Again, the truth doesn't matter

A smart lefty is frustrated that the right is getting ahead by asserting lies and the left sticks to the truth. We know the answer here don’t we? Use the truth but tap into the same outrage? Or?

An excerpt from the folks at Poplicks:

I know that there will always be fierce opposition to any American president, regardless of his or her ideology. Dissent is an American tradition. Undoubtedly, the anti-Bush rallies were an even larger assembly of angry people with the same passion as the people interviewed above.

But what shocks me about these oft-repeated wingnut talking points is how much they depend on lies.

In expressing their views, these teabaggers rely on “facts” with no credible support. Obama is not an American citizen. Obama is a Communist. Obama is the first president to have “czars.” Obama wants to kill my grandma. Obama is Muslim. Obama is raising my taxes (said a person who is probably not making more than $250,000). Obama is taking my doctor away.

In contrast, most anti-Bush protesters never needed to lie. They either chanted pure opinions (e.g., “The war on Iraq is wrong,” “Bush is the worst president in US history,” etc.) or expressed beliefs stemming from undisputed facts (e.g., “No Tax Dollars to Halliburton”, “How can the White House defend torture?,” etc.).

Granted, there were many leftists who passionately believed unproven assertions. For example, thousands (including me) believed that the White House was raising the terror alert levels during the 2004 presidential campaign just to skew support towards President Bush. Sure enough, it turned out to be true. But even if it wasn’t true, most Bush critics could articulate their opposition to President Bush’s policies without lying (or repeating lies that they believed to be true).

Consider the “You Lie” controversy. Personally, I am not outraged with Rep. Joe Wilson for merely interrupting Pres. Obama’s speech and violating so-called rules of etiquette. If he blurted out “Shame!” during one of Pres. Bush’s speeches defending the Iraqi invasion, I would have praised him. Instead, what outrages me about Rep. Wilson’s statement is that it’s a patently false assertion. He’s not expressing an opinion. He’s stating that Obama’s proposed bill would apply to illegal immigrants, when it clearly does not.

Read the whole piece at Poplicks

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