Having just lived through eight years of people who think they're nicer than me eagerly and vocally wishing George W Bush dead, it's interesting to see that the same people have such mixed feelings about the death of Osama bin Laden. The mangled Martin Luther King misquote doing the rounds — "I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy" — is telling when you remember the huge cheer that went up during James's gig at the SECC — that's a lefty band playing a socialist city — for the proposal that George Bush die. That and a thousand other little events just like it.
They celebrated Reagan's death, they condemned Reagan's attempt to kill Gaddafi, they spent most of a decade shouting for the death of Bush, they were awfully pleased about Fortuyn's murder, they mourned Arafat, they never fucking shut up about looking forward to the big party when Thatcher dies, and now they're awfully upset that people might be pleased about the death of bin Laden. What I really don't understand is why they get so angry when we point out they're not on our side. They clearly don't want to be.