You Were Wrong & I Was Right

Yeah, but so what? tmi3rd wrote a great piece about being "wrong" on how to oppose the Obama administration, and if you missed it, you should go and read the whole darn thing right now. The only objection that I would have to his premise is calling his former position "wrong". Mistaken would be better, I think - because "wrong" and "right" are such stark, black & white terms.

The majority of conservatives who objected to the in-your face tactics of hardcases like Jeff Goldstein and Rush's Infamous Four Words were basing their objection on the perfectly reasonable assumption that these would make reasonable debate on the issue impossible. I, for one, never want to get to the point where people who want to use logic to trump emotion are shouted down and run out of town on a rail.

I was probably the most vocal AoSHQ co-blogger on the side of the "hardcases" in this skirmish, so I think that it partly falls upon me to help set the tone for those who agreed with me a few short months ago. It's simple, and, in the spirit of the aforementioned Infamous Four Words, I managed to boil it down to THREE WORDS.

Lighten. Up. Francis.

You could also summarize it as "Don't be a douchebag", but "Lighten up, Francis" works better in G-rated company. If you encounter a fellow conservative who has changed their mind on how to engage the Left during the last 6 months, just smile and tell them that you're glad that we see eye to eye now. Don't be "that guy". You know the guy I'm talking about - constantly reminding everyone about how he knew how to handle this whole thing LONG before everyone else came around to HIS way of thinking, and bitching about how nobody gives him any credit for being some sort of Rocket Surgeon of Political Discourse. "That guy" is a douchebag. Please don't be a douchebag.

All of us are in the same boat now, so I see no reason to even bring the issue up. The only reason I mentioned it was to try and set an example so that cooperation can trump Idealogical Purity and we can start shifting our focus over to the people who REALLY disagree with our concept of how America should be governed.

Anyway, that's my opinion.

posted by Russ from Winterset at 02:06 PM

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