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In National Review, Conservative Author Says Most Liberals Are “Traitors”

National Review Online (NRO) features an interview today with author and retired Air Force Lt. Colonel Robert “Buzz” Patterson, who accuses “Democrat politicians, big media, academia, popular culture, and nongovernmental organizations” of forming “a Fifth Column” that is “facilitating defeat against Islamo-fascism.”

Patterson, the author of an upcoming book with the title, “War Crimes: The Left’s Campaign to Destroy Our Military and Lose the War on Terror,” is a right-wing radio host with ties to various conservative organizations.

In the interview and his book, “Buzz” Patterson isn’t afraid to accuse people he disagrees with of treason:

Kathryn Jean Lopez: Your upcoming book begins with a quote from Cicero about how a nation “cannot survive treason from within.” Surely you’re not calling Democrats traitors. Or are you?

“Buzz” Patterson: I am. They certainly are if their behavior during our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is held up to the light of the U.S. Constitution. Article III, Section 3 defines treason against the United States as “adhering to (our) enemies, giving them aid and comfort. Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Dick Durbin, and John Murtha, amongst others, are guilty of exactly that. […]

It’s not just the Democrats though but many on the Left — its faculties and administrations on college campuses, big media, Hollywood, and left-wing organizations such as the Ford Foundation, Moveon.org, United for Peace and Justice, etc. What is particularly disturbing to me is that these Americans are doing it while their fellow citizens are fighting and dying in combat. The best ally that al Qaeda has these days is the Democrat Party leadership. It’s reprehensible.

Patterson’s comments were approvingly linked by NRO contributor and Townhall columnist W. Thomas Smith Jr. later in the day.

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Accusations of treason have become an alltoocommon tactic used by conservatives against critics of the Iraq war. Just last week, disgraced former Rep. Tom DeLay accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) of “getting very, very close to treason.”

Previously, this kind of attack was mainly found in the fever swamps of talk radio or the conservative blogosphere, but the National Review is the largest conservative magazine in the country. Its columnists regularly appear on major media outlets like NBC’s Meet The Press. They should have higher standards than aiding and abetting such derogatory attacks on the patriotism of literally millions of Americans.

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