Some DUers need a MAJOR attitude adjustment.

[GaYellowDawg]

In a thread below, I saw a response that I couldn't believe. In a thread about a book that shows Ann Coulter for what she really is, there was a response that said to just ignore her and the book just wanted to make money off of us.

Ignore her? WHAT?!?

It should have been made crystal clear over the past few years that ignoring the lies, petty slams, fabrications, etc. of the right leads INEVITABLY to defeat. The Republicans and Karl Rove in particular have figured something out: if you say some completely ridiculous things about your opponents, unless they respond vehemently, the public will buy into it. There seems to be this incredibly strong misperception that is apparently a central core of Democratic strategists - unfortunately echoed here by some - that surely people won't believe ridiculous accusations. Guess what? If not countered, they do. It is, simply, gossip on a national scale... and anyone who thinks that gossip doesn't have an effect is brain-dead.

You know why there's a perception that Democrats are milquetoasts? Because we don't fight back. For instance, the whole Swift Boat thing. Kerry should have nailed those lying creeps to the wall, but he didn't, and the longer he ignored them, the bigger the play they got in the Republican noise machine. Thus, Republicans are beneficiaries on two different levels: 1) the ridiculous accusations stick; and 2) Democrats who stand still for them are regarded as wimps.

Ignore Ann Coulter? That's like saying, "Oh, just ignore the cancer. It will go away." You just can't get stupider than that. Ignoring the right's lunatic accusations isn't just wrong. It's exactly wrong - and by that, I mean that it's the worst possible response. We've seen it in the Dukakis, Gore, and Kerry elections. The only Democratic campaign that was smart enough to hit back was President Clinton's, and he won, twice.

What it comes down to is very simple. A Republican hits you in the mouth, hit him back. Twice. Knock him to the ground. Kick him while he's down. Make such a bloody example of him that other Republicans reconsider hitting anyone. If you're John Kerry, the second that you hear the Swift Boat bilge, you state in no uncertain terms that they're lying, that the neocon pundits and major Bush administration officials have to do this by proxy because they didn't have the courage to be in Viet Nam 30 years ago, and that lack of personal courage is echoed today in that they're too gutless to acknowledge that this is one of their dirty tricks.

Hit back! There are some who think that doing so mimics Republicans. It absolutely doesn't. Republicans start dirty lies and innuendos. They use proxy groups to disavow direct links with their dirty tricks. I am saying that we as Democrats slap them down with the truth. Do so vehemently. There is such a thing as righteous anger. It's high time we unleashed it on our opposition.

[bryant69]

1. I largely agree with this

Republicans do keep promoting and supporting Ann - and she says some clearly psychotic things. We need to tag them with their association.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[blm]

36. Clinton hit back in 92 - media stopped covering Dems hitting back in 97.

And it was Clinton who proved milquetoast by allowing an entire cottage industry of hit and run books to go unanswered - even the ones written after 9-11 that blamed him.

Clinton hit back NOW after waiting for FIVE YEARS. Burdening EVERY Democrat with the weak on terror because Clinton did nothing meme.

[IChing]

2. Ted Rall's battle with anne and his latest cartoon on her

[DoctorMyEyes]

3. Hit 'em with the chair!

Every fucking day!

[MadMaddie]

4. I agree...it is well past time to turn the other cheek....ignore them

the Big Dawg pulled off the gloves and now it's time for the rest of the Dems to pull off the gloves....

It's already been proven she is a plagerist....more facts like this need to get out...

[DinahMoeHum]

8. Methinks you mean turning "all four cheeks". . .

:evilgrin:

[yurbud]

12. you turn your butt cheeks to these guys and you'll get a mop handle

in between them.

[MadMaddie]

15. bwaw...haw..haw....

:rofl:

[magellan]

5. Hear, hear!

Stand up to the bastards!

Righteous advice, GaYellowDawg, recommended. :)

[LSK]

6. damn right, if the lies go unanswered, they become the truth

[no_hypocrisy]

7. Here's my take on it.

Ann Coulter may or may not be genuine in her beliefs, that is, in her mind (and her agent's), this is shtick/entertainment and a way to generate attention, hence profits.

But here's the problem. There are enough consumers of this political/societal pap that absorb her vitriole and make it their viewpoint, and spread it further than Ann can. Like a bad attitude virus.

It's a free country. She has a right to make an ass out of herself. But the last time I looked, we also have the right to criticize her rants and make appropriate corrections before her viewpoint becomes recorded as "fact". That's why she can't be ignored. We are guardians of "The Record".

[Frances]

9. Good points.

[yurbud]

10. We should respond to people proportionate to their profile and access

to the media.

I wouldn't spend a lot of time on Fred Phelps unless he was already in the news at the moment.

[yurbud]

11. ANN COULTER is the id of the GOP voter--she says what they want to do

and one of the things that shook me about Bush years early on was they started to close the gap between Coulter type rhetoric and how they behaved.

If the New York Times fired all their moles like Judith Miller, I have no doubt that Ann's wish that Tim McVeigh visited them would come true.

[Raffi Ella]

25. "ANN COULTER is the id of the GOP voter"

Exactly.She is a window into their psyche.We cannot ignore her.


Excellent post OP.Couldn't agree more. :kick:

[yurbud]

29. the problem the OP notices is how we got here in the first place

I was fairly conservative in high school and college in part because the left didn't address the same concerns the right did, and certainly not in as digestible a form.

It was almost like the left used to be Dennis Miller--"if you don't get what I'm saying, that's your loss, baby,"

The closest the left came to making a positive impression on me as a kid was the environmental movement because it was so ingrained in our culture in Oregon, and those "Look for the union label" commercials.

