Do you REALLY believe hard line liberals and progressives

[mmonk]

are joining the teabaggers and John Birchers and liberals in congress are suddenly in love with the Senate Bill without a real public option or Medicare buy in? Or could there be something else going on?

That is all.

[Donnachaidh]

1. It makes it easier for the cheerleaders to do their jobs

After all, if they were not *the enemy* then there might be a REAL reason for the disgust and dismay about this insurance bailout being touted as healthcare reform. They don't want to have to think about that.

[mmonk]

3. That is true.

And at the 11th hour, that disgust may produce results if the pressure is reversed and it is the centrists and blue dogs up against the wall.

[WeDidIt]

2. It's all a conspiracy of the Illuminati

They've joined forces with the space aliens to make sure that the Bildebergers get the evidence of what really happened with WTC 7 off the planet.

:tinfoilhat:

[MineralMan]

4. This is the conspiracy!

[RedCloud]

5. "Hard line" liberals could be the brains to turn those tea baggers around.

and serve their masters well!

[Jamastiene]

6. It's probably a mixture of frustration, disappointment, and hurt.

The majority of us just want to see the progressive mandate we gave our government upheld and to see them fight tooth and nail for it.

I, myself, have experienced frustration, disappointment, and hurt over the last few weeks. Right now, though, I've never been more mellow. I think that either means I've resigned to wait and see what happens or my ignore list is complete now. :P

Are there some who are going to join the teabaggers? I'm sure there are a few, but who is to say that won't lead to a positive change in the teabaggers?

It can and does happen. I live in the Bible Belt. I've taken people who were totally homophobic and at least moved them enough to see we are people and we deserve equal protection and equal rights.

Sometimes all it takes is to let them know how YOU feel and present YOUR reasons for how you feel and they will start thinking, as best they can er, well, some at least. Every once in a while one of them just chills the fuck out.

Oddly enough, I once had a boss who was a registered Republican(which shocked me when I found out), but he always voted Democratic and was for gay marriage, all the way. That truly shocked me too. I knew he was a cool guy, but not that cool.

His Presby church performs gay marriages. They aren't legal in our state as far as the state government is concerned, but to those Presbys in that church and to those people who exchanged vows, it is a blessed marriage.

I was not only floored by that, but it opened me up too. Not all Christians are haters or even proselytizers. That's what I learned the day I found that out.

I wouldn't sweat it that some progressives are going to work on the teabaggers. In the long term, I don't see it as working WITH the teabaggers, but more working ON them. If the progressive's views remain progressive and they manage to civilize change the hearts and minds of a teabagger or two, more power to them. After all, didn't President Obama say to reach out to people?

[JohnnyLib2]

7. As yet undefined shift in political alignments in the U.S.?

I wonder. History will tell us.