I had a little something to do with helping Democrat James Webb get elected. And I'm (rather I was) a Republican. In the process I learned something.
I wrote an op-ed for the Dallas Morning News ("Against The Grain" November 1, 2006) that was picked up by several hundred blogs. Within forty-eight hours I received five or six hundred emails---many friendly, some not.
My op-ed expressed furry with the George Allen campaign for using out-of-context quotes from James Webb's novels to embarrass him with Virginia's voters. I quoted a scurrilous email Allen supporters were circulating accusing him of being a "pedophile" because of a fictitious scene in one of his books. I noted that this struck me as the same sort of sleazy attack that was made by the Bush team against John McCain in the 2000 presidential race. I also reminded my readers that unlike most people in politics today James Webb has a military son in harm's way in Iraq.
In view of the fact that the Webb smear was designed to appeal to fundamentalist Christians I also pointed out that if Webb is a "pedophile" because of the content of his fiction writing then so is God, if you believe God inspired the Bible, a book that includes descriptions of the raw sexual side of human nature. I concluded by saying that I was going to re-register as an independent after having been a life-long Republican (something I did the next day). I mentioned my religious "background"---my late father was Dr. Francis Schaeffer, an evangelical leader and friend to several Republican presidents, Jerry Falwell et al.
My motivation for writing the op-ed was personal. My son volunteered for the Marines in 1999, and served several combat tours in the Middle East. And over the years my novels have been reviled for their "sexual content" and "profanity" by some of my co-religionists. I knew how Webb must have felt with a son at war, and how it feels when your books are trashed because you try and write what seems true to life. I was defending a fellow military parent and writer.
My op-ed was instantly picked up by dozens of Democrat-friendly blogs. As congratulatory emails poured in I was reminded of the welcome given new believers when they convert from some particularly hideous life of sin. This was ironic. I hadn't said I was becoming a Democrat, but advocating another view altogether: that we need voters to vote conscience over party, character over "issues"---maybe even a to-hell-with-them-all third party. Then the Drudge Report and other right wing blogs "noted" what I'd written.
The Republicans who flooded me with emails fell into two categories. The first was of the old SNL Church Lady variety. Most said they hadn't read Webb's novels but were shocked, just shocked, by his "immorality" nonetheless and went to three and four page single-spaced lengths to justify the Republican's tactics. Others denied that Republican's ever smear opponents, and accused me of being a willing accomplice in a hoax (something that reminded me of the "Arab street" reaction to 9/11 that denied that Muslims could ever do such a thing and blamed the CIA and Israel.) For good measure most of the Church Ladies also quoted scripture denouncing "filth" in general and Webb's books in particular.
The second Republican support group was made up of profanity-spewing thugs. The Church Lady emails contrasted hilariously with the insults. It was as if I'd stumbled into a Sunday school picnic at a Turret's syndrome convention...
"As a Christian the best question you could ask is what would Jesus do? He wouldn't give Webb's books a pass just because he's a veteran... "
"Mr. Schaeffer: Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out you FUCK!"
"Mr. Webb has no excuse for using profanity..."
"Good fucking riddance - you fucking cry baby!"
"I have never read any of Mr. Webb's novels. However, the excerpts [in the Drudge Report] are very disturbing. . . . As for the Bible, yes it has all the things you mentioned: rape, murder, adultery, masturbation, etc. However, the Lord did not give us graphic details . . . And I hope as Christians we can remember that and be a voice crying out against ALL the ugly things..."
"We don't need your lame ass motherfucking comments or your support..."
When combined the emails seemed to boil down to: "Do what we say Jesus says and if you don't we'll prayerfully kick your head in!"
The Republican smear-a-writer campaign was a particularly bad idea for a party that says it stands for freedom and that supports a president who wants to "stay the course" in forcing democracy at gun point on societies where millions of Islamist "Church Ladies" riot over "evil" cartoons, and a fatwa condemning Salman Rushdie to death for literary "blasphemy" has widespread support.
When it comes to discrediting political opponents by accusing their art of being "immoral" there are precedents any sane Republican strategist might want to avoid being associated with: Hitler branding his enemies as purveyors of "decadent Jewish art," the Taliban blowing up "unbelievers" statues, Stalin's having artists shot who failed to follow his "socialist realist" guidelines, and the writers, poets and novelists murdered by the communist Chinese come to mind.
Message to Republicans and Islamists et al: attacking artists and writers to gain political advantage isn't cool.
At some point the pietists running the Republican Party (or being suckered by it) will have to decide if they're happy sharing a bed with thugs who write go-*#@!-yourself emails. More importantly as they look to 2008, the Church Ladies must decide how long they'll keep relying on the professional liars who've been organizing one smear campaign after another---including the one that excoriated Webb's novels. The Republican faithful might do worse than to consider my email correspondent's advice: What would Jesus do?