Mind Games
Billmon is kinda over the top about right-wing pundit Ann Coulter, calling her Ilse Koch, after the wife of the commandant of Buchenwald. (I mention this to make his article easier to understand if you follow the link.) But he reads that Coulter has reservations about Supreme Court nominee John Roberts, and that gives him an idea:
Since the guy is probably going to be confirmed anyway, maybe the Dems should praise him instead of slamming him. Talk about his tolerance and his respect for diversity. Congratulate Bush for picking such a moderate, fair-minded jurist — one who has already testified that Roe v Wade is “settled law.” Tell the world they’re overjoyed the president selected a nominee who can reach across the partisan divide, instead of some extremist skin job with a radical religious agenda. Smother Roberts in some hot, juicy Demo love.
Say that kind of stuff often and loud enough, and it might plant some seeds of doubt in those tiny wing-nut minds: “If the filthy ’rats like him so much, he mus’ be some kinda librul.”
Who knows? If enough of the “base” starts talking like [Ann Coulter], it might even force Roberts and his GOP support team to drop the warm and cuddly spin, and demonstrate just how much of a hardliner the guy really is — thereby stripping some of the radar cloaking off the Stealth nominee. But frantic efforts to polish up Roberts’s ultaright credentials might further feed wing nut paranoia about the guy: “If he’s one of us, how come they gotta keep defendin’ him alla time? And why don’ his forehead slope down like ourn?”