(used by Taylor Marsh to admonish Elizabeth Edwards)
As the DesMoines Register, Mrs. Candidate Edwards broke the party-line this week by criticizing MoveOn.org’s New York Times ad.
MoveOn.org should not have labeled Gen. David Petraeus “General Betray Us†in a controversial newspaper ad, Elizabeth Edwards said in Des Moines Friday.
So leading left-blogger Jane Hamsher takes Mrs Edwards out to the woodshed and lays down the law.
Here’s the rule. You never repeat right wing talking points to attack your own, ever. You never enter that echo chamber as a participant. Ever. You never give them a hammer to beat the left with. Just. Don’t. Do. It. …
When offered the opportunity to cudgel your own side, you pivot and attack. …
There are any number of ways you can answer that question well and none of them involve attacking MoveOn. They’re out there on the left so you can look “moderate.†They’re saying what needs to be said, opening the conversation up so John Edwards isn’t considered the left-wing fringe loon that nobody should listen to. Understand that they have contributed a lot to the anti-war movement and that from a practical standpoint, the Edwards campaign needs the solid support of the base to get where he needs to go and everybody’s feeling a bit played this week because nobody other than MoveOn seems to want to take on the carefully orchestrated dog-and-pony show that just bought us a few more Friedman Units of war. And we’re not very happy when the people we defend turn around and start kicking them for it.
We love you. We want to love you.
Knock it off.