Face it -- To Get Our Country Back We Have Win Repub Minds ....

[rrrevolution]

you know, those who think they are Repubs, who hope to be rich like Repubs, and those who are manipulated by Repubs to vote Republican because of litmus test issues like abortion, gay rights, guns, etc.

We need to be smart and persuasive in helping these misguided and abused souls to see the light of reality -- that they are being abused by those who say one thing and do another, all for partisan advantage.

Motivating the Democratic base is not enough. We need to shine the light of truth on those in charge of the Republican Party, and then maybe we can convert some to our side -- and at worst shame a substantial number into not voting for a Republican at the next election whether they vote for a Democrat or not.

So remember, when you are talking to an uninformed Republican, or a misinformed Republican, you are talking to a potential future Democrat.

And we are going to need all the voters we can get on our side if we are to get our country back!

[Mari333]

1. voters wont mean anything with Diebold machines still around.

[electropop]

5. At some point, we can make it so obvious that it's being stolen,

by overwhelming numbers. It gets pretty hard to fudge when 60%-70% vote against the Repigs.

[Proud_Lefty]

13. I thought it already was overwhelming in Nov 2004

Look at all the people who came out for the first time ever. They stood in incredibly long lines and fought all the crap thrown their way to suppress their votes by the GOP. People don't do that to vote for and keep the status quo. All those new voters registered as Democrats. With the creepy lockdown of the media immediately afterwards, too many people accepted it as fact. When the truth becomes known, I have no doubt we are going to be shocked how much of a landslide Kerry actually won the election. I don't doubt it for a single second.

[nofurylike]

19. exactly. against an incumbent too. eom

[electropop]

27. Much of Kerry's vote never got to vote.

It won't show up even if we can somehow resurrect the real vote counts, because a lot of the strategy was old-fashioned access-blocking with insufficient facilities and goon squads. Best we'll do are estimates.

We do know that among those who did get to cast votes, it was 51/48 for Kerry, which is not bad (in Bush language, it's a "mandate."), but not quite a landslide to me.

When you get up to 60%-70%, you get a lot of, "Wait a minute, nobody I know voted for the Repigs. What gives?!"

[wli]

32. Nobody I know voted for the rethugs.

We're there already AFAICT.

[Proud_Lefty]

38. I live in a very red area with a lot of W bumperstickers

that seem to be disappearing as time goes on. Anyway, I know a lot of people at the local base who voted for Kerry, but didn't want people to know because it would be taboo. They take it for granted that Bush had all those votes and I personally know they didn't. Since then, I've been working with the local Registar of Voters. What a joke! We are fighting hard to get some system in place before 2006 to get transparency and honesty there. So far, they're full of shit. Are you surprised?

[BlueJac]

2. We can become sheep herders

I'll get me a pickupem truck with a rifle rack. I think there is going to be a white sale too, cheap sheets. :sarcasm:


Some day people will wake up and want to take our country back! Neo-cons are for big business and never think about the American public.

[leftupnorth]

10. Was just in freeperland

and stumbled across a thread about impeaching Bush over the border situation.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1471310/posts

my favorites:

"To: cripplecreek; Black Tooth; Travis McGee; EagleUSA; Dont_Tread_On_Me_888; DoughtyOne; DTogo; ...
"I won't consider impeachment until an attack comes and is proven to be the result of lax border control."

you posted this before i could. i agree 100%....



i think pat is doing this for pure shock value.

btw, i'll bet pat has seen Travis' posts where he quotes the constitution.... 'Twice, George Bush has taken an oath to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." Article IV, Section 4 of that Constitution reads, "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against invasion."' "




The distant past is not in question. Recent events in US history are in question. Things have changed since 9-11. Many Americans believe part of the WOT is to secure our borders to the illegal invasion from Mexico that has been underway and growing for decades.
Face it. On the issue of illegal immigration, the President and the GOP have been asleep at the wheel.

If there is another terrorist attack on US soil that kills more Americans and it can be tied to unsecured borders, PresBush`s approval ratings are going to take a big hit. And many people who now support the President will be hard pressed to continue with that support.

Well, we are being invaded, and the president of the United States is not doing his duty to protect the states against that invasion. Some courageous Republican, to get the attention of this White House, should drop into the hopper a bill of impeachment, charging George W. Bush with a conscious refusal to uphold his oath and defend the states of the Union against "invasion."

Outrageous?


22 posted on 08/26/2005 9:54:25 AM PDT by Reagan Man (Secure the borders;punish employers who hire illegals;halt all welfare handouts to illegals.)

won't consider impeachment until an attack comes and is proven to be the result of lax border control.
As one of your fellow Americans who would like to do something to prevent the attack from occurring, I say "Gee, thanks."


30 posted on 08/26/2005 9:55:54 AM PDT by Types_with_Fist (I'm on FReep so often that when I read an article at another site I scroll down for the comments.)








tide turning?

gee, ya think?

We can beat them over the head with our terrible border security with the freeps quietly cheering us on....

[newyawker99]

39. Hi leftupnorth!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[nofurylike]

3. really we just need to make sure the actual votes are actually counted. nt

[ClassWarrior]

40. It sure doesn't hurt to flip some Republicon wannabees too.

:thumbsup:

NGU.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

4. No you aren't. When you are talking to people too disgusted to vote

you are talking to potential Democrats. There are at least 150 million people of voting age who don't vote due to a variety of reasons. Some of those reasons pertain to the fact that the working poor have been abandoned. Some reasons pertain to the fact that archaic voting rights laws in 11 states preclude someone from voting because they were convicted of a felony, served their time and did not get their rights restored. This particular parade of horribles affects the black community more than the white community and especially in the south.

