Republicans Have No Choice

[NanceGreggs]

If you’ve been shocked by Republican campaign ads that are deceitful, insulting, and just downright nasty, keep in mind that they no longer have any alternative.

They have to campaign on fear, because thanks to their own policies, they cannot offer voters a hopeful future.

They have to campaign on racism, misogyny, and xenophobia, because those are now the things their party stands for.

They have to campaign on lies, because the truth of their actions and agenda is something they need to deflect attention away from.

They have to campaign on false and misleading statements, because the only votes they can truly rely on are those of the ill-informed, and the pathetically dumb.

They have to campaign on insulting rhetoric, because they have shown themselves to be incapable of intelligent and respectful discourse.

They have to campaign on ridiculous conspiracy theories about Democrats, because they have no real Republican accomplishments to point to.

They have to campaign on us versus them, because a unified country threatens their power, and is detrimental to their goals.

They have to campaign on fake patriotism, fake Christian values, and fake morality, because when it comes to their party, there isn’t anything “real” left.

For all intents and purposes, the Republican party no longer exists. It has retained its once-honourable name, but it is now the Party of Trump.

It is the party that has elevated the corrupt, the immoral, and the incompetent to positions of power and influence.

It is the party that has abandoned everything it once stood for in order to appeal to those enthralled with a “pResident” who stands for nothing beyond his own self-aggrandizement.

It is the party that now defends the very things it once purported to abhor.

The Republicans have now backed themselves into a political corner. They can’t campaign on anything other than fear, hatred, lies, corruption, and a total disdain for decency, simply because that’s who they are – and they’ve made that so abundantly clear, they can’t possibly disown it. Instead, they are forced to embrace it.

There is literally nothing left of the Grand Ol’ Party. What stands in its place is a corrupt cabal whose only purpose is to defend and enable their corrupt “pResident”.

So don't be shocked by how low the Republicans are willing to stoop - the dank, slimy, bottom of a very filthy barrel has become their permanent home.

[saidsimplesimon]

1. Thank you Nance

So don't be shocked by how low the Republicans are willing to stoop - the dank, slimy, bottom of a very filthy barrel has become their permanent home.

The bottom is lower than I hoped it would be before....

[Gothmog]

2. You left out that the GOP has to rely on voter suppression to win races

Your list is great but you left out that a key element of the GOP game plan is to suppress the vote. The GOP is the party of voter suppression and relies on cheating to win races in addition to the arguments you listed above

[NanceGreggs]

6. I left out a LOT of things.

Unfortunately, if I listed ALL of the transgressions of the GOP, I'd break the internetz.

[Gothmog]

19. I understand and agree

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. Brava, Nance, brava!

[Stuart G]

4. K and R...Thank You...

[spanone]

5. K&R...

👍🏼

[libdem4life]

7. So true...great piece. There are high level Republicans vocally leaving the party.

I believe that's just the tip of the iceberg. The differences in the polling of those excited about their party, or something to that effect, the Rs are down quite a bit. Also, we don't know much about the 18-25 age group. I hope that Taylor Swift will inspire not only young voters which clearly she did, but young celebrities.

[calimary]

8. Shouldn't you be writing speeches for high-level Democratic candidates?

[NanceGreggs]

9. There was a time ...

... when I thought of that as a dream job - and one I might do fairly well.

But due to today's political climate and my feelings about Republicans, my speech-writing would undoubtedly be rejected on the basis of using phrases like "If you vote for fuckin' Republicans you're a fuckin' idiot!"

But thanks for the vote of confidence!

[BigmanPigman]

10. I agree with Calimary.

Last edited Fri Oct 19, 2018, 09:46 PM - Edit history (1)

You have a way with words. I don't know how you keep your info so current and accurate without going off on a zillion tangents. You know how to organize your ideas and present them with clarity and succinction.

