Another Sunday of the talking head circus is past, where the 101st Fighting Keyboardists can bravely take up arms against an army of
straw men who hate America. Yes, with extreme valor do they shoot down those who don't want to listen in on Al Queda, lob grenades at
isolationists, or skewer the liberals who don't believe Iraqis deserve freedom.
Yes, week in and week out Republicans caricature Democratic positions to the point of ridiculousness, and then blow them over with a gust of hot air. Why? Because it works! The listener tends to have an instinctive revulsion to the silly position, and the person on the other side of the debate frequently is forced to dissociate himself from the strawman argument, to clarify his real position--leaving precious little time to discuss the merits of his position. Moreover, the Republican version of his argument is neat, clean and--most of all--memorable.
How do liberals respond? Why, with truth and logic of course. And they usually prevail, three hours after the show has gone off the air.
Fighting back on the flip.
Too often we are concerned with winning the respect of the media--even if it means losing with the broad public. Yes, the media has been all over George Bush's straw man arguments, but how many average Joes do you know who are aware of, or scandalized by it? Probably no where near as many as those who parrot back to you the Republican caricature of the Democratic position.
I want to start hearing our leaders put Republicans on the defensive, forcing them to defend against parodies of their positions. To that end, I offer a few suggestions. Feel free to use them without attribution.
* I know that a lot of evangelical Christians think George Bush can do no wrong, but I shudder when I hear people say he was anointed by God, and I certainly don't think the President's teachings are more important than those of Jesus Christ.
* I think it is beyond obscene to pass a law that gives a rapist the ability to force his victim to carry his child to term.
* America is a great and strong country. We overcame our enemies in WWII, and we kept the Soviet Union in check for more than 50 years before winning the Cold War. I simply don't agree that to win against a small evil core of terrorists we have to suspend portions of the Bill of Rights that have protected Americans for 225 years.
* I don't agree having every single conversation of yours monitored by a Government bureaucrat makes America safer, or Americans freer.
* Well, I didn't agree that we could protect America by renaming French Toast in the Senate cafeteria, and I don't think we can do so by [insert any Republican initiative here].
* Many Republicans want to throw people in jail for criticizing George Bush. I think if you need to go so far to protect the President, then America needs to take a long hard look at who is sitting in the White House.
* I don't agree with Rep. Sensenbrenner that the way to solve the immigration debate is to let them all starve to death. I am not going to throw a priest in prison for giving bread to a starving man.
* Republicans are using gays to sneak an amendment into the Constitution that will give Congress broad scope to regulate marriages. This will open the door for states to outlaw divorce (which the bible prohibits), and it is only a matter of time before we see companies lobbying Congress to allow them to deny benefits to the families of second or common-law marriages. Moreover, I simply do not agree that we are going to solve the problem of infidelity by allowing Constitutional sanction to laws that impose biblical punishments for adultery.
* Bill Frist feels that as a physician he is more qualified to make end of life decisions about your loved ones than you are. I wholly disagree!
* George Bush believes we can pay for tax cuts by continually transferring the balance of our national debt from one credit card to the next, all the while continuing to charge more than we earn. I think there are many households in America that can tell you how well that works out!
Do you have suggestions for more?