Watchdogs are our best friends

In some liberal circles, there's a backlash against posting about topics like Ann Coulter's recent call for skinheads to menace liberals.

The familiar refrain is "don't give them the time and publicity."

When the invaluable Crooks and Liars site posted a nifty clip of recent Coulter bloviation, they felt the need to couch it with "These kinds of statements are laughable and people say we should just ignore Coulter, but obviously some conservatives do take her seriously."

The fact is that right-wing nut jobs get all the publicity they need. Look at a list of the most popular blogs. Or if you dare, listen to AM radio.

What they have is an audience. What they don't have enough of is people to shame them and their supporters for their hate-filled talk.

Their favorite pastime is taking quotes from our side and contorting them into fodder that energizes their base. Why should we object when our brethren and sisteren arm us with choice bits of their crazy talk, which helps us make the point about the true meaning of their so-called compassionate conservativism:

• Demonizing liberals
• Mocking and marginalizing women, minorities, gays, atheists, etc.
• Blood lust and genocide fantasies
• Turning America into a theocracy
• Turning government into a trough for the powerful

IMHO, shining a spotlight on their vicious talk helps rein them in, far more than it tells some yokel to get on their lunatic bandwagon.

They've created all sorts of memes like "liberal media" that have made people distrust us, and in recent years we've started to fight back. People have learned that Fox News is in the pocket of the right. People have learned that Rush is a big fat idiot.

I, for one, am very glad there are people like Al Franken and the folks at Crooks and Liars and Media Matters for America, who help give us talking points we can use to show the reality of what the right wing's spokespeople are saying, so that maybe we can dissuade some people from believing their hate-filled lies.

Good dog!