Yep - the "moral high ground" means that anyone willing to fight dirty has the edge. We are killing ourselves when we allow the basest and vilest of the enemy to convince us we need to "play nicer". We're even more stupid than Charlie Brown taking another shot at kicking the football. Einstein described us perfectly with the "insanity...do same thing...expect different result..." deal.
Conservatives are like the British in the American Revolution who preferred to fight out in the open. Liberals fight like the American country fighters, who fought behind cover, ambushed and bushwhacked. Conservatives prefer to be honorable victims, and then complain about the unfair playing field while their country dies a slow death.