HERE’S WHAT THEY SAID about Dale Earnhardt:

When it came to going fast and turning left, no one could call Dale Earnhardt a chicken. Simply, he was The Intimidator.

Now it looks as if he might become a role model for Democrats:

They Report, We Intimidate

The Boston Democratic convention featured a rich side menu of interesting seminars. One of the most controversial was a workshop for new Democratic campaign press secretaries that sounded like a call to arms in its advice on how to deal with the new media universe.

Lecturers urged press secretaries to confront what one warned was “media that are no longer tilted in your direction.” Bullying was openly encouraged. “When it comes to the media,” suggested Democratic strategist James Carville, “intimidation works.” “Challenge them,” added David Brock of Media Matters, a new liberal group set up to criticize conservative media outlets. Democrats used to rail at the likes of Reed Irvine and his conservative group Accuracy in Media, accusing them of nitpicking at media stories and ginning up public complaints against them. No more. It will be interesting to see what, if any, “intimidation” success stories the Democrats will be touting in coming months.

–John Fund

I suspect that if a Republican were reported to have said this, it would be bigger news. Hey, the intimidation must already be working!

But actually, the most revealing bit is the part about media “no longer tilted in your direction.” It’s not media bias that’s bothering these guys. It’s the fear that it may slip away.

UPDATE: Is it already happening? Here’s what the reporter whom Teresa Heinz told to “shove it” reports:

“I hope you burn in hell,” read one e-mail. “You’re a (expletive) Nazi,” went another. “Teresa should have told you to go (expletive) yourself,” another friendly e-mailer offered. And these were among the milder communiques; those that included death threats will be forwarded to the senders’ respective hometown police departments.

One of my daughters back in Pittsburgh was brought to tears by a caller to our house. The clever woman identified herself as a Washington reporter seeking to interview me but then embarked on a filthy tirade. It seems a member of the Heinz Kerry Civility Enforcement Patrol posted our home address and telephone number on the response part of my convention blog.

So far, it doesn’t seem to be working on this guy: “That said, and as I shove off from Boston, I’m still waiting for the answer to my question of Sunday night last.”