When the Swift Boat Vets were running their ads the Republicans did not seek to undermine them by criticizing, complaining, or otherwise pointing out that the ads were a mess of pathetic lies. The NARAL anti-Roberts ads are almost certainly no more truthful than the Swift Boat Vets, but the Democrats have demonstrated weakness by doing everything they could to force NARAL to pull them.
Make no mistake, I would much rather we had a political arena dominated by reasoned debate than one dominated by vitriol and falsehood. But we cannot fight by the rules when the other side breaks those same rules regularly. The only acceptable fighting response to Republican criticism of the NARAL ads is an observation that they didn't seem to be too worried about the truth when the Swift Boat Vets were lying.
Retialation and escalation are the only means which will get the right to stop their low tactics. We cannot win by trying to fight fair and simply complaining when they don't. We've tried that. We've tried that over and over and over and all it does is make us look like whiners.
When the Republicans so blatiently gerrymandered Texas we should have immediately and even more blatiently gerrymandered California and New York. We should have had politicians on a national level making "more in sorrow than in anger" type speeches about how they abhore gerrymandering, but until the Republicans back down they must respond in kind.
When the NARAL published its false, defamatory, and outright lying anti-Roberts ads we should have been a united front supporting them. Any and all Republican objections should have been met with nothing but a repitition that they didn't seem to mind those tactics when the Swift Boat Vets used them against Kerry.
By complaining about the NARAL ads, by urging NARAL to pull the ads, we have yet again completed the cycle of whimpyness. We have yet again shown Republicans that they can do anything they want to us, and we will not retialiate. When they gerrymander a state to shut out Democrats we whine a little then do nothing. When they publish false, defamatory, and outright lying attack ads against our candidates we whine a little then do nothing. When they impeached president Clinton for no reason we whined a little, then did absolutely nothing. This must stop or we will forever be the loosers.
Ghandi said "An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind", and while that is true it does not change the fact that if we let them play "we get to hit you and you do nothing" we loose. There is no one to enforce the rules, there are no authorities we can appeal to. The only thing that will keep the Republican thugs in line is the threat of retialiation and escalation. For decades excessive gerrymandering was not indulged in because of something very much like the old Mutually Assured Destruction model. They didn't do it in states they controled because they feared we'd do it in states we control. But now they know better, now they know that the Democrats are toothless cowards who will not retialiate.
This must stop. We must never appologize. When we are asked to denounce even the most extreme and insane leftist we must not. We must respond with quotes from Ann Coulter, Michael "Savage", Rush Limbaugh, and demand that they denounce them. If they complain about NARAL ads we must simply point to the Swift Boat Vets. If they complain about Michael Moore we must simply point to Fox News. But the one thing we must never do is appologize for, or denounce any leftist ever.