Tim Griffin, the “Karl Rove disciple now going to Congress.” You know, Karl Rove, that dark, diabolical political Svengali who tricked us into voting for that dastardly George W. Bush. An architect of evil, Spanky might have called it then, although that’s pure speculation on my part. Spanky definitely didn’t have anything positive to say about Karl Rove then, that’s for sure.

Spanky continued in his column that American exceptionalism was “euphemistic” for American chauvinism, which “is not the same as patriotism, but an illogical and extreme version thereof.” Spanky wrote that the “religious right has now embraced the phrase,” and then proceeded to explain that we are not “exceptional” in a useful way.

Fast forward to Feb. 21 of this year, when Spanky wrote these words in his column: “A perfectly fine Karl Rove Republican such as Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin couldn’t compete for governor” in 2022. Yes, that Tim Griffin. The same one who believed in American exceptionalism. Why? Well, because the GOP has become the cult of Trump. Let that sink in. The person who before was a “disciple” of an extreme right-wing evil person is now “perfectly fine.”

The worst part of this is not one single liberal has written in and complained about characterizing anything done by Karl Rove as “perfectly fine.” If that isn’t a shifting of the goalposts, then nothing is.

LONNIE HILL Fayetteville