JOE FITZGERALD ON KAVANAUGH PROTESTS.
When it was published 50 years ago its title was unsettling enough to grab the nation’s attention, but it was its spot-on assessment of how we’re perceived in foreign lands — rude, coarse, insensitive, boorish — that got its readers so rattled that “The Ugly American” is now regarded as one of the most influential novels in all of American literature.
Truth be told, not only would its title have been just as apt today, but authors Eugene Burdick and William Lederer wouldn’t have had to look beyond our shores to make their case because nothing about today’s America is more unflattering than Americans themselves, if you’re judging by those who call the political shots.
If you doubt it, take a second look at these past 24 hours; they ought to embarrass us all.
Before they even knew the name — Brett Kavanaugh — of President Trump’s choice to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy on the U.S. Supreme Court, Trump-hating ideologues were eviscerating his nominee as a right-wing ogre who would delight in disadvantaging women and minorities.
“We’re ready to fight back!” selfappointed suffragette Liz Warren vowed.
Hey, Liz: If Kavanaugh had claimed Native American ancestry, might you have looked upon him with more favor?
When it comes to democracy, which is the lifeblood of this republic, the most dangerous people in today’s America are Americans.
What’s happening right now is truly ugly.
Historically, this is not how we do business, is it?
Then again, perhaps a surprise might be in store for the likes of Chuck Schumer, Maxine Waters and the rest of those far-left airheads who somehow made it to Washington without ever having opened a civics book.
It’s not complicated. Trump gets to pick a judge because we elected Trump, meaning the will of the people is ultimately being heard, which is how America’s supposed to work.
What doesn’t Liz and her crowd understand about that?
It’s one thing to criticize a nominee and quite another to demonize him.
But we should not despair. This country is so much bigger than those neurotic dissidents preening each night on CNN.
We’re not the fools they imagine us to be.
In fact, wouldn’t it be something if their intense, knee-jerk dislike of the president wound up creating a backlash that only made him stronger?
In these mean-spirited times, that’s not hard to imagine.
By nature we’re a fair people, a generous people, an optimistic people.
But our patience is not without limits, as this new wave of ugly Americans may soon discover.