An Open Letter to People Whining About Negativity

[Northwind]

(This is a couple of days late, things were hectic, but I wanted to say it all anyway)

There has been much talk going around lately about how we should stop bashing Democratic candidates. We should show unity, we are told, and rally support for any candidate running under the Democratic banner. Our posts, it is said, should be positive and optimistic. We should avoid becoming involved in flame wars and endless back-and-forth with those who support a candidate of which we do not approve, and with those who denigrate the candidate we support. If a post is made that is obvious flamebait, we should ignore it and not respond, they tell us. We are informed that flamebait posts are made by "freeper infiltrators" and agents of Karl Rove or the DLC. Just ignore them, we are told.

To this I answer:

BULLSHIT.

Politics is ugly business. It is mean. It is dirty. It is a relentless machine that grinds men and women to dust within its wheels. To survive it and prosper in it, a man or woman must become hard and unyielding, they must run a gauntlet that would annihilate the psyche of average people. The streams of bile we hurl at our own candidates on this board are a picnic compared to what they will face in the press at large and at the hands of the smear-mongers on the right. They have to be fire-hardened and battle tested. It is our duty to work as hard as we can to bring them down. It is our duty to find which one is strongest, and than make him or her even stronger.

I do not want a candidate that has had it easy in the early stages of the campaign. I want a candidate who has faced our criticism, mistrust, and relentless badgering. I want the candidate that has faced off thousands of attacks and come through tougher than ever. I want the candidate that has had to deal with questions about his position on issues, but i also want him on be grilled mercilessly on his height, his weight, his hair, how he eats a cheesesteak, how he plays guitar, how much he blinks on camera, how he smiles, how stiff he looks, how his shirts fit, how shrill his voice is, and every damn little stupid piddly-crap thing any one can think of.

I want a candidate that comes out of the primary armored like a mutant rhinoceros that has had itself dipped in titanium.

Flame them. Bash them. Hound them. Do whatever it takes to maker then strong.

NW

[phillybri]

1. One problem...

It doesn't always make them stronger, it makes them easier for Rove & Co. to pick apart....

[Northwind]

17. How, exactly, is that true?

I have heard this bit of BS floated here before, and it makes no sense at all.

[CMT]

2. it is ok to have disagreements

and to counter another campaigns claims, what is wrong is the tone.

[prolesunited]

3. The candidate bashing doesn't bother me as much

as DUers bashing fellow DUers. You're right. Candidates are going to be put under the microscope and forced to withstand scrutiny and attacks. If they can't take it, they should get out of politics.

What has been more distressing to me and many others are the often vicious and personal attacks on the supporters of these candidates. I don't think I've seen more posts deleted than I have in the past few weeks.

Debating and ripping apart the candidates is one thing, directing the attacks at your fellow DUers is another matter entirely.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.

[Yavin4]

4. I Know What Candidate You Want

Bill Clinton. In fact, Clinton became The Big Dog during the New Hampshire primary. Everything and the kitchen sink was thrown at him. I recall NY Post gossip columnist Cindy Adams saying that Clinton's candidacy was dead in the water right after the Gennifer Flowers story came out.

If a candidate can't handle the rough and tumble primary season, how are they going to handle Rove?

[Castilleja]

5. That's a good point

Even though I sometimes get tired of the constant repetitive candidate bashing threads, I think this all serves a purpose even if it is not polite or positive. Makes for good preparation if you can tease out every foreseeable problem and have a counter for it. But I think people should know that, odds are, you aren't likely to change anyone's mind.

[ShimokitaJer]

6. attack the policy positions, not the candidates

It's the general comments on a candidates character that really hurt not just the candidate, but the cause. As we've seen all too often, the media loves to take the easy way out and find a one-sentence description for a candidate, and we make it that much easier for them if we can provide them one. And Rove's boys are only too skilled at playing that game. You can get as negative as you want when you attack a policy decision, because the Bushies don't have a leg to stand on. But don't try to build your candidate up by general negativity about the others. Simply calling a candidate too liberal, too centrist, too flaky, too radical, too obscure, or not electable enough helps no one better understand what we're fighting for.

Frankly, I don't care who makes it into the oval office, as long as the issues that I care about are addressed. Every single candidate (yes, even Lieberman) has Bush beat hands down when it comes to the issues, so when we turn this into a conflict of character, we're playing right into their hands.

[newyawker99]

15. Hi ShimokitaJer!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Northwind]

21. Policy positions do not win elections

Or lose them. Take the high road and you end up losing to the guy who took the short cut through the sewer.

