The appropriate tone: ridicule

From HuffPost:

... Responding to charges that his economic policies were socialistic in nature, the Democratic nominee ridiculed his opponent for resorting to trivialities and distractions.

"Now, because he knows that his economic theories don't work, he's been spending these last few days calling me every name in the book. Lately he's called me a socialist for wanting to roll-back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans so we can finally give tax relief to the middle class. I don't know what's next. By the end of the week he'll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten. I shared my peanut butter and jelly sandwich."

As I've noted previously, ridicule can be a powerful rhetorical tool!