There’s been quite a bit of talk — perhaps, too much — about whether leading Democratic presidential candidates have been careless in using “right-wing talking points.” I’m definitely sympathetic to the concerns — Dems should be running in 2008 in such a way as to strengthen the party and progressive ideas, and using “conservative frames” as part of the discourse is counter-productive.
It’s been going on for a while, and I can think of instances in which each of the leading candidates have been guilty. In August, John Edwards was asked about his take on single-payer health care. Edwards demonized the idea, saying, “Do you think the American people want the same people who responded to Hurricane Katrina to run their health-care system?” It was an extremely dumb thing to say, and parroted “right-wing talking points.”
Around the same time, Barack Obama wanted to highlight his willingness to tell voters news they didn’t want to hear, unlike Hillary Clinton. He foolishly picked Social Security as an issue, and described the S.S. system as facing a “crisis.” We just finished the “There Is No Crisis” campaign, which made Obama’s comment both wrong, dumb, and an example of using “right-wing talking points.”
More recently, Hillary Clinton’s campaign, hoping to get in a cheap shot at Obama’s campaign, sent out mailings in New Hampshire and Nevada accusing Obama of embracing “a plan with a trillion dollar tax increase on America’s hard-working families,” because he’s open to raising the FICA cap. The mailing could just as easily been written by the Republican National Committee or Grover Norquist, making it a prime example of using “right-wing talking points.”
You get the idea. Now, the point to keep in mind here is that using “right-wing talking points” means more than just saying something that a conservative says about a given issue. It has to do with advancing a conservative approach/worldview. The right has a message, and Dems shouldn’t help advance it by arguing on their terms.
Howard Wolfson, Clinton’s communications director, seems a little confused about this.
Greg Sargent has the story.
In an interview with me a couple of minutes ago, senior Hillary adviser Howard Wolfson claimed that Obama’s assertion this morning that Bill Clinton is fibbing about his campaign is a “right wing talking point.”
Wolfson was responding to my questions about Obama’s Good Morning America appearance this morning, in which Obama claimed that Bill has been dissembling badly about Obama campaign tactics. Obama also charged that Bill has been dissembling regularly about the Illinois Senator’s consistent opposition to the Iraq war and about Obama’s claim that the GOP has been the “party of ideas.”
“From time to time the Obama campaign has used right-wing talking points against Bill and Hillary Clinton,” Wolfson said at one point in response to questions about Obama’s appearance. Asked whether Obama’s claim that Bill is fibbing is one of them, Wolfson said: “Yes.”
No. Republicans will say, in general, that Bill Clinton is dishonest. It’s just reflexive for conservatives, like breathing. But in this case, Obama pointed specifically to something Bill Clinton said that, in reality, wasn’t true. Noting that publicly has nothing to do with “right-wing talking points.” The idea doesn’t even make any sense.
As Wolfson’s argument goes, anytime anyone points out anything that the former president said that isn’t true, they’re necessarily using “right-wing talking points.” But that’s silly — by this logic, Bill Clinton could make up outrageous charges against Obama, and Obama couldn’t respond at all without sounding like a Republican hack. It sounds like an effort to silence critics, regardless of merit.
Most of the time, I really enjoy watching an exciting primary fight between three great candidates. But once in a while, I really understand why most Americans find politics frustrating.