[calimary]

13. Another thing Nance gets is the cadence. And the repetition.

ESSENTIAL stuff for compelling speeches - for building drama and emphasis and excitement as you work toward the conclusion. Working up toward it step by step by step. Repeating basic themes, illustrated by umpteen points. Point after Point after Point after Point. It's a litany.

They have to campaign on... (fill in the blank here, and you've got a hundred ways to do it)

They have to campaign on ... Fear.

They have to campaign on ... Racism.

They have to campaign on ... Sexism. ... Misogyny. ... Xenophobia. ... Lies. ... Insulting rhetoric. And on. And on.

AND THEN, she does it again, with a DIFFERENT repetition: "It's the party that..."

It's the party that ... has elevated the corrupt..."

It's the party that ... has abandoned everything it once stood for..."

It's the party that ... now defends..."

This kind of writing is shrewd as all-get-out. As far as formulating, and then delivering A MESSAGE, over and over again, with different accessory phrases that STILL reinforce that same message. And that illustrate how many different ways that message applies and manifests. As in - "Let me count the ways."

It's a LITANY. It's a freakin' LITANY! A thousand years of Catholic monotone sing-song prayer-chanting can't be wrong!

It is very shrewd, effective, and MEMORABLE writing, speechifying, and delivering a message. Just listen to the speakers at the next convention, and how they build to a crescendo by making point after point after point, engrossing the crowd and building their intensity.

AND in a whole series of descriptive one-liners. That rhythmic repetition just pounds the message in. Line after Line after Line. POUNDS it in like the steady strikes of hammer against nailhead. Until the nail is driven all the way down into place.

DAYUM this is good stuff. Read her and LEARN.

[erronis]

16. Absolutely. And short concise sentences with clear points. Don't pad with prose - use poetry.

I've found over the years that my best writing (IMHO) is some explanatory prose followed by almost bulleted items buttressing the point. Shorter and shorter until the final denouement. (Of course, that's how I see it....)

[Haggis for Breakfast]

23. This style of writing (or speaking)

was essential to and elevated into an art form by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. Go back and re-read his wonderful, sonorous oratories. This is what drove his message home. His way of reaching into our hearts and souls with his special and powerful, lyrical emphasis still buoys me in these dark times.

[NanceGreggs]

21. Everyone here is far too kind.

Like everyone else, I spend my days being outraged by what Trump and his corrupt cronies are doing to this country, and to my fellow citizens. As a result, it is almost impossible to zero-in on just one outrage at a time.

That’s where my fellow Democrats come in, here on DU and on other political sites. I listen to what they’re saying – and therein lies the motivation to focus and pull together the thoughts and ideas they are expressing.

I don’t consider myself a particularly skilled writer, but rather a gatherer of the voices of others. My only real talent (assuming I have any talent at all) is putting into words the anger, the frustration, the outrage – along with the hope, the determination, and the courage – that so many express every day.

I am always grateful to my fellow DUers for their positive reaction to my OPs. But the truth is that they are the inspiration behind my words, and the true authors of everything I write.

[calimary]

29. Just one other piece of advice:

KEEP IT UP!!!

[calimary]

15. Meh, all you'd have to do is avoid the F-bombs.

[NanceGreggs]

17. But that's the problem.

How can one responsibly react to Trump and his GOP enablers without a speech full of (redacted) (redacted) (redacted)?

[BigmanPigman]

18. I haven't found a way to do it without the profanity.

I was a teacher and the two hardest things I had to do was remembering the students' names after a long vacation (parents are trying to be unique and invent names...I think they toss out some Scrabble tiles and whatever comes up it their new baby name whether or not there are vowels included) and not swearing. It is harder than you realize, especially since I normally swear like a sailor.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

24. Well, BP, from THIS retired sailor,

I can tell you it IS next to impossible to talk about Spanky with a civil tongue in my head.

Heaven knows, I have tried. But it is beyond my humble talents to attain that level of civil discourse.

