Pimping Made Easy, with John Boehner

I wasn't sure I even wanted to bother with the story, but at least it has a fairly amusing coda. Democrats came under fire last week when the DCCC started to run an ad that featured an image of (gasp!) flag-draped coffins of soldiers killed in Iraq. You know what that means-- Republicans instantly screamed that Democrats are un-American, tragedy-pimping, terrorist-coddling blah blah blah. The Dems did turn out to be pretty chicken, though, and dutifully pulled the ad. Pitiful.

But the irony of the situation hasn't been lost on everyone. The entire progressive blog and at least one reporter are aware of the fact that corpses pulled from the World Trade Center and other flag-wavin' imagery of 9/11 has been-- and continues to be-- a staple of GOP campaign ads since 2001.

Tom DeLay replacement and clone John Boehner tried to explain why one is OK and the other is borderline treasonous when pressed by a reporter for the Cincinatti Inquirer:

Questioned by reporters on what the difference was, Boehner seemed tongue-tied. "These were American citizens killed by terrorists. That is a very different policy issue than American soldiers dying on the battlefield protecting the rights and freedoms of American people."

"How so?" a reporter asked.

"How so? You want me to describe the difference between men and women of the military out there defending the American people, and victims - victims - of terrorist activities?" Boehner asked.

"They were both killed by opponents, right? Terrorists or Islamic insurgents?" a reporter pressed.

An exasperated Boehner said: "The World Trade Center victims were victims of a terrorist act here on our shore and I think all Americans were appalled that this did in fact happen. But I think the differences, in terms of the images, are as clear as night and day."

Thanks for clearing that up, dumbass.