Greg's admonishment on Michelle Malkin is exactly correct. And, before the usual suspects rear up to accuse me of softness and appeasement and DC-ness and weakness and giving aid to Republicans and whatever else, remember: it's not attacks that are the problem, it's stupid attacks that backfire on us and do us damage that are the problem.
There should be full court press against Michelle Malkin's repulsive smearing of Cindy Sheehan, her little foray into Sheehan's marital status should be plastered over the talkshows as proof of conservative cravenness. This is the time for JuJitsu, letting their poorly aimed, grossly inappropriate attempts at character assassination become the story, destroying the characters of those responsible and making Cindy look even more sympathetic. Instead, we call Malkin a whore, start making fun of her surname, leave threatening messages on her answering machine, and do a thousand things that, if put on O'Reilly, would make us look just as bad as her.
You don't win by being aggressive, you win by being disciplined. The right gets it. When Ed Klein's book came out, they backed off. When the SwiftVets were firing fusillades, the President talked about Campaign FInance Reform, not John Kerry's marriage to Theresa. With Sheehan, we're ahead. We're hurting them. That's why they're going so batshit crazy. But what does the right do when a story is slapping them around? They refocus the news cycle on something else. Bush loses the debates, but the three days following are endless stories about John Kerry's craven outing of a self-identified lesbian. Right now, Cindy Sheehan is winning the debate, let's be disciplined enough that the right can't refocus the story.
