17 responses to “About that “Hand over Heart” Claim…”

1. 

   michael reynolds

   February 7, 2012 at 11:39 am

   Because we aren’t exceptional any longer. We are not the freest nation on Earth. Our people are not the healthiest or best-educated or longest-lived or even the richest. Our infrastructure is a mess and our institutions are looking ragged.

   So we’re having a slow motion nervous breakdown. We’re in fervid denial. If we just keep angrily asserting our own wonderfulness maybe we can keep the truth from being seen.
2. 

   Gold Star for Robot Boy

   February 7, 2012 at 12:14 pm

   Why are so many American so insecure that they have to create a world in their own minds wherein America is exceptional in every way?

   I’ll take the question even further: How have Republicans created a paradoxical America, where our nation is the world’s strongest EVAH yet it’s about to crumble because of (Moozlims, teh ghey, Planned Parenthood, etc.)
3. 

   murray

   February 7, 2012 at 12:14 pm

   “Why are so many American so insecure that they have to create a world in their own minds wherein America is exceptional in every way?”

   In some sense you answered the question. The operative word is insecure. I don’t think one can pin point a single reason for this insecurity, but nationalism seems to be, if not the cure, at least the soother. (I am a nobody but at least I am an American.)

   I would note that it isn’t specific to the US. All countries have insecure nationalists, but as several foreign friends have told me, it’s perhaps more striking in the US when compared to the boisterous self confidence of most Americans.
4. 

   Hey Norm

   February 7, 2012 at 12:27 pm

   “…they have to create a world in their own minds…”

   I think you are trying to ascribe a big picture phenomenon in an instance where it doesn’t apply…Romney is simply a pathological liar. I’m not talking about opinions that I may disagree with…I’m talking about claims of fact…like the heart claim…that are verifiably untrue. Romney loves to brag about his stint managing the Olympics…given that experience how could he not know the truth about this?
   Romney somehow manages to make even Sarah Palin look like the honest person her followers fantasize her to be.
5. 

   Stormy Dragon

   February 7, 2012 at 1:25 pm

   The funny thing is when I was growing up, I was always taught that American Exceptionalism was a goal that created duties, rather than a state of being. That is, is we want to be different from the rest of the world, we must as citizens accept burdens that the citizens of other countries would probably not put up with. Not, as most people seem to think today, that we are inherently different from the rest of the world, and this makes us naturally superior and gives us free rein to ignore the rules that everyone else has to live by.
6. 

   Steven L. Taylor

   February 7, 2012 at 1:32 pm

   @Hey Norm:

   I think you are trying to ascribe a big picture phenomenon in an instance where it doesn’t apply

   Actually, I think is actually very much indicative of a larger phenomenon. Another example in just the last week: the flap over Ruth Bader Ginsberg and the question of using the US Constitution as a model.
7. 

   Hey Norm

   February 7, 2012 at 2:00 pm

   @ SLT…
   Not to say the phenomenon does not exist…it does…but the Occums Razor answer in this instance is that Romney is simply a liar…and his lies cover a multitude of topics including, but not limited to, American Exceptionalism.
8. 

   Doubter4444

   February 7, 2012 at 2:13 pm

   @Gold Star for Robot Boy: Exactly, I have the same thought
   the loudest bellowers of American Exceptionalism are the loudest shouters of upcoming the American Armageddon.
   Why are they so afraid?
   I’m pretty centrist and I think the country is strong enough to get through this, that we are not in a existential crisis, that things are messed up but that we’ll get it done.
   I can only think that it’s the bully mentality – Bullies are the biggest pussies, and the most insecure.

   So, we either are going to hell in a handbasket, or not.
   We are either Great, or not.
   At least a logical thought process would be that we were great and are no longer.
   That we need to come back.
   That’s it half time in America!
   But any disparagement like that is jumped on – as witness the Chrysler ad from the weekend and the reaction it got.
9. 

   Curtis

   February 7, 2012 at 3:09 pm

   Americans are the only people to put their hands over their hearts for the Star Spangled Banner. That is the only national anthem that counts. Those others put their hands over their hearts for some other song. But it isn’t the national anthem.
10. 

    Tillman

    February 7, 2012 at 3:25 pm

    Eh, as long as you have a kickass military, you can claim whatever you want. Our friends who observe our lack of exceptionalness nowadays forget we still cover their missile defense costs.

    So we’re deluded! We still have bombs.
11. 

    Tillman

    February 7, 2012 at 3:27 pm

    @Curtis: Yeah, what the hell is with America the Beautiful? Don’t read me wrong, it’s a *cough* beautiful song and moving in its own right. But it’s not the national anthem! Stop singing it everywhere!

    I have this pet theory that people start secretly despising the Star-Spangled Banner once they learn the melody is based on a British drinking song.
12. 

    Curtis

    February 7, 2012 at 3:36 pm

    Well, I was thinking that the Chinese people put their hands over their hearts for the Chinese national anthem. But that is just a national anthem. NOT THE NATIONAL ANTHEM!!! Americans are the only people who put their hands over their hearts FOR THE NATIONAL ANTHEM!!
13. 

    Steven L. Taylor

    February 7, 2012 at 4:47 pm

    @Curtis: So, you are arguing that Romney simply is saying that only Americans put their hands over their hearts for the US National Anthem (i.e., the Star Spangled Banner)?

    Isn’t that like saying that only Americans salute the American flag (i.e, the Stars and Stripes)?
14. 

    MM

    February 7, 2012 at 8:41 pm

    @Hey Norm: Romney lies a lot, but he lies because he believes that they will help him gain support. There’s a calculation there that saying Americans are the only people to put their hands on their hearts will get him support from those people who not only believe that Americans are exceptional, but require it to be proven in increasingly ridiculous or trivial ways.
15. 

    MarkedMan

    February 7, 2012 at 9:49 pm

    You know, it is a truism in America (and many other fine places around the world, thank you very much) that if you’ve really got the skills you don’t need to be strutting around thumping your test. I would take it a step farther and say that it’s a truism that if you are strutting it indicates you don’t really have those skills at all. So, given that probably 90% of Americans would accept the above as given, why the heck is being a loudmouth jerk such a political advantage?
16. 

    Curtis

    February 8, 2012 at 2:22 pm

    Basically, I just suck at satire.

    To the people Romney is hoping to convince with this nonsense, anytime you see a foreigner with his hand over his heart, that is just some clanging in the backround, not the national anthem.

    Because, you see, the anthem is part of what makes America exceptional!
17. 

    gVOR08

    February 8, 2012 at 2:31 pm

    @Steven L. Taylor: @Curtis: We gotta invent a snark font for the intertubes.