Originally Posted by ratbastid

Oh, it's way worse than that. They've stolen and co-opted patriotism to use as a divisive campaign-winning and policy-pushing tactic.

The extent to which the "Obama Secret Muslim No Flag Pin God Damn America Wipes his Ass with Old Glory" meme has spread speaks to how well it has worked. Within certain demographies, it's almost completely bought into, and those groups are noisy, but are far from representing America at large.