GOOD News, People! TARGETS ACQUIRED!!!

[TygrBright]

Seriously, the last two years around here at DU have been tough. Circular firing squads everywhere. The-mods-have-banned-"pony"-so-now-we-need-to-find-a-new-way-to-putdown-them-we-disagree-with. The "constructive criticism only" crowd versus the "freedom of speech" crowd. The "ideological integrity" caucus versus the "pragmatic compromise" caucus. The demonization of every POV that varied from our notions of What Is Right And Proper For Progressives. Or even What IS Progressive Officially And Everything Else Is The Dark Side.

Frankly, I was getting tired of it.

I'm feeling like a kid given permission to bounce on the 'rents' bed and throw pillows and stay up late. Woo-HOOO! We have LOTS to agree on, now! And an ENDLESS supply of eminently mockable targets we can jump on, kick around (metaphorically-- after all, we are not the Head-Stomping Party,) stand in the pillory of intelligent scrutiny, and otherwise derive delicious and unifying pleasure from.

It's more than that, of course.

We have an opportunity, here. We have two years, starting now, to ORGANIZE. And the best part is, we don't even have to organize around, or "for," anything that requires us all to agree. What this last election cycle has taught us (if we're smart enough to learn from it,) is that all we really have to do is organize AGAINST a vulnerable target. If we do a good job of raising money, collecting dirt, attaching blame and baggage, and otherwise weakening already eminently beatable candidates, we can run anyone, ANYONE... Gumby, fer chrissakes. A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. My cat, Fisbin. ANYBODY, against those targets, and drop them.

It's a (again, strictly metaphorical) shootin' gallery and the range is five yards and we're loaded with .50 caliber ammo and the targets are ten feet high and wide. We can't effing miss.

Unless, of course, we're more concerned with continuing the circular firing squads, intramural squabbles, I'm-right-and-if-we'd-done-it-my-way-everything-woulda-been-fine Monday morning quarterbacking, etc.

Is it important to learn from mistakes, find really GOOD candidates for the next cycle, etc.? Sure it is. But it isn't nearly as important and effective as learning from the Baggers' and the GOPpies' success: You can run a busted household appliance for office and win, if you can sufficiently vilify your opponent, manufacture insubstantial but hideously damaging-sounding charges against them, bang those drums relentlessly, RELENTLESSLY AND INCESSANTLY, and get enough people pissed off at them.

If we let this opportunity go by, we deserve to lose in 2012. They've shown us how to do it. Then they offered us way, way, WAY bigger, better, juicier targets than we could begin to imagine, to apply the strategy.

I dunno about y'all, but no one has to slap me upside the head with a big wet fish twice to get a point across.

Point taken.

My keyboard is locked and loaded.

Targets acquired.

AND we're smarter than they are, we're all up on teh intertubes way better, and there are way more of us.

ahhhh... it's good to be back on the offense, dammit.

"Yooooooooo-hooo.... Mister BONE-ER!!!"

evilly,
Bright

[bemildred]

1. Good enemies are hard to find.

We still mourn the loss of the USSR.
:thumbsup:

[rucky]

2. K&R

even though I don't exactly share your sentiment, it did make me crack a smile.

[Turbineguy]

3. We've got the brains

they've got the numbers.

[shellgame26]

23. not really

They've just got the media.

[ms liberty]

4. I agree. K&R n/t

[Blue_Tires]

5. you know; in a very twisted way i was thinking the same

and there is a part of me that has always missed the "Bush era" DU...A lot more fun

[pacalo]

6. I prefer your post over the one telling everyone to get over it.

Both OP's are beautifully written & make very valid points, but I prefer your perspective tenfold.

If DU can't be an oasis for venting & sorting out, what fun is that? Our keyboards are geared up for 2 years of locking & loading & I'm ready to aim mine.

[Bitwit1234]

7. OK of course an internet search is not going to turn up anything

but we know he is an alcoholic so we can start with that. And those that live in Ohio in his district can start to scan photo copies of newspapers. I do a lot of genealogy research and that's a good way to find out something back copies of newspapers. Also how about the NARA. They have a lot of records and they are open to the public. Gee I wish I still lived in Maryland I would be haunting the National Archives in DC every day. But there are other ways. Does any body belong to ancestry.com. I dropped out because of the breast cancer operation and for over a year did not research and the price of the pay site was a waste. There are also a lot of free newspaper sites. I am going to go check out his bio on line and start. And I will top post any information I find.

Inofe has a lot of baggage. He had an insurance business that went bankrupt a la bush and without the help of a tried and true Democrat , of all people Carl Alpert, he would have been indicted for fraud. There was something hinky about it. Post later.

[TygrBright]

9. I love your enthusiasm, but you've missed the point:

It's NICE to have real, substantial dirt to fling and baggage to tie around their necks, but it's totally unnecessary: If we don't have enough real dirt, we MAKE SHIT UP! All it has to be is marginally unverifiable... Hell, just get them tying themselves in knots to prove a negative...

Like, um.... lessee: The time that Boner paid off a secret mistress to have an abortion! In cash, of course. Untraceable. And you can tell it's true because, um... oh, yeah, that speech he made one time where he said he thought that in SOME CIRCUMSTANCES, abortion might be justified! At that college, one time. He said that. HE'S A SECRET BABY-KILLER, PEOPLE!

