The Fight Against Reinforcing Right-Wing Lies

Over at Working Assets, I've set up a new category on called "Dishonestly Reinforcing Lies" - it will be a section devoted to Democrats and the media who shamelessly reinforce the most dishonest lies about Democrats and progressives (Media Matters does a terrific job on this on the media end). To give you a flavor of what I'm talking about, see this, this and this previous entry - they show that our side too often just regurgitates right-wing slanders instead of refuting them.

For the first entry in the new category, I will refer to a great post by MyDD's Scott Shields which anaylzes how Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh (D) is basing his early presidential campaign on - you guessed it - regurgitating right-wing lies about his own party. Shields also points to how Gen. Wesley Clark (D) shows that Democrats simply don't have to do this - if they have guts.

When you see a Democrat spit back right-wing lies, it should only remind us of how totally emasculated Democrats have been at the hands of Grover Norquist and the GOP. It is the equivalent of Democrats saying to the GOP "Thank you sir, may I have another?"

It should also serve as an inspiration that we can and must do better. Most Democratic elected officials in America have a lot of courage, and are fighting the good fight everyday. That takes guts - and when those within their ranks simply recycle right-wing lies, all of their efforts are undermined. It is time, once and for all, for us to reward those with guts, and call out those who are part of the problem.

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