...that is to say, with outright lies, distortions, and ripped-out-of-context quotes, we might get something like this...
A whole night of the convention built around the theme "WE Don't Like to Fire People."
This would mirror the "We Did Build This" night that the Republicans had, which was derived from an out-of-context quote - "If you own a business, you didn't build that" - that Obama made in a speech during the summer. Of course, the antecedent to "that" wasn't "business" but rather the support in the form of government-funded education and infrastructure that small businesses rely on in order to flourish and function. But the Romney campaign has been content to ignore the full context and run against Obama on something he neither said nor meant to say.
As to the Romney quote, it too had context that is often ignored. He was speaking specifically of letting go people who are providing inadequate services to him. Seems reasonable. The difference is that you don't see Democrats building an entire campaign plank or night at the convention around this quote.
An ad campaign based on the theme: AS GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS, MITT ROMNEY REDUCED THE SENTENCES OF ALL VIOLENT FELONS BY TEN YEARS
Of course, this isn't true, but what should that matter when Romney and Company are manufacturing multiple ads based on utter falsehoods regarding Obama's actions on Welfare and Medicare? Since apparently it's now perfectly OK just to make shit up, why shouldn't the Obama campaign do so as well? If it's OK to claim falsely that Obama "stole" $716 billion from Medicare to pay for Obamacare or that he eliminated the work requirement for welfare, why can't we just make up anything we want about Romney and say we don't care if it's true or not, and just double down when the fact-checkers call us on it? Fair's fair.
"WELL, AT LEAST NOBODY HAS TO ASK HOW MANY WIVES MY GRANDFATHER HAD"
This is a joke Obama might use at one of his rallies to go along with Romney's recent, "Nobody's asked to see my birth certificate" howler from last week. Can you imagine the shitstorm that would come down on Obama were he to make such a crack? He would be accused of playing the religion-card by the very same people who have been telling the rest of us to "lighten up, it was only a joke" all week.
In a similar vein, what would the reaction be if Obama went after Romney for being an elder in a church that, until the late 1970s, didn't allow black men into its priesthood? One can only imagine, yet in 2008, all we heard from the Sean Hannitys of the world was how could Obama stay in Reverend Wright's church for so many years? Double standard much?
Democrats have too strong a moral fiber to play this down-and-dirty, I think, and in a way I think that speaks well of the party. But maybe it's time to come down off the moral high-ground and start fighting fire with fire.