Thanks, Alamo Girl!
It depends on what you mean by "play nice"! :-)
I'm not arguing that we should ignore corruption in our party or be as dishonest as the Democrats. But we need to fight back. When Kennedy gave that speech smearing Bork ("Robert Bork's America is a land where police kick down doors in bedroom raids, where women can be forcibly sterilized," etc.) we should have totally obliterated him. He's a very prominent representative of his party. If he can deliver a speech that scathing, why can't someone in our party do the same?
Why couldn't someone of status in the Republican Party respond with something like this: "Ted Kennedy's America is a land where forceps are driven into infant skulls, where muderers and rapists walk free on technicalities, where Bibles are ripped from the hands of school children, and where a young woman is left to die alone in a submerged car while the driver runs around screaming for an attorney."
But we didn't respond like that. WE BARELY RESPONDED AT ALL. And our lack of response, our totally defensive posture, only emboldened the Democrats to expand their bullying tactics.
Kennedy's tirade on Bork was not truthful and would have been unacceptable to Republican voters. Only a Democrat could get away with such things.
The response you suggested, whereas truthful, would be seen by Republican voters as mean-spirited and thus unacceptable. IMHO, Tom Delay is as "tough" as Republicans will bear - and there is a limit to what he would say (at least, on the record).
There is a vast difference between the standard of discourse acceptable to Democrats and to Republicans. Again, I believe this is because most Christians are Republicans.