Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Swifting and Smearing

I am still trying; here's a letter I sent to the TPM today.

Everyone I ask in New Haven, people who know him for years, say that Senator Lieberman is a modest, honest and honorable person. Naturally, this is one reason why he's being savagely Swift-boated - he doesn't fight back very well. I wouldn't mind the demonization of him as much if it came from the GOP, but from the Left?! MYDD calls him "vicious and reactionary"? The ironically violent language used by the anti-war crew ('hey, kill him, he supports a war!') at Atrois, DailyKos, TPMCafe, chills my moderate-Democrat blood.

Yet, it's called a "smear" when the Lieberman campaign puts out a flier that (a) defends his record on race (which is very good, certainly better than Al Sharpton's, if we understand 'good' to mean building bridges) and (b) uses Lamont's own history and words to describe the contrast between the two candidates.

Sure. "Smear." In another context, 'smear' is 'disproportionate response.'

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