TPM Reader DM:
It really is amazing to watch a fringe right-wing movement completely dominate the narrative surrounding the health care debate. The Democratic Party has the strongest governing coalition we have seen in years, and yet, they are being run over by misinformation campaign that includes lies so bold and outrageous that one actually grows to gain begrudging respect for the Machiavellian mindset that allows otherwise seemingly rational people to perpetuate this stuff on a public whose gullibility should never again be underestimated.
So, what should the Dems do? For one thing, isn’t it time to just once call a lie a lie? Although I support a rational-deliberative approach to politics as a principle, there are some contexts where it just doesn’t work. There are some conversations, we have all had them, that start with premises that are so outrageous that in the process of stumbling about about looking for a way to respond that we actually, and quite unintentionally, end up giving credibility to the craziness of the initial premise. It seems to me that our Democratic representatives are becoming caught up in these types of conversations time-after-time at the so-called town meetings. Wouldn’t a much more effective approach at this point in the game be simply be to look at one of these tea baggers in the eye and say “sir, you are misinformed, you are listening to lies.” Simple, quick clean and strong. We need to change the optics of this debate and it is getting painful to watch our representatives stumble around responding to the lunacy of the fringe right-wing. We should start treating their lies with the clarity it deserves…”you are being mislead sir. You are being lied to.”
David Kurtz
David Kurtz is Managing Editor and Washington Bureau Chief of Talking Points Memo where he oversees the news operations of TPM and its sister sites.