“Gateway Pundit” Jim Hoft, St. Louis’s resident birther blogger, was frothing-at-the-mouth angry this morning over what he said was the “socialist message” of President Obama’s commencement speech to the graduating class of Joplin, Missouri, a city ravaged by a devastating tornado last year.  What was the evidence for Hoft’s claim (not that a birther cares about evidence)? Here’s the passage he highlighted:

‘The road has been hard. The day has been long. But we have tomorrow, so we march. We march together,’ he said on the first anniversary of the deadly tornado strike… 

‘As you begin the next stage in your journey, you will encounter greed and selfishness; ignorance and cruelty. … You will meet people who try to build themselves up by tearing others down; who believe looking after others is only for suckers,’ he said. 

‘My deepest hope for all of you … [is that] you can serve as a reminder that we’re not meant to walk this road alone; that we’re not expected to face down adversity by ourselves,’ he told his audience. ‘We’re stronger together than we are on our own.’

So, in other words, President Obama is saying that people need to work together and care about their fellow citizens.  And, of course, he was saying this in the context of a town that was completely devastated by a tornado and had been doing a good job rebuilding precisely because people in the town were willing to work together and had been getting help from other Americans.

I honestly don’t know how someone could be so ridiculous as to think that helping other people out and not being selfish is “evil.”  As @jbposnanski pointed out on Twitter, Hoft has all the makings of a cartoon villain, openly rooting for greed and selfishness while condemning “working together.” Hoft’s sentiments, of course, are also completely at odds with the Golden Rule and the New Testament, though he’s happy to use his Christian beliefs to bash others.  What a piece of work.

By the way, here’s the local coverage of the President’s visit.