DNC goes nuclear: Mobs of right-wing extremists are attacking our health-care town halls! Flashback: Obama tells cultists to “get in their faces”

Fortuitously timed, coming as it does just one day after we revisited some of the left’s greatest hits in demonizing Bush, McCain, Palin, etc. They’re like the proverbial guy in spectacles who sucker-punches you and then shrieks when you move to retaliate about not hitting a man wearing glasses. Such delicate flowers they are:

Statement from DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse on the Republican Party and Allied Groups’ Mob Rule: The Republicans and their allied groups – desperate after losing two consecutive elections and every major policy fight on Capitol Hill – are inciting angry mobs of a small number of rabid right wing extremists funded by K Street Lobbyists to disrupt thoughtful discussions about the future of health care in America taking place in Congressional Districts across the country.

However, much like we saw at the McCain-Palin rallies last year where crowds were baited with cries of ‘socialist,’ ‘communist,’ and where the birthers movement was born – these mobs of extremists are not interested in having a thoughtful discussion about the issues – but like some Republican leaders have said – they are interested in ‘breaking’ the President and destroying his Presidency.

These mobs are bussed in by well funded, highly organized groups run by Republican operatives and funded by the special interests who are desperately trying to stop the agenda for change the President was elected to bring to Washington. Despite the headline grabbing nature of these angry mobs and their disruptions of events, they are not reflective of where the American people are on the issues – or the hundreds of thousands of thoughtful discussions taking place around kitchen tables, water coolers and in homes.

The right wing extremists’ use of things like devil horns on pictures of our elected officials, hanging members of Congress in effigy, breathlessly questioning the President’s citizenship and the use of Nazi SS symbols [Heaven forbid. -- ed.] and the like just shows how outside of the mainstream the Republican Party and their allies are. This type of anger and discord did not serve Republicans well in 2008 – and it is bound to backfire again.

I added the boldface in case the media’s unclear on which words the DNC wants them to emphasize when they’re reading this release on air. Needless to say, this is the left’s pitiful — and ironic, given the lip service paid above to “thoughtful discussion” — strategy to win the ObamaCare debate by framing the GOP as stone-cold nuts before its own message machine gets rolling during the recess this month. Already today, we’ve had Axelrod whining on MSNBC about “fearmongering” (more irony!), Boxer fretting about people in suits “storming” the town halls, and smilin’ Dick Durbin lamenting that “tea baggers” are trying to turn the meetings into “free for alls.” Isn’t that what the left did for years in public meetings about the war, asked Jake Tapper of Gibbs earlier today. You’ll find the answer below. But before you watch, courtesy of Greenroom all-star Karl, a few talking points for the left to use as their “thoughtful discussion” goes forward:

* People who want Congress to take more time debating healthcare are shutting down debate.
* Pres. Obama says the time for talk on healthcare is over, but his critics are trying to shut down debate.
* Harassing and threatening the families of AIG employees is awesome; razzing Representatives and Senators is totally bogus!
* Asking Representatives and Senators to read bills before voting on them is killing democracy.
* Sen. Specter saying “we have to make judgments very fast” is awesome. Booing him for saying so is shutting off debate.
* Healthcare protesters are thugs shutting off debate; antiwar protesters are “rowdy.”

Not “thugs,” Karl. “Mobs” and “extremists.”

Update: I can’t believe I forgot this golden oldie from the campaign trail last September. Thanks to Omri Ceren for reminding me.

The feistier, more sarcastic tone came as worried Democrats urged Obama to get tougher and show more passion. Obama has tried to assure donors and voters that he’s been schooled by Chicago politics…

In Elko, Obama tried to anticipate his critics and called on the crowd of about 1,500 to sharpen their elbows, too.

“I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face,” he said.

“And if they tell you that, ‘Well, we’re not sure where he stands on guns.’ I want you to say, ‘He believes in the Second Amendment.’ If they tell you, ‘Well, he’s going to raise your taxes,’ you say, ‘No, he’s not, he’s going lower them.’ You are my ambassadors. You guys are the ones who can make the case.”

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