A lot of liberals love the Idiot Conservative meme. It’s the idea that some conservatives are just too outrageously dumb to live and just look at this idiot thing they did! It’s often grossly unfair, because few people are really that dumb, though we have to admit that politics makes many  us dumber than we are.

Being celebrated this week is the supposed stupidity of conservatives in making fun of new socialist congresswoman Alexandria Ocascio-Cortez for dancing as a college student. “Here’s America’s favorite commie know-it-all acting like the clueless nitwit she is,” wrote the tweeter named “AnonymousQ1776.”

The left went wild. Major newspapers like the New York Times and the Guardian, all sorts of politicians and celebrities like Molly Ringwald and Russell Crowe, and lots of Facebookers jumped on the story of how conservatives thought they were making her look bad but only boosted her popularity. The Guardian story begins, for example: “An attempt to humiliate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as she was sworn in as the youngest ever US congresswoman has backfired impressively.”

The left had a field day. The comedian Patton Oswalt tweeted, “Well, @AOC is officially done. She’ll never recover from the world seeing her … (watches video) … dancing adorably and having fun with her friends in high school?” Someone else tweeted pictures of Paul Ryan in t-shirt and shorts holding a barbell and wearing his baseball hat backwards, which he apparently released when running for vice-president. 97% of even hardcore Republicans would prefer the video of the young woman dancing.

The general storyline: Hahahahaha, you stupid conservatives, you tried to hurt her and you just made her more popular.

It Would Be Stupid, But

It would be stupid . . . if any significant conservative had posted it. No one did. It’s just a tweet from an obscure Twitter account — which, judging from the tweeter’s comment, is run by a dolt. But everyone who jumped on the story took it as evidence of general conservative stupidity. As I say, the Idiot Conservative meme’s rarely fair.

If any liberal asked me about this, I’d tell them to stop. It rallies the troops who want to believe in their superiority to those knuckle-dragging rightwingers, yes. But when you hit someone with a cheap shot, you lose credibility with some portion of people you can influence. A lot of people in the middle — or at least the left side of the middle — must have mixed feelings about the new congresswoman. They don’t like socialism and they’re not fond of socialists, but they like her or they like her general concerns.

They’ll judge Ocasio-Cortez by her supporters. Some of them will react against liberals piling on conservatives in general for one tweeter’s dumb tweet. People who aren’t in mobs don’t like them. You want to help the congresswoman do what she wants to do? For that she needs more allies and she needs to get them from people who aren’t her natural supporters. Don’t drive them away with cheap shots at her opponents.

On the Other Hand

But on the other hand, many conservatives love the Idiot Liberal meme. It’s great for getting hits and likes. Much of the conservative commentary would disappear if the writers had to promote conservatism rather than trash liberals.

It’s also often grossly unfair. They can attack liberals as unfairly as any liberal can attack conservatives. It doesn’t work any better for them. Of course, it gets shares from the people who already agree with them. But does it help win over the people who don’t? Does it move the people on the right side of center? Does it help turn conservative-leaning voters into conservative voters? No, probably not. You don’t win undecided voters by making yourself look like a jerk.

And it can backfire as badly as AnonymousQ1776’s tweet did. Look what happens when conservatives attack Ocasio-Cortez. She tends to win. Not always, but usually. If anyone asked me, I’d tell them to leave her alone. She’s young, clever, unflappable, and she’s really good at social media. If you want to go after an easier target, go after the Democratic party’s corrupt old fossils like Pelosi and Schumer.

A couple months ago, a conservative writer tweeted a picture of Ocasio-Cortez walking down the hallway dressed nicely. “I’ll tell you something: that jacket and coat don’t look like a girl who struggles,” wrote Eddie Scary of the conservative weekly The Washington Examiner. He took an easy, cheap shot. She had him for lunch. “If I walked into Congress wearing a sack, they would laugh & take a picture of my backside,” she tweeted back. “If I walk in with my best sale-rack clothes, they laugh & take a picture of my backside. Dark hates light — that’s why you tune it out. Shine bright & keep it pushing.”

In 51 words she: Pointed out that the picture’s kind of creepy. (Would you want someone circulating pictures of your daughter’s backside?) She made clear that her critics would criticize her no matter what she did. And she let everyone know she got her clothes off the sale rack. She won the Twitter exchange. (Scary later deleted the tweet, conceding defeat.) Having done that, she could criticize her critics back. And sharply, too. They’re the “dark” who hate the light. Maybe unfair, but Scary started it.

What People Want to See

This isn’t to say you can’t hit hard. Conservatives will find many of Ocasio-Cortez’s ideas weak and want to say so. But is is to say we should avoid the Idiot meme. It’s too often unfair.

Both sides can make the other look stupid by picking on the other’s silliest members and thoughtful members who said something careless or angry. But we don’t get very far with cheap shots, especially when you act as if all your opponents are that dumb. Both sides struggle for the middle. That’s where elections are won. Even with our polarized politics, the middle matters. Even if it’s shrinking, it still matters. And the middle wants everyone to play nice, not to beat up each other. As soon as you make someone think, “Hey, that’s not fair,” you’ve lost him.

Conservatives should know this. Look at, say, Russell Kirk’s The Conservative Mind. Conservatism insists on the classic virtues as Christianity developed them. These include fairness, kindness, generosity, mercy, as well as conviction and courage. It doesn’t include verbal lynchings and Idiot memes.