[dfong63]

7. right on - if they can't take the heat,

... they should stay outa the kitchen.

one of the functions of the primaries is to separate the men from the boys, so to speak (or for the politically-correct, to separate the adults from the babies). there is a very necessary darwinian process occurring. imho those who call for it to end, don't really understand what they're asking for. it's like saying a boxer should go into a title fight without having sparring matches.

the "tearing down" of candidates that's happening now, is nothing compared to what they'll face when Rove gets his shot at them. God forbid that (say) Gary Hart would have won the dem nomination back in his day.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[library_max]

9. So your ideal nominee is Michael Dukakis?

The last time we had this kind of no-holds-barred primary bloodfest, the result was Michael Dukakis. And he was a lot less attractive coming out of the process than he was going in, because he had been required to be all things to all people in order to come out on top. Everyone was disgusted with him, the process, and each other. Yeah, that was a great victory for our side.

Beating up on somebody does not make him stronger. Tearing down is not the same as building up. Even the theory about preparing the nominee for the slings and arrows of the media and the Republicans is wrong, because those slings and arrows will be coming from the right, not the left. The more we pull out the long-knives, the more leftward a candidate will have to lurch to please us. Then we can forget about the national election.

Forget theory. Look at what works. The last time we won, we united behind our candidate early on. The time before that that we won, we united behind our candidate early on. The Republicans suppress bloodletting in the primaries, and they won with a chimp! Okay, they didn't exactly win, but they came within a smidgin of winning WITH A CHIMP!

[hang a left]

10. Hello there Northwind

was wondering about your insignia there. What is that and what does it mean/represent.

[Northwind]

18. Warning symbol for biohazardous material.

Unfortunately, the DU forum does not allow one to link to a custom avatar on another server, so I had to pick one of the pre-sets...

Were it up to me, my avatar would be thus:



Which is my business logo.

[DrGonzoLives]

11. Yeah, because that's much easier

thean finding ways to show how good your candidate is. Just drag the rest down. Much less work and effort.

[Northwind]

20. Easy or difficult is irrelevant.

It is what is going to happen to whomever gets the nomination. I suggest you wake up from your dream of High School Debate Club and forensics competitions and live in the real world.

[DrGonzoLives]

22. Hey, you know what, fuck you

I am in the real world. Excuse me for wanting NOT to be a place where assholes such as yourself spend all their time trashing others and tearing other people down.

Whatever. It must be too much to ask of someone with an underdevloped brain such as yours to engage in intelligent discussion. Keep on slinging mud, that's what you howler monkeys are good at, right?

[Northwind]

23. Suddenly we are not so high-brow, eh?

Funny that you use the following examples of "intelligent discussion":

"assholes such as yourself"
"underdeveloped brain such as yours"
"howler monkeys such as yourself"

All in order to tell ME how horrible I am for "tearing other people down."

In case you have not noticed, that drooling moron you see in the mirror every day is a hypocrite.

[JNelson6563]

12. Just because your candidate sucks....

you mean the intelligent, high-level dialogue like that that we've all seen lately?

Yeah, we need more of that. There's not enough shit-slinging from the lying Republicans, we need to assume their smelly tactics.......

What a steaming pant-load........

Julie

[Northwind]

19. If it bugs you

Don't read it. Or join in. Or whatever. Any candidate in the race WILL have to face that kind of crap sooner or later. They better get used to it.

[DK666]

13. Right On !

Does the Democratic Party have a militant wing ?

[Trajan]

14. Debates over Issues are fine ....

Gratuitous insults during debate are not ....

As a happy graduate of an anger management program, I recognize that human beings MUST argue with each other to reach consensus on the merits of the issues themselves .... But ONCE the line crosses into base vilification and gross insult: verbalizing references that have NOTHING to do with the issue at stake: .. then REAL debate is over: the rest is just mudslinging and filth ....

Its ok to disagree: .. it is wrong to insult your fellow Democrat in debate .....

[GalleryGod]

16. Back From Class where the kids didn't know that Hart ran TWICE for Pres

So here's ALL my previous references to Hart vis-a-vi "flavor of the Summer" or "Hot,Now Candidates"

Here we go........

The Donna Rice affair scuttled his 1988 run.When he was front runner-thus we got The Little Duke.

In 1984, from January until March 30th, Gary Hart's candidacy was described as a " wild fire" that might overwhelm Vice President Mondale's campaign.

Hart went on to lose the nomination even though he finished so strong he carried the California Primary in June.


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