Bob Ehrlich: When Leftists Say 'Love,' Here's What They Really Mean
Merriam-Webster defines “love” as “affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests.”
Such was the pundits’ response to the 2020 election: “Love won.” And what an effective take it was. Here, the media assured us that “love” was a workable stand-in for the charisma-challenged Joe Biden. They further assured us that “Amtrak Joe” was a strongly preferred alternative to the decidedly un-lovable Donald J. Trump.
For some left-leaning moderates, the love motif may have reminded them of “hope and change,” that equally vapid but effective slogan so brilliantly employed by one Barack Obama.
That few could articulate what “hope,” “change” and “love” meant in the world of real politics was never a major problem. Suffice that the words conveyed a fuzzy positive energy that would appeal to America’s better instincts. Per President Obama, that we would find ourselves “on the right side of history.”
Six months into the Biden-Harris administration, we now have a much better feel for what love actually means for America going forward.
Love means a shuttered Keystone pipeline.
Love means an opened Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
Love means pretending that our fiercest opponent is a country with a GDP the size of Texas (Russia).
Love means no more sentimental Sunday New York Times odes to America’s working class.
Love means the end of energy independence.
Love means a convulsed southern border.
Love means law and order are mocked by sanctuary towns and cities.
Love means the communist Chinese throw woke rhetoric back at your secretary of State.
Love means selling NBA jerseys trumps Uyghur concentration camps.
Love means silent acceptance of brutal repression in Hong Kong.
Love means NATO deadbeats are (again) free to slowplay their fair share.
Love means American taxpayers are (again) funding the PLO.
Love means Hamas is (again) lobbing missiles into Israel.
Love means Europe leads, America follows.
Love means an additional $15 to fill up your gas tank.
Love means the destruction of once-beautiful U.S. cities.
Love means indicting firearms dealers rather than violent felons.
Love means antifa is only “an idea.”
Love means watching entire police units retire en masse.
Love means progressive schools must proclaim their racism.
Love means public school kids sit out an entire year of classroom instruction.
Love means female athletes lose out to male athletes.
Love means speech for me, but not for thee.
Love means a Second Amendment on the ropes.
Love means opening casinos and tattoo parlors but closing churches.
Love means late-term abortion on demand.
Love means inaccurate reporting on Donald J. Trump is forever sentenced to the memory hole of “whatever it takes.”
Love means Hunter continues to cash in.
And, until last week, love meant photo identification at the polls is racist.
Now, I’m all in for love. I know love makes the world go ‘round. But all this talk about love from the progressive left is reminding me of that famous line from Tina Turner’s hit, “What’s Love Got to Do with It”: “What’s love but a second-hand emotion?”
When it comes to politics, Tina sure appears to be on to something.
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