That never works.
It didn't work for John Kerry in '04 when he ignored the Swiftboat Liars and let them get away with spewing lies about him, it didn't work with Hillary in '016 when she let the bullshit about her emails float around without directly and forcefully debunking it.
Democrats have this infuriating, ridiculous notion that the public will understand and respect their inclination to remain above the fray and not lower themselves to answering spurious allegations, but they are utterly misguided.
Americans neither like or respect a person who sits there and takes a beating then turns the other cheek.
We want to see our people stand up and Jackie Chan their ass...