Will Thomas Quotes
Obama has been attacked repeatedly for not wearing a flag pin, with Republicans claiming that his patriotism is in question. It's all a bit silly.
This quotation shows American tolerance and freedom of speech even for our head of state.
Theodore Roosevelt was the Presidential nominee
In the latter part of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, one of the tactics of conservatives was to accuse liberal candidates and office holders of being un-American, unpatriotic, and disloyal to the country. The tactic goes back to the beginning of the nation when Jefferson and the Democratic Republicans claimed the Federalists were un-American--monarchists and Anglophiles. In the 1950’s, Senator Joseph McCarthy attacked President Truman, Secretary of State Acheson, Secretary of the Army Stevenson and many others for “un-Americanism.” Even wounded war hero, paraplegic, Senator Max Cleland was accused by Republicans a of being unpatriotic which led to his defeat at the polls. So accusing the President of being un-American, was that unique an act even though it shocked most Americans.
During the Iraq War, some Republicans claimed that Democrats who opposed the war were unpatriotic. This was very effective politically, with a number of Democrats opposing the war or military appropriations losing their seats, It turned out that almost all the Republicans who made those claims had never served in the military and like the leading war proponent Vice President Cheney had avoided the draft in the Vietnam war by getting deferments or like the President Bush of participating in the National Guard. Most of the opponents who the claimed were unpatriotic did serve in the military and fought in combat for their country. Several were wounded and Max Cleland lost three of his limbs in Vietnam. Most of them, like Kerry, were decorated war heroes. The Republicans who had fought in the military did not make such accusations even though they supported the war. Kerry finally became frustrated and revealed the non military history of the attackers.
The Republican convention delegates tended to be older than the Democratic convention delegates.
Will Thomas, born 1958 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, is a novelist who writes a Victorian mystery series featuring Cyrus Barker, a Scottish detective or "private enquiry agent," and his Welsh assistant, Thomas Llewelyn. The Barker/Llewelyn novels are set in the 1880s and often feature historical events, people, and movements. Martial combat is a recurring theme throughout this hardboiled series. In interviews, Thomas has said that Barker is based on men such as Richard Francis Burton and Edward William Barton-Wright, founder of Bartitsu.
