Democrats are real victims of spats like the 2 Edwards bloggers, NY money people, Barack Osama, etc.

[NV1962]

One could nitpick and look at how exactly the silly spats unfolded over the two (re)hired bloggers by the John Edwards campaign, or the "New York money people" remark by Wes Clark, or the "Madrassa Muslim" idiocy swirling (thank gawd) briefly around Barack Obama.

But in the first case, it's striking how Bill Donohue has been reflexively portrayed and adopted by the MSM as the standard bearer for the Catholics in the US; in the second, the rabid neocons and neo-Zionists -- by way of the Republican (!) Jewish Coalition -- are mistaken as speaking for the Jewish community; with the pathetic "Osama" and "Madrassa" nonsense, the slant of underlying anti-Islam tones was gladly washed away when "serious" journalists "established" the fact that no, Barack Obama really isn't either a Muslim or an al-Q'aida / Manchurian candidate.

Catholics, Jews, Muslims: what an oddly ecumenical collection. Involving (presumptive) Democratic candidates.

However, and in the blogger spat, the absurdity of having a "Catholic" fascist like Donohue spew his rage and indignation over "Catholics hating" Edwards with semi-exclusive authority is striking. In the "NY money people" case, the contextually enormously significant qualification that "the Jewish community is divided" made by Wes Clark -- quoted in rather plain view by Huffington, immediately preceding the presumptive nasty bits -- was ignored in the frantic outbreak of doubts over whether Wes Clark was a Holocaust denier or something. In Obama's cases, the injurious confusion of Islam and terrorism (Madrassas, Osama / Obama, and the overall suggestion that he's really a Muslim) somehow fell through the MSM cracks, amidst a sigh of relief that oh golly, Obama is a Christian (so, not one of those people, you know: Muslims).

This ongoing pattern of missing the significant undertones, the critical context, the necessary clarifications is what Matt Yglesias at one point brilliantly called "Nit Picklering": the uncanny ability, exemplified by that pathetic excuse for a car news reporter turned political correspondent Nedra Pickler, to omit all that is relevant to provide context, raping and drowning it in insignificant excuses of presenting "the other side of the controversy" in typical cheapskate he said/she said fashion. Trump up a phony controversy with scurrilous lies profferred by untrustworthy characters, quote the victim with a nominal denial (if at all) and leave the reader / viewer with the impression that one part is fiction, and one will never get to the bottom of it.

In the 2004 campaign, the unsavory Dan Rather / "memogate" affair, the forged document managed to bury the colossal elephant dressed in a neon pink tutu with flashlights, namely that the swiftboaters working for the draft dodger in chief didn't have a leg to stand on, accusing a decorated war hero (which in turn wasn't much relevant either, but at least should have served to underscore Kerry's far, far greater credibility).

Incredibly, in each of these cases, as well as the enormous pile of other, similar cadavers fallen victim to (at best) sloppy reporting, if not deliberate slash-and-burn tactics by the shameless hordes that surround the shameless regime in the White House, the accusation is predictably hypocritical: the Democrats are Godless heathens hellbent on destroying Christianity and its values, the Democrats are coward anti-military peaceniks, and the Democrats are terrorist-loving surrogates for the cheese-easting surrender monkeys in France.

Amazingly, the shameless Republican self-attributions of having Christian values, respect for the military and effective anti-terrorist plans -- all of which have been disproved by the Republicans themselves more than even the Democrats could -- have been co-opted by the MSM, courtesy of the feckless Judy Millers, the Nedra Picklers, the Bob Woodwards.

So... Given that the cases of Osama/Obama, NY money people, and the two bloggers aren't exactly new or original in "framing the debate", why is it that we fall victim to our own instinctive inclination to prove ourselves virtuous, time and again, reflexively "arguing" that Clark isn't an anti-Semite, that Edwards isn't simultaneously hating feminists and Catholics, that Obama isn't a "Muslim terrorist"?

What does it take, how many hit-and-run slander jobs does it take, how many faux "journalists" does it take before we grow a pair of balls and hit back, pointing out that Democrats aren't in the business of disproving transparent fantasies but instead are too busy doing the right thing, namely rolling back the treachery and devastation wrought by immoral criminals operating from the White House, and that it's about G*ddamn time that we start reading the real stories in newspapers, hearing the real deal on radio bulletins, seeing the real deal on TV?

Isn't it about time to do something about the wholesale character assassination that has been going on for more than a decade?

In one other case, I was heartened by the far more steely resolve shown in the (righteous) outrage over David Broder's typical Beltway moron attack on Democrats as mostly anti-military nutcases. I found it refreshing to see oodles of LTTEs, blog postings and other manifestations of unfettered, unhinged rage at this recent and representative MSM falsehood. Even the usually tepid and oftentimes Nit Picklering Editor & Publisher saw fit to (carefully) suggest that Broder had crossed the line.

But unless we grow a pair, a spine and a set of brass knuckles, and engage each and every attempt at character assassination by those who we all know lack any shred of character, the Democratic party will continue to endure such furious attacks, burying its true purpose in the wake of futile and preventable skirmishes over irrelevant side issues of what's really under attack: its heart and soul. The time for tinkering with thoughtful, poised and pondered but ultimately feeble responses in denial of scurrilous attacks by Godless, coward, anti-military, criminal and terrorist enabling Republicans is way past expiration.

We need to shoot back, and thus prove that we mean it, when we claim that we can do better. Let's impress the public with deeds, and teach the slackers who's the boss: We, the People.