A Republican acquaintance sent me an E-mail yesterday...

[I Have A Dream]

filled with quotes of people saying stupid things. It had quotes from all kinds of famous people, but it also had "quotes" from Gore and Bill Clinton which were really things that Dan Quayle said. (It might be an old E-mail that's been around for a while, but it's still going around.)

My question is: How do we combat things like this? Most people who read these types of E-mails really think that the quotes are real, and it does real damage to people on our side, just as the original sender intended. It's Gore & Clinton now, but it will be whoever we run for office in the future also. Many, many people on the right think that it's entirely acceptable to do things like this -- it's politics. However, we on the left don't feel comfortable doing things like this, and, even if we did think that it was acceptable to do, WE (unlike the right) would be held accountable for doing something this sleezy.

I sent a message to my acquaintance explaining all of this, and he just said that he still thought that it was really funny. I was going to send him something asking if he'd find it funny if we misquoted HIS party's leaders, but I knew that it was not even worth going into. (It's like what happens when I try to bring up national healthcare with a Republican when someone in his/her family is going through some kind of health emergency. I always try to stress how lucky they are that they have insurance, and what would happen if they didn't. They never continue the conversation.)

How can we win when the right gets away with things like this? (It's Swift Boating.)

[tsuki]

1. Check out each quote on snopes. If they are incorrect, send a

quick email (reply all) about checking the facts before he makes a fool of himself and put http://snopes.com/ in the email. Everyone knows snopes.

It works.

[I Have A Dream]

2. I did send him the information that I found to be incorrect.

However, I'm sure that this E-mail was sent to thousands and thousands of people via E-mail. I can deal with this one person, but how do we on the left combat these types of things when the right feels no qualms about doing things like this?

There are different rules for the right than there are for the left, in my opinion. (By both us in that we wouldn't feel that it's right to do something like this, and by most Americans, who seem to hold the left more accountable than it holds the right.)

[livvy]

4. When you reply, send with the "reply to all"....

At least that way it gets to everyone he sent the email to.

[I Have A Dream]

8. Yes, I did this. There was only one other person. Thanks! n/t

[tsuki]

21. Usually when I get those types of emails, I hit reply all. I did that

by mistake a couple of years ago, and found out that the even though the email looked like it was coming to only me, it was really a mass email.

I put something like, before you send out these emails and look like a total inbecile, check your facts with snopes.com. You're a rumour monger.

Imagine my surprise when I opened my email the next day and had four thank yous from people that I have never heard from, and for some reason, did not know I emailed.

I am sure that someone can explain how that happened. I don't know. I now hit reply all with a very terse note about the sender's stupidity.

[DeaconBlues]

3. A few days ago I received an e-mail from my father-in-law that included

a picture of Bill Moyer (a combat veteran) at a VFW meeting wearing a covering over his ear that said "bullshit protector." This incident occurred a few months ago when Bush spoke before the VFW. The thing is, the e-mail stated that the speaker was Senator Kennedy! My father-in-law is a right-winger but he's honest, so I think that all he was doing was passing along an e-mail that he received. But it is sure sign that the conservatives are getting desperate, if they are sending around misleading junk that's so easily debunked.

I informed my father-in-law that the real bullshitter was in fact Bush and sent along some sites to back myself up, and he accepted the fact that he was fooled. Its a tough hard slog, but I guess this is what we have to do - attack their lies one incident at a time until it sinks in and turns those who are still sane enough to convert.

[fight4my3sons]

19. unfortunately, I got the same email from my mother.

[July]

5. "Reply All" with the snopes.com links.

Or any other links you've got. Editorialize if you want about how desperate someone must be to take remarks by someone ON THEIR OWN SIDE and use them to make the other party look stupid. Says it all, really, that they do that.

[I Have A Dream]

6. Yeah, that's what I did. There was only one other person to whom...

my acquaintance sent the E-mail at the same time, but I copied her so that she would hesitate to send it on. (Hopefully!)

[HillDem]

7. I love how republicans

try to blame us for Dan Quayle.

remember--- If we do not succeed, then we run the risk of failure

[I Have A Dream]

10. LOL! That was one that they attributed to Bill Clinton! n/t

[Hissyspit]

9. Here's an almost exact same discussion from a few days ago, useful:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=5244696

Debunks almost the entire email in the OP and thread posts.

[I Have A Dream]

14. Yep, this is the E-mail that I received. The right must really be...

getting scared.

Thanks for the information. I'll check it out!

I love how they always say that we need to get a sense of humor when we point out their lies.

[Hissyspit]

18. It's a defense mechanism, so they don't have to admit they are wrong. nt

[Iris]

16. Jeez. This thread pretty much proves many people who vote Republican

couldn't give a shit less about the truth.

[I Have A Dream]

17. Yes, and that's the problem because they pass it on to people...

who really DO care about the truth but believe it because, after all, "it is a quote". People need to be more skeptical, but, until this happens, we're screwed.

[Iris]

20. Yes. I'm amazed at some of the stuff one of my bosses sends out.

And she works in higher education - has 2 Master's degrees! Scary, indeed.

[YouthInAsia]

11. ignore them.

[HillDem]

12. Remember when RayGun said

"we have nothing to fear but fear itself"?

Face it republicans are just better public speakers, guys.

[I Have A Dream]

15. LOL! That was one that they attributed to Bill Clinton! n/t

It's deja vu all over again. :rofl:

RayGun was no FDR.

[ComerPerro]

13. Nothing. There isn't a damn thing we can do about it

They set up emails riddled with lies and spread them around the net like wildfire.

Hell, remember that one, just after 9/11, where it made it seem like Gore was mocking Ollie North years and years ago because North was worried about some terrorist named Osama bin Laden?

Sure, it was from that time period, and North was the one being grilled. But the Senator wasn't Gore, and the terrorist wasn't bin Laden.

Its been debunked several times over, but it kept spreading as though it were literal fact.

Hell, even Ollie North himself came out and wrote a statement debunking it, but that still doesn't matter. It think it might even still be circulated.

The right wing doesn't care that most of their beliefs are lies, or that they are sending lies to their families.

And, as you kinda pointed out, when you do prove it to be false, they just say crap like "But it still makes you think"

Yeah, makes me think what a crock of shit you are for spamming people with this bullshit.