Republican values - it is such a sad state of existence.

Abbreviated Pundit Round-up: How low can they go edition (Click here to read more)

Rss@dailykos.com (mark Sumner)
Sunday, May 18, 2014, 7:19 am
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Leonard Pitts peers into one of the ugliest depths of the political abyss.
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    Your little boy lies in a hospital bed, stricken by a mysterious, potentially fatal disease. You are frightened and in despair.
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    But your community rallies around you. Soon, the whole town is talking about your ordeal. Neighbors you've never spoken to send cards. Co-workers you've never socialized with send encouraging text messages.
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    None of it changes the objective fact of your son's condition, doesn't kill a virus, lessen a fever or ease his pain. All it does is tell you that you and your child are being thought of, that you are not alone.
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    So: So is that "pathetic?"
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    Rush Limbaugh would say it was. The National Review would find it "simple-minded." George F. Will would regard it as "an exercise in self-esteem."
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    Or at least, that is what they have said about a roughly analogous situation.
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    You probably know the story. A terrorist group in Nigeria kidnaps nearly 300 school girls. The reason is found in the abhorrent ideology from which it derives its name: Boko Haram - Western Education Is Forbidden. The families of the girls turn to their government for help and it shrugs. The story is likewise ignored in America by "news" media too busy handicapping the chances of Hillary Clinton's grandchild in the 2054 midterms to bother with anything so picayune as a mass kidnapping.
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    So supporters take to Twitter with a hashtag: #BringBackOurGirls. It spreads like fire. Michelle Obama, Ellen DeGeneres, Malala Yousafzai, Jesse Jackson, Amy Poehler and millions of lesser-known names all join the campaign.
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    ...It's hard to see how anyone - anyone - could regard that as a bad thing. But at least some political conservatives do. As noted, Limbaugh, Will and the National Review have all pronounced themselves unimpressed. Donald Trump, Ann Coulter and Fox's Steve Doocy have also made attempts at ridicule.
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    There is something more than usually saddening about that.