What if Dems acted more like the GOP?

From TPM:

Here It Comes
Straight from House Minority Leader John Boehner's office:
"Sen. Reid's Government-Run Health Plan Requires a Monthly Abortion Fee"

AND

We Are All Jihadists!
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT): Republicans are about to launch a "holy war" to derail health care reform.

My question: what if Dems responded in kind?

Something along the lines of,

GOP aligns with terrorists, declares jihad on America

... maybe in a press-release issued by Majority Leader Reid.

Or they could just make stuff up - like Boehner does:

Republican healthcare plan mandates sterilization for immigrant teens!

But, no.

What the Dems will do instead is embark on pointless efforts to respond to GOP charges! - Basically this 'tactic' (such as it is) puts the GOP in the driver's seat. LBJ was a master of this:

[paraphrased]In one of his early Congressional campaigns, LBJ is said to have advised his campaign manager to accuse his opponent of having carnal knowledge of his pigs.

"You want me call him a pig-fucker?", the aide queried.

To which LBJ replied, "Make him deny it!"

If Dems insist on replying to every Republican calumny, they have effectively lost the debate.

Local note: in the 2006 NM-1 Congressional race, challenger (Dem) Patricia Madrid fell into this trap repeatedly, effectively putting incumbent (Rep) Heather Wilson in charge of Madrid's campaign. Every time Wilson took a swing at Madrid, Madrid stood up to it and took it on the jaw! It was then - and is now - a ridiculous and fruitless debating technique.