OKAY, OKAY, SURE IT WOULD BE BETTER IF THEY LOVED OUR COUNTRY ALL THE TIME...:

Red, white and true blue: City hoists Old Glory: Stores see star-spangled sales (ANDREA JAMES AND KERY MURAKAMI, 11/06/08, Seattle P-I)

Barack Obama's presidential win held a poignant significance for liberal Seattleites: This is their America, too.

The feeling was evident in jubilant partying in the streets, in quiet moments of reflection and in blossoms of red, white and blue.

With newfound patriotism, Seattleites want to wave the flag, hang it from their homes and stick it on their cars.

"The thing that's kind of astounding to me is I never ever would have cared to own a flag," said Rosemary Garner, 42. "This is the first day in my life I actually feel this funny sense of pride about my country. It's a very foreign feeling, but it's a good one."

Garner, a self-described "flag virgin" who lives on Capitol Hill, bought eight flags Wednesday -- some to wave and others to stick on her car to "mix and match with some nice Obama and peace signs. Then I bought a couple of flags for some friends who wanted to hang them from their truck along with their biodiesel stickers." [...]

At All the King's Flags in Ballard, people have been snatching up American flags.

"Just today I've had a noticeable rush on U.S. flags," said James Sawyer, assistant manager. "I had a lady come in and she said she's happy to be an American again, that's why she was buying a flag."

Of a dozen customers, one had supported McCain and worried about rising taxes, but everyone else was upbeat, manager Alex White said.

While flag waving is normal in some parts of the country, the Stars and Stripes haven't been so ubiquitous in Seattle.

"People around here don't fly flags like they do on the East Coast," said Seattle flag maker Carol Anderson, who hails from Rhode Island but has lived in Seattle for seven years.

...and, no, it isn't fair that it is only Republicans who are expected to be--and will be--magnanimous in defeat. But, the fact of the matter is that the American political system and to some degree the society generally has been infected since Florida 2000 and if the election of a Democrat can just drain some of the pus out it's all to the good.

We're with Karl Rove:

O'REILLY: All right. Are you worried about Obama? Are you worried about this man?

ROVE: Look, I think…

O'REILLY: Come on, tell me the truth as an American, not as a pundit, not as a…

ROVE: Let me tell you what I feel as an American. First, as an American, I love my country and I want my president to succeed.

O'REILLY: So you want him to succeed…

ROVE: I want him to succeed.

O'REILLY: ...even though he's in the other party.

ROVE: That's right. Look, I was there when a president came in whom a lot of people in this country said, we don't think he's president, we will never accept him as legitimate. And I saw how bad it was for the country.

O'REILLY: The Bush haters.

ROVE: The Bush haters. And so I don't want to be one of those. I want to be a person who says I want our new president-elect to succeed. When he takes that oath of office after January 20, it's the obligation of every American to give him a chance. And we agree with him when we think he's right. We hope he's open to persuasion if his mind is open and not made up. And when he's wrong, we do have an obligation to say with all due respect we disagree. [...]

ROVE: And look, but here's the point. Now he's got the job. And we got to — every American hope that he is and pray for and support him in being up for the job.

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 10, 2008 6:55 AM