Working the Crowd

There is, usually, a decided line between Republican and Democratic invective. The Republican variety draws its inheritance from the schoolyard bully, the middle school clique leader, and the frat boy. The loudest conservative mouths often seem to have been one or the other of these people, and to have never grown up. The verbal barrage is essentially aggressive. It is on the offense at all times, and those against whom it is directed are seldom in any doubt about it. If the words don't do the job, a fist will.

The Democratic line of invective finds its roots in the commentary of the class nerd, from grade school through college. It is not so much informed as subtle, even sly, and often self-deprecating. It is generally defensive. To the continuing fury of the schoolyard bullies, nerdish commentary nearly always draws a smile or a laugh from the unengaged audience. The bully can't understand this success with the audience, can't understand what the nerd was on about, is sure it was about him (or her), and generally responds with more bullying.

Here then we have Ann Coulter, Fox, most of the pantheon of conservative media, and their audience, in a nutshell. I wouldn't want to suggest that the nerds of the universe give up their principal line of defence, but it seems appropriate to suggest that the schoolyard bullies grow up.