Pigbaugh encourages Dean and Kerry Supporters to pile on Clark.

[poskonig]

During my break at school today I managed to catch an hour of Rush Limpballs. Clark was the subject of much of the bashing, he being a "phony," a Clinton stooge, et cetera. Particularly striking were the comments designed to anger Dean and Kerry supporters. Limbaugh parroted the notion that Clark is part of a Democratic Establishment plot to "stop" Dean, and Kerry has been fighting the entire time and doesn't deserve to be displaced by someone who only embraced Democratic ideas a week ago. Since when did Limbaugh care for the wellbeing of John Kerry and Howard Dean, one thinks!

I find his comments laughable, but they do highlight a critical point. While sharp questioning and criticism are good within a democracy, we need to make sure we do not demonize each other, no matter how bad the mudslinging gets between the respective candidates. The idea of this kind of propaganda is to get the Dean people to hate Clark, the Kerry people to hate Dean, et cetera, so when there is a nominee, they won't have the combined support of everyone.

If Kerry won, for instance, and had all, or at least large parts, of the support Clark AND Dean have, he would be unstoppable in the general election.

Since we all know the dirt and the little jabs candidates throw at each other, I suppose it would be wise for Democrats to start circling the wagons. What do you think?