[idertedype]

Today I received an email from Organizing for America, the fund-raising arm of the DNC. The heading read, "Letting the extremists take over." The body of the email went on to say this:

This week's Republican primary elections in Arizona, Florida, and Alaska delivered a new crop of extreme nominees that the GOP needs to elect if they want to take back Congress.

For these guys, it's not enough to return to the days of failed Bush policies -- they actually want to turn back the clock to the days before Social Security, Medicare, health reform, civil rights, voting rights, and women's rights.

Republicans want to put the Tea Party in charge. We have a plan to stop them. You know, somebody set fire to some equipment in front of an Islamic center under construction in Mufreesboro, TN last weekend. I'd call that extremism. The people who flew planes into the Twin Towers, those people were extremists. Timothy McVeigh was an extremist.

Now, I may not like Marco Rubio's politics and I'm certainly not going to vote for him to become Florida's next senator, but is he an extremist? I don't think so.

I'd caution the DNC to be careful with the rhetoric. I don't need to be shocked or frightened into a particular political position. Fear has not been a traditional tactic of the Democratic Party. I certainly don't want to see them starting now. Fight back, but do so with honesty, intelligence and integrity. Rise above this nonsense.

[gogoleanylinkfo]

Good point. Where Republicans have gravitated toward fear-based campaigns including their embrace of the current right-wing media meme that "white people should be afraid that brown people are coming for you and your money," Democrats have generally won by shining a light on that kind of cynicism and putting forth alternate ideas.

[LoloLibia]

DES, while I agree with the principle of your post--that the DNC should stay away from the scare tactics--I don't see how this passage uses that technique. From what I can tell (but perhaps this is just in my Fox news-saturated household) the line between Republicans and Tea Partiers is getting rather blurry. People who identify themselves as conservative are more and more identifying with the Tea Parties. I don't consider telling someone the truth, no matter how frightful, a scare tactic.

Recently I attended a "Talking to the Media" workshop for my student org training, and the presenter made some very convincing arguments about selling the progressive position. I think it's time the Dems, and liberals in general, step it up and start going after their political opponents, who have continually shown themselves willing to sink to any level, rather than constantly fending off attacks. I'm certainly not saying that scare tactics are needed, but definitely tougher rhetoric is needed.

[SergZHy67]

The heading on the email is what I found most objectionable, echinacea. I think the word "extremists" shouldn't be used to describe political opponents, especially given the connotation these days. It's just inflammatory and not needed. Democrats can get aggressive with the Tea Party folks, the fringe Republicans, the Rushies and the Beckheads (oh, I like that one!) without the fear factor.

A disclaimer: The bolding was not mine, it was in the c/p of the email. I was not bolding it to make a point.

[PharmACT]

Maybe the word "fringe" would have been better....less vitriolic, and actually more accurately descriptive of the elements the email referenced.