“How ought we have fought it?”
How about by not taking a page from LBJ’s book and declaring a phony “war” on a domestic policy issue? The only thing that serves to do is manipulate people’s emotions.
That been pretty well SOP from the beginning. The Shafer Commission tried to cut through all the bullshit and get down to just the facts. Raymond Shafer did what they asked him to do, and then they threw him under the bus for it.
I don't see much to be proud of in the way it's been handled by either side.