Columnist: Thin-skinned liberals smear critics

Columnist Jack Kelly of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette points out the hypocrisy of liberals who spent eight years bashing George W. Bush but now declare a no-criticism zone around Barack Obama.

The knee-jerk reaction from the far-left is to label anyone who criticizes Obama's policies as a racist or someone who is advocating the overthrow of the government.

From Kelly's column:

What a difference an election can make!

Dissent is the highest form of patriotism, we were told by leading liberal pundits and Democratic politicians from Jan. 20, 2001 to Jan. 19, 2009. According to these worthies, there were few more noble ways to express dissent than protest demonstrations, which were frequent during the Bush administration.

Their attitudes have changed since Jan. 20, 2009. Today, some criticism of the president is "borderline sedition," said Time columnist Joe Klein. It could lead to another Oklahoma City bombing, warned former President Bill Clinton.

Mr. Klein was upset because radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh had used the word "regime" to describe the Obama administration. But how many liberals called it seditious when critics referred to the Bush administration as the "Bush regime," which, according to Google, happened at least 6,500 times.

Read the full column at the newspaper's Web site.