'People who care about the details aren't going to vote for us anyway' 

A comment on this post by The Next Right's Jon Henke says it all. Henke, a conservative, rejected the new J**m** C**si book that trashes Obama (I won't mention the author's name; he's had way too much attention, and the media should be ashamed of giving it to him).

Commenter chris m says "Who cares? It works and we should keep doing it. Let the eggheads have their standards. People who care about the details aren't going to vote for us anyway. Who cares what they think."

So what do you do with that attitude? One thing I think liberals shouldn't do is become prickly about it. The right loves it when we get all earnest and offended; it's their prize. Better to quickly and dispassionately correct an error in case anyone is buying a lie, then laugh at the perpetrators, roll your eyes, shake your head and walk away in mid-sentence -- but notice what's happening and learn.

There's been too much indignation on both sides during this election cycle, and the surplus necessarily means some of it is a pose. I think even John Kerry's Truth Fights Back site, a laudable effort overall, has adopted a tone that encourages the liberal troops to show its indignation like snooty Margaret Dumont types ("Well I never...").

We're only talking to each other when we join in that chorus of outrage, not persuading undecided voters or discouraging the smear purveyors.