After the murder of Mr. Kashoggi, and Spanky's "Well, they said they didn't do it." BS, I don't know if I'll ever be able to do so.

[calimary]

30. Yeah, I know how you feel.

I learned all my swear words in Catholic school.

And every damn one of them applies to what’s going on now, in trumpworld.

[BigmanPigman]

31. My Italian American grandmom

taught me some good ones in Italian. Now when I run out of English profanity from over use, I swear in Italian and even a little German and French. I am a multi lingual swearer.

[calimary]

32. Merde!

But I’m afraid that’s as far as I go...

[oberliner]

11. What about tax cuts?

Isn't that their default campaign talking point?

[NanceGreggs]

20. They've had to back off that talking point.

The Republicans, as always, counted on their supporters being too stupid to notice that those tax-cuts only benefited the wealthy, while the middle-class got crumbs off the rich man's table.

Remember the memes: The middle-class will get such a huge tax-break, they'll be able to buy a new car, taken an expensive vacation, renovate their kitchen.

Well, even the dumbest Republican voter now knows that isn't the case.

You won't be hearing any what about those middle-class tax-cuts braggadocio from the GOP from here on in, because the shit will really hit the fan when the middle-class file their taxes next spring - and realize that thanks to their usual write-offs having disappeared, many of them will owe MORE than they did before those alleged "tax cuts" were implemented.

[kimbutgar]

12. My biggest fear though is the unhinged supporters of the orange maggot

They are practically brainwashed zombies. Nothing you say, can change their devotion to their dear leader. You can show them videos and written facts of how corrupt their master is and they won’t believe you. I heard a guy on the radio today say how the orange maggot is the greatest president ever in his lifetime. Everytime he was challenged he said The radio guy Dean Obedelluah was lying and he doesn’t know what he was talking about. He started sounding so deranged Dean obedelluah started teasinh him saying yes, all those white haired ladies wearing pussy hats were mobs, Soros was paying everyone to protest and vote against the orange maggot. The economy was great, stock market new highs, and lowest unemployment ever! Every time Dean pointed out facts he started screaming at him. Finally Dean hung up on him. My hubby works with some of his supporters and they getting even more unhinged as the midterms near. I guess hate radio and fox are hiking it up to a 1000 level in hate intensity. Part of me fears how they will go overboard when the blue wave drowns them.

Vote November 6th like your life depends on it. The fascists must be stopped.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

25. I'm afraid they'll take to the streets with their guns

and refuse to permit (democrats who have won) from taking their elected positions.

[hibbing]

14. Stamp of approval for this post n/t

[Takket]

22. i think this is the most important line:

"For all intents and purposes, the Republican party no longer exists. It has retained its once-honourable name, but it is now the Party of Trump."

I've thought about this, and the cult following drumpf has created....... and the GOP can't go back even if it wanted too. They talk about Dems losing the South because of the Civil Rights Act........ well, the GOP is going to lose the red states if they betray drumpf. Those people aren't going to vote Dem of course, but they will rally around Nazi candidates like drumpf. So the GOP either goes Nazi, or it goes home winless. Nowhere else for them to go now.

[NanceGreggs]

27. "Nowhere else for them to go now."

That's exactly right.

The GOP had their chance to rein Trump in a year and a half ago, when he first started spewing lies, promoting racism and hatred, destroying our relationships with our allies, and kow-towing to our enemies.

Instead of curtailing his madness, they fed it, they enabled it, they defended it.

Now, as you've said, there is nowhere else for them to go. It's either double-down on the insanity - or admit that they knew it was insanity all along, and simply refused to do anything to stop it.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

26. I have said for years that what this country REALLY needs

is a viable third party. Emphasis on "viable."

Perhaps now we will begin to see the start of third parties. As the younger folks begin to get invested in governance, I can't see how they will tolerate the same, tired, grid-locked system.

[thegoose]

28. They're not just neck-deep in the mud...

They're advertising from hell!