Ann Coulter vs. Oliver Willis

I have expressed my dislike of Ann Coulter many times. She is smart and articulate and, rather than use those skills to pursue legitimate, thoughtful debate, she uses them to defame liberals because that is what sells books and gets her on TV. I know a lot of liberals and I can tell you that not a single one fits the Coulter caricature.

Unfortunately, too many folks on the liberal side are willing to accept the invitation to play by Coulter's ugly rules. Consider this from Oliver Willis.

You cannot deal with that sort of ideology in any sort of accomodationist manner. Liberals need to understand this, from Democratic senators in Washington who still – still – refuse to vote their conscience out of some sense of loyalty to a long-dead notion of civility in Washington, to progressive pundits who actually believe that their right-wing counterparts in the nation's media are actually there for a give-and-take rather than a chance to paint everyone to the left of Joe Lieberman as a terrorist sympathizer.

Wake up, folks. We're in an ideological war with these folks and the sooner you realize that the better. The goal of the modern conservative movement, as embodied by George W. Bush, is not just a simple majority of conservative thought – rather, it is the elimination of everything but conservative thought. In their dream world, a debate over war in Iran would be between differing ideas on whether a standard issue invasion or a tactical nuclear strike would best suffice.

I can understand why Democrats are frustrated as hell, but they need to keep their eye on the prize -- the 30 percent of voters in the middle who decide every national election. The Democrats can regain the presidency in 2008 if the battle is over the reasonable middle (yes, the Lieberman and McCain independents) rather than who can come up with the cleverest sounds bites to release into the echo chambers of the converted and unpersuadable.

UPDATE: I just saw this. I don't get why "work in a bipartisan way" yet "don't go too far" are assumed to be mutually exclusive paths.