Here's another tactic. I'm pushing this one for all I'm worth:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=168&topic_id=1805&mesg_id=1805

After all, if they can't deliver on all those promises, not to mention everything else I want, they're not only useless but corrupt, do-nothing, flip-flopping sellouts, right?

helpfully,
Bright

[patrice]

8. Agreed. No personal insults, no obscenities, but, otherwise, No Holds Barred!!!

[kestrel91316]

10. "Keyboard locked and loaded" - heh. Back in their faces, with an intellectual twist!

[era veteran]

11. A target rich environment here in the Bluegrass.

[Kaleva]

12. Good OP! Rec'd.

[GeorgeGist]

Dimbulb ...

[GeorgeGist]

13. Dimbulb ...

[Iwillnevergiveup]

14. You know, this OP reminded me

of how disgusted I am that Vitter won quite handily. Then there's Ensign. And the S.C. governor - already forgot his name. Literally caught with their pants down and still in office. Well, not the gov any more. But, still...so much was made of Eliott Spitzer and he resigned QUICKLY. The thing that Repukes cannot seem to handle is male-on-male sex. That always gets a reaction - a la Larry Craig. He denied everything, but everyone knows what he was up to. So....is Mitch McConnell gay? Oops, did I say that? I'm not accusing him, but I've HEARD it said.

:evilgrin:

[TygrBright]

16. Exactly! You're in the groove.

I've heard rumors that Mitch McConnell is gay, too. Just rumors, of COURSE.

I'm not SAYING "Mitch McConnell is gay" though.

Just that there are rumors that Mitch McConnell is gay.

helpfully,
Bright

[L.Torsalo]

19. Actually, I have it from good sources

in DC that McConnell likes young men, especially if they "appear" to be underage. I can't name sources but mine isn't the only source to spill this my way.
I fear "MMC" (that's what asks the young men to call him, I've heard) is about to come out, or get charged with pedophilia...? Something like that...wink.

[paulflorez]

15. TAKE BONER DOWN

I say wait until the Spring and the very first bill the GOP tries to pass, start attacking it. Talk to your friends and family about it and point out all the negatives.

Has anyone read BonerCare yet? The GOP wants to set the maximum value of a human life in it. $200,000, you can sue for no more than $200,000 in a malpractice suit. That's their solution, set the maximum price of a human life at $200,000. People will have to buy insurance to cover malpractice above that amount, it'll just shift the cost of malpractice insurance to them or leave their families penniless after they die.

Oh, unless you are rich at which point you can sue for twice your economic value. Wouldn't want the life of a rich person be equal to the life of a middle class American.

Seriously, go read the GOP "Healthcare Bill." I forget which sections its in, but search for "damages" and you should find it.

[Fearless]

17. Hmm...

...I just had to...

But you're right. And it's unfortunate we couldn't actually come together when we had all the cards.

[urgk]

18. My first shot - "Table scrap economics."

And the "Trillion dollar, billionaire bonus."

I'll be repeating those as loudly and as often as I can.

[dbmk]

20. Somewhat unrelated, for some reason it reminded me of this

The Walkmen’s Peter Bauer:

"A few records back, we stumbled on a few songs that I suppose were filled with “menace” or anger and all those sorts of qualities you mention, but this anger (or whatever it is) was all put forth with a desire to have a good time, to let loose, to get across some kind of experience of the world that certain types of music and songs do for us. I remember driving around Philadelphia recently with my wife and I put on a Tom Waits song “Whistle Down the Wind” and she asked me why I would play this dour depressing song on such a nice afternoon. Well, I guess it was a rather depressing song, really kind of maudlin, and I guess she was right, it was really a terrible choice. But to me and, I think, to the rest of us in this group, sometimes it’s in the most depressing types of songs, or the most angry types of songs, and so on, that you can find a whole hell of a lot of joy. It’s not necessarily that the song is sad or happy or just another song about a girl or about a night on the town, but that it’s got something behind it that’s all in the pursuit of giving a sense of a real experience which is ultimately a good feeling."

What I think he is trying to say is that it gives a sense of purpose, a sense of who you are. So from a Dane to all you liberal tree hugging Americans - put on some angry music and let it rip.

[Swagman]

21. you have a cat called Fisbin ?

agree with everything you say

[TygrBright]

22. Yep, Fisbin.

Props to anyone who guesses the reference...

And thanks!

I think the next two years are gonna be FUN. It's way easier to play offense. Especially when all the rules have been thrown out and our team is bigger, smarter, and more skilled.

anticipatorially,
Bright

[BanTheGOP]

24. I have a Fisbin Faucet in my kitchen

Other than that, I can't think of anything, other than maybe that game they played on Star Trek

[TygrBright]

25. "Oh, look at that! You've got a fisbin!"

I heard William Shatner's voice saying that in my head as I sat in the passenger seat of my roommate's care with the cardboard cat carrier on my lap on the way home from the Humane Society shelter. This little orange nose kept poking through the handle cutout.

Fisbin is a piece of the action, alright.

appreciatively,
Bright