Should we become more like Conservatoids?

This is the question posed by David Goldstein at the Huffington Post.

If this had happened during the Clinton administration, and Lay had been Clinton's primary financial patron, don't you think that right-wingers would be all abuzz today with conspiracy theories about how Clinton had Lay knocked off to keep him from talking?

You just know they would.

Sure, we've already seen suspicions raised in the comment threads of liberal blogs, but no real effort will be made to push this theory and no "serious" journalist would ever take it seriously, except as an opportunity to ridicule the generic "left." We won't see any books or documentaries devoted to the suspicious circumstances surrounding Lay's death, no hour-long rants from liberal talk radio hosts, and no provocative evening news teases drumming the conspiracy into the American consciousness, a la the unfortunate Vince Foster.

. . . As a Democrat I suppose I should be proud that my party tends to shy away from such wacky, over-the-top character assassination -- you know, like characterizing a war hero who left three limbs on the battlefield as a coward and a traitor. But I'm not so sure it's good strategy. If we hope to compete, I'm not so sure we can afford to reject even the vilest of Karl Rove's tactics.

I don't know if this is a good strategy. I know that it is an immoral strategy, and that, coupled with the potential to back fire, makes me reject it.

That said, of course he's right about what the Conservatives would do in these circumstances.