Congratulating Ourselves

by Matt Taibbi

H.L. Mencken once said: “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.” There is a corollary to that idea. It goes like this. “No American editorial writer ever lost his job by being too patriotic.” The rule even applies to those writers who actually cheapen American traditions by recalling them in grossly inappropriate situations. Take this offering by the Christian Science Monitor, normally one of the more circumspect of America’s major papers:

“On this Thanksgiving, Americans can draw together and celebrate their triumph over adversity— not unlike what the Pilgrims must have endured their first winter.”