Well, actually, Jane Hamsher doesn't call her brilliant strategy for fighting the rightwing noise machine the 11th Commandment for Democrats. I'm calling it that. Because it's just so spot on. The strategy itself is nothing new, and has been advocated by many Democratic bloggers. But I've never seen that strategy presented so simply and so powerfully until now. In my opinion, every Democrat, be they a candidate or elected official, blogger or citizen activist, what have you, should make Hamsher's statement their mantra.
What is this "commandment"? It's just over the fold.
you never repeat right wing talking points to attack your own, ever. You never enter that echo chamber as a participant. Ever. You never give them a cudgel to beat the left with.
Just. Don't. Do. It.
This is from Hamsher's latest blog post on HuffPo. It is of course in response to the MoveOn "Betrayus" hullaballo. But this diary isn't really about that particular instance of the rightwing noise machine attack, which has been discussed to death all over the blogosphere. I'm really not looking to continue that particular conversation in this diary. This diary is about how to deal with all rightwing noise machine attacks. It's about how so many of us, myself included, have unwittingly entered that echo chamber as a participant - and how we can avoid that trap and prevail.
But it is in the context of the MoveOn controversy that Hamsher made this comment, so I feel that I need to provide that context.
It seems like only yesterday in these very pages I wanted to put my head through a wall when Hillary Clinton decided to pile on John Kerry on the eve of the 2006 election, just as the right wing was swarming him over his bad joke. It's just such a basic, elemental principle at play here -- you don't help the right wing out by repeating their talking points, ever. Why was this so hard to grasp?
It is so very basic. But apparently so very hard to learn. Not just for elected officials, but bloggers too. I suppose I am going to have to add a meta tag now.
Before I quote this last bit - I'm a disappointed Gore/Clark man with a toe in the Edwards camp, but as of now have no idea who I am going to vote for in the primary. Lately I have been tempted to join the Hillary camp, and it's things like this that impress me. No matter who gets the nomination, they are going to have to face the concentrated efforts of the rightwing noise machine and prevail. And more and more, I see Hillary as being the one best prepared to do this.
Continuing on from the last quote:
But here we are, almost a year later, and Hillary seems to have internalized that principle very well. Because when baited by Rudy Giuliani and offered the chance to frag MoveOn over their Petraeus ad, she thought the better of it:
"Rudy Giuliani is dropping in the polls and is unable to defend his own support for George Bush's failed war. Instead of distorting Senator Clinton's record in the campaign's first attack ad, the Mayor should tell voters why he thinks sticking with the Bush Iraq strategy makes sense. The country wants change and while Hillary Clinton is focused ending the war, Mayor Giuliani is playing politics."
Bravo. Hillary seizes the opportunity to pivot and attack -- forcing Rudy into embracing George Bush and his horribly unpopular war. She sticks the landing.
And THAT'S how it's done. Pivot and attack. Give no ground. Pivot and attack.