First Shot in the War on Christmas: Fake Obama “Holiday Tree” Rumor

capitoltreelgLet the games begin. There’s a poll going around on Facebook (based on a made-up email) that the Obamas have outlawed the use of the word “Christmas” to describe the green thing that holds up ornaments during the month of December, and insist on calling it a “holiday tree” instead. Anyone who is not a paranoid, gullible, racist, religious moron could smell from a mile away that this doesn’t pass the stink test but it turns out that a surprising number of my Facebook friends are paranoid, gullible, racist, religious morons.

I checked Snopes, the email rumor busting web site, and sure enough, they’ve researched this one. Not only will the Obamas refer to their decorations as being of Christmas in nature, they are even reversing previous Bush-era policies that barred the use of religious symbols on the Capitol Christmas Tree, which is set up on the West Lawn of the Capitol on the Mall.

The Capitol Christmas Trees are cut each year from a national forest, and this year the tree is being provided, ironically enough, by Arizona, Sen. John McCain’s home state. School children, Brownie troops, and retirement community residents in the Grand Canyon State have been busy making ornaments for the tree that reflect Arizona-ness, and according to the photo gallery on the tree’s web site, CapitolChristmasTree2009, we’re going to see a lot of decorated gourds, metal stars, Mr. Sun Faces and cacti. The only Forest Service imposed requirements (and the Forest Service and Architect of the U.S. Capitol are in charge here) were that ornaments had to be weather-proof, not made of glass or plastic, and meet size requirements.

I’m sure this won’t be the end of it. Every year, the “It’s O.K. to say Merry Christmas to me” folks claim to be the victims of a conspiracy of politically correct language that prohibits good Christians from using the word “Christmas.” To level the score, they go ballistic when anyone uses the word, “holiday” instead. The result is a draw. It becomes impossible to know whether it’s more politically incorrect to say “holiday” or “Christmas,” so people sit at keyboards consumed in doubt, not knowing how to proceed.

This year, what with the worked-up birthers, tea baggers, anti-taxers, death panel believers, Klan fans, gun nuts, and anti-government anarchists out there, we can expect even more idiocy.

At Pensito Review, we know exactly what to do. It’s not O.K. to say merry Christmas to us, unless you really mean it and aren’t making an angry political statement.