I feel the pendulum is swinging back in this country...keep pushing!

[PretzelWarrior]

ever since the shock of Bush's installation by a court when GOre had won followed by massive layoffs followed by 9/11 followed by more layoffs and more corporate scandal followed by Iraq war....we just can't get our bearings.

finally, it is all catching up to the regular American joe. the propaganda is wearing thin, but I feel we must keep feeding and nurturing things like DU, Air America, liberal blogs....get some liberal TV on the air. We must get more "Fighting Dems" out there fighting for fairness and transparency in government and waging peace instead of war.

We must keep reminding each other why things have gotten so bad and be humble in convincing others about how we have felt in the past and how clearly we saw things. If we can invite some of those people to "come along" and joing a massive stalling of the Neo Con agenda and we can commiserate with them as fellow Americans, we can win them to our point of view.

Keep fighting, keep preaching, keep believing. We can turn this ship around.

[NanceGreggs]

1. And it's not just the obvious corruption within the Repug party ...

... it's the fact that the realities of Bush's policies are now beginning to impact, with a vengeance, on the daily lives of the citizenry.

How many starry-eyed Bushites are now coming to grips with exhorbitant gas and home heating prices, or the fact that their Medicaid coverage no longer pays for expensive drugs they need to survive?

How many staunch supporters have lost their jobs since they voted for this idiot, not once, but twice? How many are facing the fact that they'll never be able to afford sending a son or daughter to college, law school, medical school? How many REAL people of faith are realizing that a true Christian man doesn't condone, no less encourage, torture?

And even the 'terra alerts' have become a threat of the past, post Katrina, when former Bush lovers got the proof positive that there's no point in rallying around the president in a time of imminent danger, because he won't lift a finger to protect you, or help you after-the-fact?

It's a steady drip, drip, drip -- and it's the sound of Democratic victory.

[PretzelWarrior]

2. exactly. the scandals and corruption coming to light merely confirm

what many people (secretly even some of those ostensibly supporting him) believed. It is so amazing how prescient the description by Gore was in 2000. THis REALLY WAS a case of "people vs. the powerful". It is the true prophet's curse to be proven right when they express doom for our future and are unheeded.

I really hate to lose. I'm very competitive about anything. But when I SAW HOW CLEARLY this man cared little for anything in life let along governing a nation...I fought and fought and don't know if I can EVER truly get past the opportunity cost of this guy getting away with stealing the election.

Our future was on a positive footing and it was all thrown away. We must just dig in and make these people pay for what they did to us and this nation.

[NanceGreggs]

3. Amen!

And there's an added bonus, if we act now (as seen on TV!)

If the Dems get back into power, and things start improving (which I've no doubt they will), the comparison between Repugs in control and Dems in control will be mind-searingly obvious -- and won't be forgotten.

The poor and middle-class are so desparate for a break these days, a break of any kind, any small improvement will be seen as manna from heaven.

And if we get a Dem in the WH in '08 (of which I am truly confident now), the 'Bush years', as seen sandwiched between the Clinton years and the years of another Dem president, will be remembered by many as the 'dark days' that no one wants to return to.

The only reason Bush got any votes in 2000, IMHO, was because Repug voters thought that Clinton had everything on the right track, and a Repug could just pick up that ball and run with it. They found out very differently, of course -- and that will be the undoing of the GOP for many, many years to come.

[FreedomAngel82]

7. Yep

My grandmother on my dad's side used to be a Bush supporter and she was one even after Katrina happened. Shortly before Thanksgiving I was visiting with her and she confessed on the last night we were there that she didn't believe in Bush anymore and was even doubting whether or not he was a true Christian because of all of his lying. My dad kind of quietly agreed but I'm not sure if he also thinks that way (he voted for Bush twice but we voted for the same person for mayor which surprised me) or what though. So if my grandmother is now doubting him than I think so too. I don't know how she came up with knowing Bush lies because she only gets the very basic cable and doesn't have the internet and we don't talk politics much in my family on either side. :shrug:

[PretzelWarrior]

9. this is a perfect example. I got my brother to see the light in 03

when Bush got us into war. Before then, he was all for Bush. Then he saw the death and destruction in BUsh's wake.

The story of older ones like your grandmother sort of "waking up" is great. It is being repeated a million times over which is why BUsh's poll numbers took a deep dive.

WE are dealing with cold, calculating professionals. Assassins if you will. THey understood that at some point the worm would turn and here the American people would be looking for somebody's hide. THey will undoubtedly have some things ready to gear up and change people's focus away.

we must be resolute and strongly defend our agenda of freezing their agenda while at the same time moving forward to face the VERY REAL CHALLENGES of global trade and what that means for workers here and elsewhere, global warming and its affects, global terrorist organizations who strive to destabilize civilized society.

we can't just have protests. we also have to come up with some answers.

[applegrove]

4. And their delusions. Like no regulations work. As if - somehow by being

born to fathers of the intellectual elite - they were right and what all of humanity had worked out: Liberal Democracy with mixed market economies was wrong.

