Considering for a moment the Golden Rule, I would like to respectfully suggest that we clean up our linguistic act.
Why? You say you love spitting fire at those dirty so and sos? Well,
I can understand your feeling. But I was just thinking about the number of people who have convinced me over the years that I should join their team by calling me names, and---I couldn't think of a single one.
I'm quite serious about this. One of the many things that I really admire about Senator Obama is that he is such a class act. he can lambaste Senator McCain with the best of them, but he is never verbally abusive. Shouldn't we collectively aspire to this elegant style?
I get a kick out of the childish glee with which some Republicans say things like "The Democrat Party." I've always thought that those that engage in this petty misnomer sound, not (as they perhaps think) oh-so-devilish, but just kind of ignorant. I get less of a kick by far by the way some in our party take umbrage at this nonsense in knee-jerk fashion. But seeing the real distress that "The Democrat Party" can cause around here, I can't help but wonder about the stray, curious Republican who decides to go see for him-or-herself what this Kossack thing is all about. Could we, with our invective, turn that voter away? I think it possible.
I know I am not much fun here; after all, fiery invective has been part of Democratic politics since long before Jack Kennedy compared Dick Nixon to a circus elephant. But I really do believe that our collective task this year is to persuade, and if we can raise the general tone, it might help convert a few open-minded readers to come on over.
In closing, I would just like to re-write the words of Senator Lloyd Bentson, to demonstrate how much less effective he might have been in that fabled debate with Senator Quayle:
Bentson:
You know something, you Rethug idiot? Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine, and you SUCK!"
Just doesn't have the same level of effectiveness, does it?
If we must resort to insult, perhaps we could use the Shakespearian insult generator here to give our slurs a bit more style. But I repeat: IMO, it's better to speak with the conventions of respect, even when we give 'em hell with reasoned content.
I welcome well reasoned defense of invective by my comrades.