The NARAL ad is wrong: We think E.J. Dionne's
op-ed covers most of the points well (and yes, we are aware that the Annenberg Public Policy Center is not Simon pure). In the past we've complained when conservatives say that the ACLU is
supporting child molesters or serial killers, when what they are doing is defending constitutional principles.
The NARAL ad says, "John Roberts filed court briefs
supporting violent fringe groups and a convicted clinic bomber."
If you take the view that since the right fights dirty, it's okay to do the same, that's your privilege. We don't.
By the way, we've not commented on Roberts until today. Do we support his nomination? Of course not.
ADDENDUM: Ezra Klein has
some thoughts on message discipline. It's our view that if everybody is rational, empirical, and honest, there is no need for message disipline. There is greater strength in the long run with independent,
defensible, liberal positions than from an enforced unity of thought.
posted by Quiddity at 8/12/2005 06:43:00 AM
I'm in violent agreement. I've been out of the country for a while, and though I don't support Roberts either, I think it's VITAL for liberals to fight rationally. Leave the vitriol and the irrational fighting to the right.
Of course, any inaccuracies in the NARAL ad will be used by the right to pound it into a fine powder. And the left should, at all times, aspire to using rock-solid facts and incontrovertible truth to wage its fights.
Those are fine sentiments and worthy goals. But does it matter?
I hold that it doesn't. Not when the right will, when confronted with rock-solid facts and incontrovertible truth, simply make shit up out of whole cloth and then feed it to the noise machine.
NARAL and Roberts aside, this is a feature of the political landscape that the left has not yet come to terms with, and it adds a dimension to the country's political discourse that makes it impossible for truth to prevail. Kerry and his campaign were, I'm sure, stunned that the bilge purveyed by the Swift Boat ninnies was considered for even a moment by any rational voter. After all, here was Kerry's records, his comrades from his actual boat, veterans he had personally saved; and over there was a bunch of known Republican operatives peddling demonstrably false nonsense. They're doing the same thing to Cindy Sheehan right now: By September, large swaths of the population will be led to believe that not only did she never even have a son named Casey, but that she is also Michael Moore's lover.
Yes, from a principles standpoint it is vital for liberals to fight rationally. But I fear we have reached a stage in American politics were rationality is a serious liability. Tit for tat isn't right, but how do we make headway against the unrelenting tide of bullshit from the right?
Derelict