[Flabbergasted]

5. Thanks for the upper

Sometimes it seem like this nightmare is never going to end.

[FreedomAngel82]

6. I think so too

I think it did in the last election and Kerry did win (about 3-8% probaby) and all the polls since the Terri Schavio deal have shown the people have been on the democrats side. Of course the media would have us think differently and give up but I think it's having the opposite effect and making people work and voice harder and louder.

[PretzelWarrior]

22. the perfect storm of Katrina/2000 soldiers dead/Libby indictment

really put Bush off his stride BIG TIME although Meiers nomination and earlier in the year attempts to gut social security and Cindy Sheehan's protesting set him on that path

[snowbear]

8. Just over 10 more months to go! ~~ We can do it !!

:kick: :kick: :kick: (( ))

[dusty64]

10. We NEED media outlets.

I can't for the life of me understand why this isn't happening. The corporate media IS half the problem and until it is countered things aren't going to change fast enough to save us. Somehow someway, the moderates and left of centers have got to buy newspapers and tv channels to counter the propaganda and lies that the corporate media is spewing. I see NO other choice, and the vapor "vote" machines, don't even get me started ...................

[Lefergus70]

11. We NEED media outlets

You are so right! The horrifying truth is that the GOP has a stranglehold on TV and radio that seems to get even tighter. Look at this fresh example, an excerpt from the excellent blog site Tpm Cafe:

"Two polls out in the wake of Abramoff's plea show that voters think the scandal is serious - but the GOP bamboozlement about this being a bipartisan affair seems to be working. The USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll showed that 43% of adults thought that this was a bipartisan scandal, with only 38% saying Republicans would be hurt most by it. 73% of the respondents to The Washington Post-ABC News poll said there isn't "much difference" between the parties when it comes to ethics and honesty." <http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2006/1/10/5128/52>

Doesn't that make you want to weep in dispair? The bamboozelemnt seems to be working! It's not only Fox News and hundreds of rightwing radio stations across the nation, but also MSM figures like Tim Russert and Wolf Blitzer - and many more- who brazenly try to protect the GOP from all charges of wrongdoing. (I miss an article I'd saved, and lost in a PC wipeout a few yars ago, quoting Russert as saying, "Integrity is for saps".)Now, they say, CNN plans to hire Bennett, another right-wingmanipulator so they can step up the shilling for the GOP.

I'm depressed. It seems so hopeless.

[PretzelWarrior]

12. ever heard of current TV? Al GOre's channel

It is a very small start, I admit...but has a chance to succeed due to the huge demand for more topical discussion--not talking heads paid to lie for the administration.

If you go to http://www.current.tv you can find out if it's available on your cable/sattelite provider.

Here in Portland area it is on channel 125 on Comcast. I had forgotten about this thing actually being started and am going to check it out tonight.

We need more people out producing their own content and getting it on TV.

[Uncle Joe]

13. Robert Redford and Sean Penn

are helping potential filmmakers there, that's cool.

[AX10]

20. I agree. We need our own media machine.

[sirjohn]

14. We need a new playbook

that will cleary express our core beliefs, rather than always being on the defensive. The Leahy approach we saw today at the hearings just won't cut it with the average Joe.

[PretzelWarrior]

15. yes. timing is everything. sometime late summer Dems NEED

to broadcast their multipoint plan and hammer it home like auctioneers. Just keep drilling everybody with it.

By that time, even if the Repubs try to steal it they will look weak and copycats that they are: (who came up with Homeland Security idea and draw down in Iraq?)

I better see signs of it. If we aren't hearing at the latest by early summer. Like June....some advance billing of a DEM full on PLAN for AMERICA we can know our party is still in trouble and will probably not move the needle a BIT on house or senate numbers.

[sirjohn]

16. Hypothetical question - If we DON'T see it what do we do?

n/t

[PretzelWarrior]

17. we need to form a coalition of people DEMANDING IT from our leaders

I would be okay with the American public saying....I don't like your ideas. But if we go another election cycle without some meaningful and WELL ADVERTISED set of plans and policy points with attendant marketing, talk show circuits, etc. then I will be a very very unhappy camper and quit the Democratic party and go independent in an effort to possibly get 3rd party going.

[sirjohn]

18. I'm in the third party camp myself. How many of us ...

do you think are leaning in this direction (if things don't improve)? A 1930's style approach just doesn't cut it any more.

[AX10]

19. Democrats need to come up with a plan, just as Newt did back in 94'.

[PretzelWarrior]

21. exactly. and it needs to be well anticipated by everyone

and well broadcast at the time. There should be various levels from "policy wonk" multi volume papers on a whole range of issues. Then there should be more executive summary length writeup for distribution to news outlets and party leaders across all state, local levels. Then there needs to be a few bulleted points with supporting ideas for easy mass distribution and repetition by all of these guys for MONTHS leading up to election.