Yes, it really happened. On a major conservative online blog.
Barack Obama is not an underdog - factually he is just a rabid mongrel.
That's the President of the United States they're blogging about, folks. Our Commander in Chief. During a time of war.
Back in 2007, President Obama made the point that his funny-sounding name would make him a perpetual underdog. In 2011, his effort to overcome the Bush recession makes him an underdog once more.
And haters gonna hate.
It's astonishing to me how those who criticized Democrats last decade for attacks on President Bush are now so comfortable with attacks on our current president. Personally, I'm all in favor of free speech and don't begrudge anyone's right to use inflammatory or insulting language to talk about someone else.
But I'm one of those "compassionate conservative" types who voted for Bush in 2000 and wants politics and government to represent what's best in our communities. I'm not a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat and I'm not a socialist government-takeover type who wants to nationalize the banks or engage in class warfare.
I'm assuming there are a lot of Democrats like me - folks like Van Jones who say, "We don't want to win the food fight; we want to end the food fight."
It's entirely possible to offer withering critiques of bad ideas and vicious people, but without using epithets. Too much of what passes for political speech today is just hate speech wearing a bow tie.
I don't have any special wisdom on how to change the political discourse. I know that there are times where I've let fly with some stuff online that I'd never say to someone's face. All I know is that America can do better.