What's the obsession we Dems have with "debunking" teh krazee..

[ddeclue]

It's a total waste of time to argue to fools and lunatics.

It's just better to point them out as fools and lunatics.

It's best to ridicule them as fools and lunatics.

To seriously entertain debate with every crazy idea that some teabagger wants to debate with you is to waste all your time and energy that could be spent on getting a Democrat elected instead. It's actually part of the right wing plan for you to give them legitimacy by entertaining the arguments of the teabagger nut jobs as though they deserved a moment of your time.

The best way to get through to your teabagger high school buddy, coworker, brother-in-law, uncle, or golfing partner is to cut them out of your life and tell them you can't afford to waste your time arguing with fools.

After enough people tell them that they are crazy and cut them out of their life instead of listening to their crazy teabagger nonsense eventually they'll get the message.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Bingo. There's no way to argue with crazy.

It's like the old adage about wrestling with a pig -- you just get dirty, and the pig likes it.

[GoneOffShore]

2. It's that whole "Equal time" thing and being "fair".

By giving equal time to patently silly ideas - Creationsim, anti vax, birthers, troofers, fundies of all sorts - we give their ideas credence.

And "all opinions have equal weight". They don't.

[Ozymanithrax]

3. Why not just say..."Here's your sign." N/A

[Warpy]

4. My right wing dad and I agreed to disagree when I was 20

and politics was a subject we studiously avoided except during a mercifully brief Limbaugh phase when the TV show was on. He'd start ranting, I'd leave and do something else and come back half an hour later and ask if he was done. He got the message.

I'm happy to say he finally got the whole message and his last vote was for Kerry.

Sometimes just setting limits is what you have to do to avoid being used by someone else as a political punching bag.

It worked for me, anyway.

[nickinSTL]

6. my dad is...probably a libertarian of sorts

but less right-wing crazy than most...I'd say he's more of a real libertarian than most of the disaffected Republicans claiming to libertarians these days.

...anyway...

When Clinton was President, we argued about politics constantly. Then Dubya got elected, and we got along great.

Generally, my dad hates whoever is in office, and I don't like repubs, so as long as there's a repub president, we get along...

When there's a dem president...we just avoid talking politics.

[Gman2]

12. I did the same, and my pop accuses me of judging him ever since.

[Cirque du So-What]

5. I don't address my commentary to the crazy ones

I consider them a lost cause. I do it for people who are apolitical for the most part, and I do it in a way that draws them into the discussion and makes it relevant to them on a personal level. While I decimate the conservative argument, I attempt to make these people see that it's not in their best interest to remain apathetic. You're right, though, about the wingnuts; I won't waste a moment's time arguing with these pinheads - at least if there's not at least one non-wingnut within earshot.

[EFerrari]

7. Because the crazy wears on people and it's nice to refuel in reality to stay balanced.

[secondwind]

8. tell me about it. I've wasted countless hours on Heritage Foundation, to no avail.

[LoZoccolo]

9. The easiest way to ridicule them is to debunk teh krazee..

[ChoppinBroccoli]

10. You're Kidding, Right?

It's because if that crap goes unrefuted, the unwashed masses believe it to be true. And don't tell me it doesn't happen. The vast majority of the American public has believed some of the most outlandish garbage over the last 10 years that it's an embarrassment to our country. Remember Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11? Remember how John Kerry was the coward and the draft-dodging deserter was the real hero? Remember how Al Gore was a habitual liar? And it goes on today (why do you think we know what the term "Birthers" means?) I feel an odd compulsion to refute whatever lies I can simply because I'm afraid that people will take my silence as confirmation that they're true.

What I find particularly frustrating is that the righties spend all their time making up outlandish lies, and we on the left are pretty much forced to spend all our time disproving THEIR lies (because if we don't disprove them, the dumb public will believe them). It's like we're playing some sick game of dodgeball, and the Republicans have ALL the balls, and all we're doing is just dodging like crazy hoping not to get hit. I wish we on the left were better at going on the offensive.

[guitar man]

11. I don't argue with them anymore

I'll link them to the facts and leave it at that. Life is too short to sit around and argue with them.