The damage done with the Laura threads

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

Yesterday saw serious investigative work done by Walt Starr on the medals issue. Agree with him or not, challenge him or not, the man did his homework and could defend his position.

This past weeked, DO YOU EVER WONDER did GREAT work documenting the Republican party's direct relationship with the Swiftboaters in FLA.

Now ask yourself...do the threads started CLAIMING Laura was a prostitute (even as a joke) ADD to or DETRACT from the hard investigative work done by other DU'ers?

DOES it lend credibility to THOSE excellent investigative threads or does it DETRACT from them?

Are we using DU as a tool or are others using US as a tool?

[WilliamPitt]

1. Or are we just dealing with tools?

:evilgrin:

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

4. well I am but that's between me and my gal

:evilgrin:

[WilliamPitt]

6. bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Jackpine Radical]

14. No--that was Laura

who was dealing with tools back when she was a working girl.

[TheRovingGourmet]

2. I've been called a tool, but no specifics were given so this

might not help with your post. :)

[Cuban_Liberal]

3. Actually, it was TOOLS who posted the lame threads, IMO...

Guess we at DU can sink to the RW's level, huh? (I agree with you, btw).

[Democat]

5. Why weren't those threads moved to the Lounge?

Isn't that what usually happens to "joke" threads?

[xray s]

7. detraction

Incredibly stupid.

The Laura threads should have been deleted.

[Cuban_Liberal]

10. All flame bait should be deleted, so you are correct. n/t

[WMliberal]

8. nah. if you can't tell what's a joke or what hasn't been

researched, then you're also likely to be part of the 52% who still think that WMD's were found in Iraq. you're very susceptable to demagoguery.

[frylock]

16. word

[RandomKoolzip]

9. I thought the first thread, the Hannity/pedophilia thread,

was witty and refreshingly bold. The second one, about Laura Bush, was overdoing it.

And, after some time to think and some illuminating posts from other DUers, I can see that it was, in its own way, kinda shameful.

STILL, had there been a * thread about unconfirmed reports about him killing puppies, I might have thought it was a road worth travelling. Going after Laura, and being so off-the-leash about it, hurts DU's image in the short term. I mean, the sheer amount of time I've spent reading just ONE of the GD Plame threads.....This is important stuff! And Walt Starr's thread, etc. THAT'S what DU should be. The Laura threads shoulda been in the lounge, where we would have been less susceptable to taking them seriously.

The IDEA was good, the execution stunk.

[WMliberal]

11. let's keep the hobag allegations to the daughters then?

:shrug:

[RandomKoolzip]

12. "hobag?"

n/t

[WMliberal]

13. skank. woman of ill-repute.

whatever you want to call it.

[jonnyblitz]

17. "the IDEA was good, the execution stunk" is exactly it!!

:thumbsup:

[frylock]

15. not sure i follow you..

did Walt drop his research to follow up on the obviously tongue in cheek references to Laura Welch's alleged forays into the world of prostitution? Are you suggesting that his research is all for naught because he posted his research on a board that contained a thread besmirching dear Laura?

The best way to deal with posts that you feel are of a controversial nature is to simply ignore them. The longer those threads get, the more apt people are to investigate and possibly add to them. Or are you suggesting outright censorship? The mods left the post up, and they ultimately are the ones with the authority to decide which threads stay and which ones go.

[Warren DeMontague]

18. The Laura Bush Threads WERE A Distraction...

From serious investigation into the George Bush poo-eating allegations.

Seriously, come on now. Not a week ago, you had a woman (sorry, a person- I wouldn't want to be accused of slamming her for her gender) get up on Cable News, in front of millions of viewers, and essentially charge that John Kerry deliberately wounded himself to get at least one of his purple hearts. Now, this wasn't on an internet message board, this was on television. Chris Matthews took her to task, roundly, and rightly so-- nevertheless, it was indicative of the kind of slanderous crappo that the other side is able to float into the public airwaves-- and if you think it doesn't make it into the minds of undecided voters, you're kidding yourself.

Do I think the SVT thing has run it's course, and is starting to backfire? Absolutely. But the fact remains that they have been able to spread this ludicrous misinformation, with a good deal of media complicity-- even though it's the kind of thing that can't stand up to any sort of journalistic scrutiny whatsoever.

The Laura Bush and other threads were a pointed commentary on that. Frankly, I thought the Laura idea was weaker than some of the others. But they were, quite obviously, satire. Okay, so move them to the lounge--- but I think it's a major friggin stretch to imagine they "hurt" anyone's causes.

[Cheswick2.0]

23. some people just can't stand to have their right to be as ignorant

as they wanna be questioned. God forbid you interupt good sexist fun.

[Warren DeMontague]

25. Right. So take it up with them.

In case you didn't notice, that's not what my post was about.

[jonnyblitz]

19. sounds like some need the "hide the thread" function

to be working again.

[NMDemDist2]

20. the OP has a good point, lots of new people are visiting us for the

first time

just a thought...

[hang a left]

21. I thought they were funny. I read the posts when the threads

were started. It was comical how in one of the original posts the poster was repeating what her sister's friend's brother had heard....bla bla bla, and they believed it. That was funny. Then someone said they googled and found out that Laura had gone to that college and lived in that city in that year so this confirmed the accusations. That was funny too. And then someone said that they had enough to write the article or book or something. It was hillarious to me and it was a refreshing break from all the SBSV that have been causing alot of people heartache for days now.

I don't think that it somehow negated the real investigative threads that I also enjoy, perhaps too much. It was like an onion story. It feels good to get some laughs in during the day, especially when Kerry is getting smeared everywhere, overtime pay has ceased, Fallujah and Najaf are burning to the ground, Iran is threatening Israel, Gas is 48$ a barrel, Democratic mayors are endorsing *, and voter registration fraud is taking place in Florida, just to mention a few of yesterday's events.

Breathe everyone, breathe.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

22. Very excellent point

since if it were an Onion article, it would be in the lounge, just as Najaf is in LBN, and other serious issues are in serious forums.

Thanks for making my point for me. It's always appreciated when somone gets it even if they don't agree entirely.

[Cheswick2.0]

24. Walts work was great

I hope he has stored it all for future reference.

[Generator]

26. Next thing ya know the Repubs will accuse us of having a

hatefest or being UnAmerican, or worse, not being PC! (oops that's the Left side of the fence)

WAIT, they already did that. The monkey is out of the barn.

[David Zephyr]

27. To NSMA With Love.

After nearly two weeks of watching the national media (real "whores") give serious attention to an obviously orchestrated campaign to undermine John Kerry's character, the witty sarcasm that Troublemaker posted was understandable. I thought the point that was being made in that thread (I may be wrong) was that if such an outrageous pack of lies could reach the point of being taken seriously by the national press, then why not something as flippant and equally repugnant as an accusation (also without proof) that the wife of a grandly self-righteous President might be a prostitute.

Cheswick, one of DU's finest, also rightfully hammered back that the humor could have dealt with the First Lady's auto-accident, her shameful defense of the Confederate Flag, or a host of other things...without falling back on the tired and, yes, sexist charge of prostitution. I agree with her.

Is Troublemaker's anger at the national media-whores' unfair and gleeful participation in smearing a hero like John Kerry understandable? Yes. Is Cheswick's high antenna and filter for sexist language an asset? We'd all better believe it. We're better off for it.