Destination: Moronica

Moronica…that lovely tropical, lush and utterly ridiculous liberal fantasy-land is attracting new residents by the day it seems. This week’s newest residents come to us from Santa Barbara.

Courtesy of MoveOn.org about 100 protestors converged on the Downtown Santa Barbara post-office in demonstration against the President and the NSA surveillance program:

About 100 people gathered on the steps of the downtown Santa Barbara post office on Wednesday night to protest the wiretapping of American citizens by the federal government.

The 6 p.m. event, one of many across the country sponsored by the left-leaning MoveOn.org, was punctuated by calls for President Bush's impeachment by former Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson.

One Santa Barbara resident, Marilyn Berman, was apparently drawn into the protest while simply driving by: [she] was driving home from work on Anacapa Street when she saw the knot of protesters toting candles and signs bearing messages such as "Honk 4 Impeachment." She parked and joined them.

During a speech by Santa Barbara City Councilman Das Williams -- who's running for the 2nd District county supervisor's seat -- Ms. Berman called someone on her cell phone.

"There's this little rally by the post office. They're talking about impeaching Bush and everything," she told the person on the phone, shortly before being shushed by a protester. "It's awesome."

It’s awesome alright; an awesome example of rhetoric overshadowing any of the reasonable arguments for or against the program that should be made in it's place. Do not pass go, do not collect $200 dollars. Go directly to super-heated, over-the-top rhetoric. Wait though; it gets better.

Santa Barbara resident and scholar Robin Doer oozes the essence of Moronica in her summation of the evening’s events:

Santa Barbara resident Robin Doer said she was moved by Ms. Jackson's words.

"I think it's great that people are finally -- finally -- standing up against the hypocrisy," said Ms. Doer, who said she just completed a doctoral degree at UCSB. "It parallels what happened in Hitler's rise."

That is absurdly wrong. Wrong and irresponsible. Wrong because as a matter of simple fact, there are no parallels in modern America to Hitler’s Germany, regardless how many times people on the left imply it; Irresponsible because it is so over-the-top that it obscures any and all discussion that should be going on over the wisdom and legality of the NSA program.

I put Ms. Doer and folks like her in with the Clinton-hating conservatives of the 1990’s. They accused him of murder, drug-trafficking and all kinds of other improprieties without much in the way of proof, denigrating the office of President in the process.

Likewise, some even predicted that Clinton would suspend the 2000 elections indefinitely if Y2K-related issues were severe enough. Such rhetoric was absurd and irresponsible.

So are Ms. Doer and her fellow travelers. But then again, this is Moronica.