So has Bush. The Web site Bushbodycount.com lists hundreds of murders in which Bush and his family have allegedly been involved, including the John F. Kennedy assassination. The abbreviation on left-wing sites for the Bushes is BFEE, the Bush Family Evil Empire. A book detailing the Bush family murders called "The Immaculate Deception" outsells mainstream anti-Bush books -- by Al Franken, et al. -- on Amazon.com, according to York.
The Clinton White House maintained that the ravings of an anti-Clinton fringe mattered because they seeped into the mainstream. It produced a 300-page report to this effect, the "Communication Stream of Conspiracy Commerce." By this standard, the anti-Bush lunacy should be considered important as well. The Democrats have a largely Bush-hating field of presidential candidates, including one -- Sen. Bob Graham -- who has talked of impeaching Bush, and another -- Howard Dean -- who fuels his surprisingly strong campaign with anti-Bush animus.
In 1994, Time Magazine ran a story called "Clintonophobia!" that quoted historian Alan Brinkley saying that Clinton was "the first president who has generated this kind of right-wing hatred" and that such negative passion could never be directed toward a Republican. "Liberals tend to value tolerance highly," he said, "so there's a greater reluctance to destroy enemies than among the right."
This is demonstrably false. There is a vocal Bush-hating chorus on the left that resents his narrow victory in Florida, that will never forgive him for invading Iraq and that can't stand his cowboy mannerisms. It spreads anti-Bush poison far and wide -- but don't hold your breath for the Time story about "Bushophobia!" For the media, only the right is capable of "hating."