FACE

A great friend of mine, Gregg Jackson, has written a book named, "Conservative Comebacks to Liberal Lies: Issue by Issue Responses to the Most Common Claims of the Left from A to Z. He was interviewed by FrontPage Magazine, and here is a portion of that interview:

Front Page: Give some suggestions in terms of what you think are the best techniques for debating with liberals.

Jackson: I recommend the following acronym FACE when debating with liberals. F stands for facts. Lady Thatcher once said, "first win the debate then the election." Conservatives need to be razor sharp on the major issues of our time. That is one of the reasons I wrote my book so that conservatives could educate themselves on the requisite facts to substantiate their conservative arguments.

But, when arguing with a liberal, conservatives should Ask questions. (This is the A in FACCE). In order to fully engage a liberal in conversation you will get further by asking what I call "high value questions." I try to do it on my radio show all the time. When a liberal calls in like one did the other day and said, "We are spending too much money on the war and should use that money to feed the poor." I asked that gentleman how much we were spending in Iraq and he had no idea. I then said to him, "you claim we are spending too much money in Iraq and don't have any idea how much we are spending?" That pretty much ended the conversation. But the point is that often times you can make your point more effectively by placing the onus on the liberal with whom you are speaking to defend their claim than you can if you ram your facts down your liberal friend's throat. Asking solid targeted questions places the burden of proof on the liberal and allows you to control the conversation.

So C is for Control and Composure, crucial when debating with liberals. Since they rarely have the facts on their side they will meander all over the place and throw up as much excrement against the wall as possible with the hope that something will stick. The really adroit liberals can go from "Bush lied" to "Republicans are racists" to "Global warming is going to kill us all" in a matter of seconds. That is why good debaters effectively control the tone and direction of the conversation. The best way to do that is to focus the conversation on one point at a time and whenever your liberal friend attempts to sidetrack the conversation that you regain control and say something to the effect of: "We can get to that issue next but first let's finish talking about the supposed separation of church and state you say exists in the Constitution."

Composure is a crucial element that liberals lack when confronted by the facts. The start getting verbally abusive and elevate their voice in an attempt to get you upset. And you will if you allow them to. When I get a loud mouth liberal on the show I say, "Try elevating the substance of your argument instead of the decibel level of your voice." The main thing is to remember that if you can stay composed while the liberal "loses it" you have won the debate especially if there is an audience. Breath!

Finally, the E in FACE stands for Ego. We conservatives should remember that regardless of how "right" we may be on any given issue that no individual-regardless of political affiliation- wants to look stupid. Everybody has an ego. So recognize that you don't have to win every argument or debate. Reagan was perhaps the best at being able to disagree without being disagreeable. At the end of the day, I think that Conservatives should emulate Reagan in this regard. Have passion and enthusiasm but stay humble.

That's my advice.

It is a remarkable interview as is his book. You may buy his book at the link providing the name of his book.

He also writes at Pundit Review with Kevin. They are both very nice gentlemen who are married to lovely women. They are family men who love this country. They just want to get rid of the rancor in discussing the most important issues of the day.

We are living in very dangerous times for Americans and the world. You do not have to agree with that statement, but would you please be kind when questioning someone who does? After all, this is a country built on (mostly) Christian ideas. Thank you, and have a great day.