OLD RULES, NEW RULES
Lying Liars & the Presidents Who Employ Them

Media Critic Eric Alterman on the meaning of Dick Durbin's "Nazi" apology, and Karl Rove's vicious slander against him and all liberals. From the Nation courtesy of Eschaton:

There's a lesson for liberals in all this: American politics has become a game with no rules and no referee. Play by the old rules--fairness, honesty, good faith--and face political extinction.

Click here for the rest.

My thoughts exactly. In fact, in a twist of synchronicity, I wrote this last night in an email to my buddy Matt:

I'm honestly torn about how to respond to the continuing vicious right-wing attacks on liberalism. Some days I'm like "bring it on, scumbags." I've really let a couple of random conservatives who have dropped comments on my blog have it big time. Other days I try to be more principled. I guess it doesn't matter, because my blog seems to be preaching to the chorus for the most part, but as a tactical issue I just don't know. It seems like the only way to take the moral high ground in today's political environment is by playing the alpha male better than anyone else, beating on your chest like O'Reilly, avoiding true debate and descending into demogogeury. I feel like liberals are playing by old rules which means that they tend to lose a lot of debates. If you even want to call them "debates." Of course, it would help if American liberals knew what they stood for these days.

Of course, the dilemma here is the old hunt-the-dragon-become-the-dragon thing. That is, if liberals adopt the conservative style of "rhetoric," would things get even worse? Would reason and thought no longer play a part in American discourse? I really am torn about this; there's downside no matter how you look at it. I am certain of one thing, however: if liberals continue to approach debate with a quiet and high minded demeanor, they need to watch their backs.

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