Thin-skinned liberals

“Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views.” - William F. Buckley, Jr.

Liberals have been offended by Obama’s label as the “Food Stamp President,” a gun rights billboard, comments by Dr. Ben Carson while Obama was in the room and by naming sports teams after Native American names.

Liberals regularly portray African Americans, Jews, American Indians, gays and every other possible minority as offended. All other groups are regularly warned that almost anything they say that is not patronizing of those groups is offensive.

Recent events show once again that liberals can’t take what they so gleefully dish out. You know who I am talking about. Those people preach tolerance but can’t tolerate anyone with a different view.

The most recent example concerns a rodeo clown at a fair in Missouri. For those of you who have been in hibernation, this clown donned an Obama mask and asked the crowd (repeatedly) if they wanted to see Obama chased by a bull. This reportedly offended one (yes, one) person who contacted numerous people about this “outrage.” The end result is that this clown is banned for life from this rodeo and all Missouri rodeo clowns must attend sensitivity training. Can you imagine that? Clowns who regularly have bulls slobbering in their back pocket must now be sensitive. Maybe they just need to lovingly pet the bull.

I have been around rodeos all of my life. I won’t tell you how long that is, but suffice it to say it is a long time. Aside from rider protection, part of a clown’s job is to provide humor. I have seen them make jokes about every president from Johnson through G.W. Bush. Why is this president any different?

When you think about it, perhaps there was an ulterior motive to the complaint. Liberals view the rodeo group as representing a historically conservative sector of the country. Whether that is true is debatable, but that is their belief. They now may potentially have someone from that sector who will sign up for 99 weeks of unemployment, food stamps, subsidized housing, free cell phone, and maybe college loans to pursue another career.

If you have the stomach for it, peruse a few liberal blogs. The vitriol is unbelievable. This is the group of people who hung Sarah Palin in effigy and mocked her handicapped son, but demand, rightly, that Obama’s girls not get any public scrutiny. This is the group who publicly said G.W. Bush should be killed and called talk show hostess Laura Ingraham a slut, but no one can criticize in any way anything Obama says or does.

Here is another example. In Tennessee, a Democrat state representative was offered a pack of mints poking satirical fun at Obama. The cover of the mints was titled “DisappointMints” with Obama’s picture. He demanded that they be removed from a university bookstore, to which they complied. Seriously? I thought a university was supposed to be a vehicle for intellectual debate, not censorship. What happened to free speech?

Never mind that Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, was the subject of similar satire. Remember the deck of playing cards with Bush’s picture that contained 54 jokers? What about the books with “George W. Bushisms” titles?

I don’t understand why liberals are so sensitive and so unhappy. They seem to be getting everything they want. They have virtually unlimited government benefits, liberal school loan policies, debt forgiveness, and will soon have nationalized health care. The only things still on the plate are nation-wide gay marriage and gun control. Their idol in the White House has managed to subvert Congress and the Supreme Court on a regular basis. Why are they still unhappy?

Liberal ranks are filled with Obama sycophants whose full time hobby is apparently looking for a way to be offended. It is a testament to the success of this country that they have the time to embark on this quest.

Liberals, lighten up. Quit trying so hard to find something to be offended about. It is getting to be a tired tactic, one that someday the rest of us will say to, “Enough of this foolishness.” Get over yourselves. Other than the damage you wreak on this nation, you really aren’t that important to the rest of us.

I would buy you a Good Humor ice cream bar but that would no doubt be considered an insult.

Tom Riggins’ column appears every other Friday.