Since I number among the -apparently- ignorant, Confederate flag salutin', NASCAR lovin', gay bashin' contingent that obeyed the voices in my head by voting for Bush, I have to say this to my lovable lefty loons: I understand your ideas just fine, I just think you're dead wrong on most issues. However, I believe that reasonable people can disagree on issues and that a spirited dialogue can help both sides by pointing out the holes in each other's arguments. What I'm hearing from a lot of you, though, is that you don't give a shit what I think and would rather spend your time castigating any and all who have the temerity to disagree with you. For the record, you're not going to win many converts this way. My opinion, of course, but I think that I'm on to something. Stay with me here.

Back in 2002, many people pointed to lying propagandist such as Michael Moore and described him as being indicative of a disease that had crept into the Democratic party. Many of you were outraged by this comparison because- you said- Moore was a fringe element in your party. Extrapolating his views and ideas to the Democrat party as a whole was patently unfair. And guess what? You were absolutely correct. Then a funny thing happened: you decided to make Michael Moore the poster child of your party. You even gave him a seat of honor during your national convention, seating him next to former president Jimmy Carter. The Photoshopped newspaper headlines, distortions of the truth and outright falsehoods that Moore displayed in F 9/11 became campaign slogans for the Democrats. I'm going to go out on a limb and state that this might not have been such a good idea. Let's see why this might be true.

Tom Daschle, the soon to be former Senate minority leader attended a screening and was photographed with Michael Moore. Since Tom represents a very red state, this probably wasn't too smart. Every 6 years, Daschle pretended to be a right-winger to get re-elected. It worked, too, until this year, when the voters in his state realized that maybe, just maybe, a guy who doesn't distance himself from a shithead like Michael Moore probably isn't the best choice to represent their interests in the US Senate.

The Republicans increased their majorities in both the House and Senate. 'Nuff said.

Let's recap: the Democrats moved their party's center below the Mendoza line of reason and put this on public display. They displayed no interest in reasoned discourse, opting instead for ad hominem attacks on anyone and everyone that didn't believe that Bush was just like Hitler. That is, if Hitler were much stupider. And now that-surprise!- your candidate lost, you've decided to simultaneously increase the ferocity and decrease the sanity of your arguments. And I hear that you're thinking of making Howard Dean the new chair of the DNC. Maybe you haven't heard of the first rule of holes; I suggest that you aquaint yourself with it, pronto. Not that I expect you to listen to me any more that you have in the past. But I can still hope.

Update: Dean provides a far more eloquent dissertation on this subject. It is your required reading for today.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 03:41 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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