Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Dumbing Down Dissenters

Tim Phillips of Americans for Prosperity Writes...

Ever noticed how the Left focuses on attacking us personally rather than engaging in honest debate on the issues?

Just last week I appeared on two very different shows: Sean Hannity's Great American Panel and Rachel Maddow's MSNBC show. Seeing how the debate went is instructive.

On Sean Hannity's show Wednesday night, we had a civil yet spirited discussion on issues of the day. Juan Williams, a Fox News contributor and PBS commentator (with whom I often disagree) made his points concisely and focused on genuine issues. Hannity, as moderator, led the discussion in a manner befitting a leading national media figure. CLICK HERE

The next evening, Rachel Maddow's show was completely different. During a 10-minute segment with me, she flatly refused to discuss even for a moment the health care issue, which was supposed to be the topic.

Instead, she spent her time in a screeching, angry, at times irrational attack on Americans for Prosperity saying that activists like you are not real, that you're part of a big corporate front, etc. Her attacks on you echoed Speaker Pelosi calling you "un-American" for your grassroots involvement and Sen. Harry Reid calling you "evil-mongers" and others on the Left saying we incite "mob violence."

Maddow attacked the personal integrity of our Americans for Prosperity Foundation chairman, David Koch, and another of our board members, Art Pope. The spectacle was enlightening: On a national network, Maddow was viciously attacking two great Americans simply because they volunteer their time and give some of their money to support the cause of freedom. Somehow, she has forgotten to attack George Soros for giving tens of millions to liberal causes like MoveOn.org. When I called her on this hypocrisy, she had no answer.

Then, Maddow cast me as the bad guy. The most outlandish part was when she called me a "parasite feeding on the fears of Americans." CLICK here for video of the Maddow show.
It's never fun being attacked. You and I both get frustrated when we see politicians and pundits denigrate Americans like us because we are in the arena fighting for our freedoms.

But, here's the encouraging part.

The Left is not debating us on the issues precisely because they know they're losing on this front.

Americans are agreeing with us that a Washington takeover of health care will mean medical treatments denied, longer lines, less choice and more taxes and more debt. ObamaCare is now supported by only 35% of the American people because our fellow citizens are hearing both sides and supporting our view that individual freedom, less government control, lower taxes and less debt is better than the Left's alternative.

So, that means folks like Rachel Maddow, Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Harry Reid, the big labor unions, and all their friends are going to drop the issues debate and focus their fire on discrediting us with personal attacks.

We should be encouraged by this turn of events. Their attacks mean we are winning with the American people.

Morning Sun in Autumn Trees
Morning sun in Autumn trees.

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