Playing Defense

Yes, yes, it's a sports analogy. Live with it.

The wingnuts have learned well. They play hard and fast offense. Rules don't matter. Only aggression counts.

You say you want an example? Here:

"Q. Scott, on another topic, has the President or anyone else from the administration responded to the letter sent last month by Congressman John Conyers and signed by dozens of members of the House of Representatives, regarding the Downing Street memo? Has the President or anyone else responded?

MR. McCLELLAN: Not that I'm aware of.

Q. Why not?

MR. McCLELLAN: Why not? Because I think that this is an individual who voted against the war in the first place and is simply trying to rehash old debates that have already been addressed. And our focus is not on the past. It's on the future and working to make sure we succeed in Iraq."

See how it works? Mr. Conyers opposed the war and is therefore a troublemaker that we can ignore. Other members of congress? Must be irrelevant. Just attack.

I'm sick of playing defense. And I don't understand why we haven't learned this lesson from them by now. And by "we" I mean the good guys. The people I know aren't stupid, but they seem to feel the need to defend themselves. I, for one, am ready to walk through the world aiming at anybody who shows the slightest inclination to quote or even hint at wingnuttery.

Today I'm in a good mood.

I'll wait while you finish laughing. Done? Ok, let's move on.

So today I'm going to try to encourage The Good Guys gently in the direction of playing offense. Today the lesson shall come from the system of combat you know as Karate.

"Flying feet and fists are something like speeding cars. If somebody punches you squarely in the chest, you feel the brunt of the fist's force. In karate, the object is to intercept the fist so that it contacts your body from the side and you redirect its momentum away from you. You do this by sweeping your opponent's arm or leg away from you with your own arm. Depending on the attack, karatekas may sweep a blow upward, downward or to either side. With this sort of blocking, you still end up colliding with your opponent, but you only feel a fraction of the force of the attack.

This also turns your opponents' momentum against them. When you sweep a blow away to the side, your opponents' own momentum pull them forward, upsetting their balance. This leaves them vulnerable to attack"

We know that they are going to attack. It's who they are. Instead of the habit we have adopted of taking the blow full on and responding, it is time to learn to gently deflect the attacks, to throw them off base, to let the attack slip by with merely a graze. Thus they become more vulnerable.

As with any sport of game, one gains skill with practice. So practice every chance you get aqnd I'll be back soon to gently nudge you into new forms of attack.