When diplomacy fails, we are left with nothing but the prospect of war, bleak and hard. Yes, it’s Christmastime again, and mighty legions are mobilizing to take their places in the battle line — that hated foe demands a smiting, after all.
Of course, the idea of a “War on Christmas” is terminally silly in a culture saturated with Christmas messaging (as I write this, the radio at the coffeeshop I’m in is tuned to a channel that’ll play nothing BUT Christmas songs for the next couple of weeks), but what the heck — martial metaphors work quite well when you want to get folks fired up. The RNC’s online store has already sold out of its supply of “Happy Holidays is what liberals say” fundraising t-shirts! (the horror…the horror….).
The good thing when your opponents are going over the top? You can get away with having a little fun yourself. Case in point: the DNC’s “Happy Holidays GOP” tweet generator, which will help you launch a barrage of holiday wishes targeted at the GOP and NRCC Twitter accounts:
Hey @GOP and @NRCC, Happy Kwanzaa AND Happy Holidays from this proud Democrat! http://t.co/tPkP5Flu3s #HappyHolidaysGOP
— Colin Delany (@epolitics) December 10, 2013
Alas, the steam seams to have run out of that particular campaign after the first couple of days, but they did manage to make a little noise along the way. A more traditional approach to holiday political mischief? Democracy For America is asking its members to urge Republicans to “Stop playing Scrooge — end your “War on Christmas” and extend unemployment benefits today.” Perhaps a little online action will warm their frozen hearts!
Of course, all of this messaging is a crassly manipulative — Republicans are pushing a ludicrous claim (that wishing people “happy holidays” is a nefarious plot to undermine Christmas that will somehow turn America into a godless hellscape overnight). Meanwhile, Democrats are happy to use the hype to keep their own troops on the march and gin up a little media attention/pushback in the process. As usual, good fun all around — until someone finds a lump of coal in his or her stocking.
– cpd