There's a hell of a din over the latest GOP inspired smears of Jimmy Carter and Hillary and Bill. Let's put it as simply as possible: Americans want real solutions to real problems. But in a culture where Brangelina, Tomkat and Pam Anderson are national celebrities, a semen-stained dress and an orange thong can define a Presidency. And cost Dems the ultimate prize.
Does that mean Dems have to turn the other cheek? Or do Dems get down in the gutter and fight that way, too?
The Swift Boating of John Kerry shows that Dems have to respond. Rove wants Dems to fight on his terms, using sleaze. But Dems have a far richer arsenal for this unavoidable battle in the public arena. Colbert showed Dems how to wield an unbeatable weapon: the truth.
Dem's can either take a page out Rove's book. Or copy Colbert.
Let's consider Rudy, for example, one of the really big GOP guns. Rove would love to see Dems go after Rudy. But Rudy's marriage really is nobody's business but his own. Indead, if Dems can't think of a way to go after Rudy without making reference to his love-life, then Dems don't deserve to win anything but second prize in a smear contest. And be sure, Rove is betting Dems forget Colbert's lessons and take the sleaze-fight bait.
How does Colbert win? The same way as Alec Baldwin. Hit first, hit hard and hit with the truth. The second Bill Kristol sat down, Colbert was in his face over the PNAC. The moment Alec knew Hannity was on the air, he hammered him: badda-boom. Cabin boy? Knocked him out the ring before he got off a punch. Don't wait until the fall or 2008. Go after Rudy now. How? Destroy his strengths. Remind voters again and again that the real heroes that day were the firefighters who ran into those burning buildings with radios Rudy bought that didn't work. Hundreds of American firefighters, American heroes, died because Rudy didn't get it right. Too bad Rudy didn't put the same effort into testing New York's Emergency response system as he does testing the mic for his photo-ops; or testing his message before focus groups. How many times did Rudy let his crooked cop chauffeur make the big calls on the safety of New Yorkers? Remind voters that the free pass the nation handed Rudy and Bernie for screwing up the defense of New York city, nearly resulted in making Bernie responsible for Homeland Security. That's the price Americans pay for good manners. ( A perfect segue to FEMA and Katrina )
Rove will be happy if Dems focus on Bernie's use of a 9/11 construction apartment for trysts. Colbert would focus on the loss of life caused by his, and his boss's, knuckleheaded mis-management of the defense of America's financial center. Colbert would point out that nobody is blaming Rudy for 9/11. But he might ask why Rudy was filmed on the street outside the WTC, instead of inside his shiny Emergency Command Center on the 23rd floor of building 7 of the WTC. But hey, the answer's obvious. Right? People were flying planes into the WTC. Colbert might then inquire whether Rudy in hindsight,standing in front of cameras and the burning towers, or watching the towers come crushing down on the firefighters deaf to all calls to escape, ever regretted not doing a better job of testing the system, which the 9/11 Commission determined was sorely in need of improvement.
The OEM's headquarters was located at 7 WTC. Some questioned locating it both so close to a previous terrorist target and on the 23rd floor of a building (difficult to access should elevators become inoperable). There was no backup site..
9/11 Commission Report Chap. 9
No backup site. Was Bernie the one who told Rudy that the WTC, which Al Quaida seemed pretty determined to bring down, would be a good location for an Emergency Disaster Center, in the event that Al Quaida decided to actually finish the job? Hindsight is 20/20, let's not forget. Al Quaida had attacked the WTC before, thus making it, according to GOP logic, the ideal location for an Emergency response center.
Anybody can see Rudy's sound judgment and forethought in that decision. Right?
Karl Rove and the Swift Boat gang are going to play it very rough and personal from here on in. Backing down isn't going to win Dems anything. And Rove is going to appeal to the very basest in every American. Dems can either wait or they can go on the attack now.
Put the blood spilled by GOP mismanagement on the front page and keep it there. Floating bodies. Snapping dogs. American soldiers on trial for torture and murder because of pressure from the Bush White House to get results at all costs. Dems have been extremely restrained and can't afford to be. Whether we're talking poverty or environmental pollution, the GOP record is a complete disgrace.
The Colbert affair exposed the political landscape upon which elections will be won and lost. The media is the enemy. There is a real double standard in place. Traditional adherance to decorum works to favor the GOP. Colbert rewrote the rules and showed Dems the way to victory: Americans want to square up to the problems facing the nation; and will welcome any truth wielded aggressively that cuts through all the crap. In fact, that's what voters expect from the Dems given the debacle of lies of the last five years. Nothing less. Pre-emptive strikes on GOP targets are the order of the day; strikes that are substained and irrefutable and continue well past 2008. In the face of these attacks, back-pedalling away, trotting out stories about Bill and Hillary's marriage is going to make the GOP look pretty limp as a response.
Rudy is representative of the systemic rot in the GOP. Time for Dems to forget politeness and close for the kill.