[yurbud]

13. borrow a page from GOP: respond with ridicule or at least laughter

She doesn't even rise to the subtlty of a nazi propagandist--she is more like Charles Manson on an especially manic day.

[Sammy Pepys]

14. I somewhat agree with ignoring her...

Getting reactions out Dems is part of her schtick, and heightens her influence. That's what Reps like her so much.

I don't agree that we should pretend she doesn't exists, but I definitely think we need to pick our battles.

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. But she's not a Republican politician, just an attack dog

so even when you show her to be an ignorant, lying asshole, you haven't gained much. She's so extreme that many Republicans disown her. Any victory over her thus does not really look like a victory over Republicans, and thus has diverted time that could have been spent acheiving victories over the actual politicians. I think it's perfectly reasonable to say "it's self-evident she's a fucking idiot", and leave it at that. Her arguments are so damn stupid that only the dumbfuck 'permanent Republican voter' can possibly think they're any good. She makes Bush look like an intellectual.

[SheilaT]

17. Personally, I ignore her.

I've got much more important things to do than to pay any attention to her drivel.

[hfojvt]

28. She seems to be quite popular in Kansas

The local Republican women donated a copy of 'Treason' to the local public library, and when I went into the county Republican office they had a copy of "How to talk to a liberal" on their desk. I am still waiting for it to alienate swing voters the way Michael Moore is supposed to.

[Patiod]

18. I disagree

Hit back when a group is propogating lies, or a politician is lying (Rick Santorum's deceptive anti-Casey ads) or when "news" anchors distort. But why give that skank a shread more media time? Why help her sell books? You can't reply to her psycho nonsense - it's too wacky to be dis-bunked.

In the Chris Wallace case, I say "sock it to 'em, Bill!" In the case of Chris Matthews or any of the network anchors or Sunday morning pundits, I say "Go Dr. Dean! You tell 'em!!!!" In the Anne Coulter case, I say leave her to rant in a corner.

Reminds me of the time I tried to bring up Bush's embrace of The Rapture as a reason not to vote for him, and my Northeastern, Catholic/Main Line Protestant friends, none of whom had ever heard of the concept of "The Rapture", accused me of being crazy/making it up. Responding to sheer lunacy can make YOU look loony.

[lonestarnot]

19. The dual adams apple craves attention, best to ignore her in my opinion.

[Skidmore]

20. K&R.

Yessiree, Bob! Amen and preach it! Absofreakinglutely!

[Buzz Clik]

21. The function of Coulter, Hannity, Wallace: emphasize the difference

They say as many ridiculous things as possible to irritate as many Dems as possible. They love it. It sells books. It mobilizes the base. It packs auditoriums and boosts television ratings.

These people use anger for nourishment. Don't feed the animals.

[KurtNYC]

22. Ann Coulturr - the Senator? The congresswoman?

the only reason most GOP-types like Coulturh is because she makes some on the Left so mad they lose all sense of what is important.

As for attitude -- my attitude is that 1) she doesn't matter 2) efforts are better focused elsewhere and 3) echoing her lies just expands her audience.

[Occulus]

23. Oh, but we just CAN'T sink to their level

:D

[Greyhound]

24. Is this the insanity of counting on the intellect of a herd of sheep that

think "Idol" and "survivor" are must see TV, to discriminate between truth and propaganda. :think:

[kdpeters]

26. This is the only way to talk to Ann Coulter

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/08/24/ann-coulter-gets-her-freak-on/

[noonwitch]

27. I'm one of the "ignore her" posters

I don't think that people who are presenting opposite viewpoints from hers during tv news shows should ignore her, but I will continue to do so because her main mo is to get liberals going into a verbal frenzy over her insane rantings and ravings.

[area51]

30. Well said.

:thumbsup:

[opihimoimoi]

31. Forgive her....she has only the RIGHT SIDE of her BRAIN....A FREAK of

Nature...she thinks she is normal....

Normal is BALANCED....

Clearly she is IMBALANCED and also Myopic, out of FOCUS....

We be trying to advance our Society??? She did not get the message it seems...

[LittleClarkie]

32. Don't ignore, but don't let her get to you either

She likes that. It feeds her, the psychic vampire. She wants Dems to be red in the face and sputtering at her obvious hatemongering.

Laugh at her instead. Poor thing's pretty much jumped the shark anyway.

[Vidar]

33. Very well-argued.

[Philosoraptor]

34. HIT BACK

[blm]

35. Clinton waited FIVE YEARS TO ADDRESS THE LIES blaming him for 9-11.

Kerry countered the swifts the next day - not that the media told you about it.

So, try sticking to the facts and stop spreading FALSE stories.

[LWolf]

37. I agree.

Why do people get off on judging others? That judgemental attitude really needs an adjustment. Why not turn that critical, judgmental bent inward, cleanse, repair, and perfect what we find, and then turn it outward towards issues, leaving others to find their own way through that process?

[GeorgeGist]

38. Cancer cannot be cured...

but sometimes it can be killed.

[Beelzebud]

39. What is dry powder for if it's never to be used in the first place?

I agree.

I'm tired of watching good Democrats and good liberals, and good progressives just stand there and take the sand being kicked in our collective faces.

It's time to stand up for what we believe in.

[earth mom]

40. By focusing on scum like Coulter, Limbaugh & O'Lielly it only serves

to keep the spotlight on them no matter what filth or hate they spew. By ignoring them or boycotting them, they are diminished-books aren't sold and ratings go down.

Sorry, but I am not willing to help any of those assholes make one god damn dime! :grr: