Do you remember, it wasn't long ago, all those accusations about Barack Obama being a Muslim? Do you recall all the rants from republicans and their supporters that Barack Obama's birth certificate is a forgery?
Do you recall how the republicans tarred and feathered John Kerry for mentioning that Mary Cheney was gay? They called him a "bad man" even though Mary Cheney was admittedly gay.
Do you recall how John Kerry, a true American hero, was swiftboated to death in that campaign? The republicans even went so far as to state that Kerry shot himself to get a purple heart? Do you remember the humiliating purple bandaids at the 2004 RNC convention?
Do you recall how Walter Mondale, a good man, was trashed in his senate race in 2002, after the tragic death of Paul Wellstone? The republicans actually used the Wellstone funeral to turn voters against Mondale.
Do you recall Max Cleland? He gave 3 limbs for his country, but this didn't stop the republicans from calling him a supporter of terrorists to slander him out of his senate seat.
Do you recall the election of 2000 when the republicans did everything in their power to trash a decent man like Al Gore? And then, in plain sight, stole the election from him and the American people.
I think too many democrats have forgotten all this or think that none of it matters anymore. Well it does matter, and we can't turn any of it around by being nice and decent to the republicans. I'm not saying we need to copy their tactics, but we need to be able to get down and fight and do whatever is necessary to win back our country.
There is too much at stake. We need to end a war. We need to turn an economy around. We need to rebuild our decaying infrastructure. We need a health system that brings good health care to all Americans. We need to stop the attack on our constitution. And to do all this we need to elect Barack Obama. This won't happen because we are nicer than they are. This won't happen because we are good and decent. We tried all that already, and it didn't work.
Harry Truman had it right when he said: "If you can't stand the heat then get out of the kitchen." Well, there is going to be a lot of heat in the remaining two months of this election battle and we need to be ready to stand it.