This is a diary posted in frustration. But to explain it, I have to return to last night's debate.
Last night John Kerry made reference to the fact that George Bush had said that he wasn't that concerned with OBL. Bush denied it, and within 5 minutes the Web was rife with references about how Bush was wrong.
So lets step back. The President said in a Press Conference he didn't concern himself much with the capture of the greatest murderer of American citizens in history. When confronted with this statement, Bush lied about having made the statement. This should be the lead talking point for every Democrat today. We should be hammering this lie - it was a killer mistake. We should have diary entries about how to force the press to focus on the issue.
Instead, the web is talking about Mary Cheney - both the right and the left.
I was a hell of a debater in college, and I won my moot court competition in law school. I am a damn good litigator. And I know one thing: choosing WHICH argument is far more important than how you argue.
So here is the argument I want to have: Did Bush lie about the comment he made, or did he forget that he made this statement. But we should be talking about it. And make the Repugs respond.
Democrats are terrible at choosing the argument. 24 hours after making one of the most outrageous lies in campaign history, the comment is almost forgotten. Instead, we have choosen to take the bait and talk about Mary Cheney. Or about the DNC book about voter supression.
We have been outspun at a basic level. The GOP has defined which argument to have.
So lets stop playing defense. The Swift Boat stuff has played out: stop obsessing about how to respond to it. Sinclair have its stations run the stupid movie, and only the Rush crowd will watch.
DEFINE THE ISSUES! CHOOSE THE ARGUMENT TO HAVE AND FORCE THEM TO RESPOND.
STOP BEING DEFENSIVE!!! ATTACK AND WE WIN!