How does one effectively combat an opponent with no shame, no decency, and not even a tenuous commitment to the truth? One option is to take the high road, fight the smears, and continue to push your message. For the record, this is the road I would personally recommend. (“Oh, that’s interesting Harry — get back to me when you have some evidence. Incidentally, have you seen the latest jobs report?”) Another option is to get down into the Democrats’ mud and fight dirty. As amusing as the Reid/pedophilia “accusation” saga is — and we still haven’t seen firm proof that the Senate Majority Leader doesn’t fondle little boys — it won’t break through and capture the narrative spotlight. If Republicans are interested in getting nasty and force-feeding Democrats some of their own repulsive medicine, they would need to make it about Obama. Here’s what they could do (not an endorsement, just an illustration): Get a senior and high-profile Republican member of Congress to give an on-the-record “scoop” to a site like, say, Townhall.com. Let’s use Sen. John McCain as an example; as a former presidential nominee and a media fixture, he’d do the trick. McCain could say that he’s heard from “a source” inside the Justice Department that President Obama exerted executive privilege in the Fast & Furious scandal because he didn’t want the public to discover that he himself ordered the operation. McCain might add that he isn’t totally sure if the leak is true, but he still believes it to be accurate — and that it is up to Obama to release every single document pertaining to Fast & Furious to prove that he didn’t directly order it. After all, the president has been extremely secretive about the program, even as hundreds of its murdered victims’ families demand justice. Romney wouldn’t have to comment on the allegation, aside from affirming that Americans “deserve answers” about the lethal gun-running operation. (The public agrees). McCain could keep making the allegation day after day, with Democrats rushing to condemn him. The truth wouldn’t matter, though; the more they’d fire back at McCain, the more he’d fight, and in the end, what would the topic be? Barack Obama’s bloody scandal that killed hundreds of innocent people, including a US border agent. See how this works?
The above scenario is a nearly perfect parallel to what Democrats are doing now, except Obama’s scandal actually exists, and real blood has been spilled. The only stretch/fabrication would be Obama’s direct involvement in it, rather than just his Attorney General.