While I don't doubt we could cull moderates from the extremist Republican party that exists today, the problem I have with people regarding Republicans as potential Democrats is that they always want to peel away that portion of our platform that appeases the WORST in Republicans.

[electropop]

7. We need to make Repub voters too disgusted with their own.

It's time to go negative, and hit them hard and personal. They have now provided us with so much fodder. Just hit on their corruption over and over and over.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

17. While going negative has benefits, Democrats seem to do better

with higher turnouts and Republicans seem to benefit from power turnouts...so the negative campaigning cuts both ways as negative campaigning seems to supress turnout and add to the "disgusted with the process" factor. I am not certain if this still holds true but in past elections it did.

[electropop]

26. It suppresses turnout mainly for the attacked side.

Much as people like to say they don't like negative ads, the ads work. They seed doubt.

[txaslftist]

8. Yep. Subtle distinction, but it's there.

We don't need to win over republicans. We have to shine the light of truth on the Republicans and the republicans will stop voting while the independents swing our way.

They aren't so far ahead nationally that a few swing voters won't change the overall composition from reddish purple (ie-maroon) to bluish purple. Don't be a maroon, vote blue!

[nofurylike]

14. very well said. this is most necessary of ALL. i stand corrected. eom

[nofurylike]

21. AND count the votes, that is. eom

[rrrevolution]

16. We don't have to appease Repubs to get their vote, just show truth

that is undeniable, and welcome them into a party that cares about people and their needs, and has not been sold out completely to neo-con dreamers and corrupt corporate interests.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

18. That's why I qualified my post to make clear that while you did not call

for appeasement, what always tends to follow in these threads where we call for "appealing" to Republicans IS appeasement.

[catmandu57]

31. That's the key

Fuck the repukes, we have to give all the non voting people a reason to come out, we have to formulate a different agenda other than republican lite.
If we go to work for the common person again, make life better for them, health care, child care, infrastructure, get rid of these damn archaic drug laws, stretch voting out to over a weekend. We do this and we can tell republicans to shove it.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

36. All worthy of my agenda, Freddie

:thumbsup:

[DrJackson]

6. Many of them are deeply ingrained to believe the spin

I was talking to someone last weekend who insisted that she was a conservative Repub -- if you met her, you would know this was definitely not the case. I started to ask her some questions to determine her position on certain issues like Roe Vs Wade, same sex marriage, gays in the military, environmental protection, etc. Let's just say her answers were textbook examples of liberal/progressive thought.

Long story short, when confronted with this (and I was very nice and respectful about it) she became belligerent and defensive, going so far as to scream "I'm not a fucking liberal!" at the top of her lungs. Nothing I could say would change her mind, or even calm her down for that matter.

What do you do or say to get through to people of this mindset?

[Dogmudgeon]

9. Just take the complementary approach

Instead of telling her she's a progressive, ask her why she identifies as a conservative. It may be enlightening for each of you!

It usually comes down to some small culture issue, like the Work Ethic fairy tale, or a dislike of "hippies".

--p!

[DrJackson]

29. I tried that

I did ask her several times (still being very polite about it) why she considered herself a conservative. The only answer I could get was "I support our troops". I tried a few of our points about how we are actually the ones who support the troops, but she didn't want to hear it.

[CatWoman]

11. how can you win that which does not exist?

Republican minds?

be real!!

[whatever4]

12. But how can we do that

When they've clearly lost their minds? Enmasse.

Not constructive, I know, sorry. But when they keep talking about gay marriage and abortion, all that...I just don't know what to say anymore. Except shut up.

[ClassWarrior]

22. Read "Don't Think of an Elephant"...

It'll give you a whole new perspective on convincing folks. Inexpensive and an easy read too.

NGU.

[whatever4]

25. Thank you :)

[ClassWarrior]

33. My pleasure.

:hi:

NGU.

[rrrevolution]

24. You are talking about 1 Issue Voters who think they are Repubs

These are just the people we need to address other topics with in order to change some minds.

Whether we like it or not, one issue voters show up to vote.

We need to appeal to them on other issues, and break their enchantment with slogans, red flag words, and religious identification.

We need to highlight the difference between the behavior of Republicans and the standards of religious voters, and draw into question the assumption that Republican = Religious practitioner and protector of religion.

[rrrevolution]

15. We need to remind them .....

those who like to think they are Repubs because they want to benefit financially from Republican policies, that 3/4 of Bush's 2 term rule is almost up and he is now a "lame duck president".

Ask them how they have made out financially so far under Bush Republicans, and unless they are millionaires they would have to honestly say things are worse than they were when Bush took over with budget surpluses projected far into the future.

[ClassWarrior]

20. I know lots of folks "who think they are Repubs." And they're the crack...

...in the Republicon Party's fortress.

NGU.

[rrrevolution]

30. Yep that is true, and many wake up when they find they are unemployed

Losing one's job and not finding another that pays even close to what you were making does not tend to reinforce support for Republican policies and identification as a Repub.

[ClassWarrior]

35. Yup. And some are stubborn and you have to work hard to flip 'em...

...but I do it because my motto is

Never Give Up.

[atreides1]

23. You're Assuming....

...that they have an open mind and are willing to listen. I've tried talking to some of the Republicans that I know and they are still not convinced, they support Bush and his war.

There might be some who will listen, but with the 2006 midterms coming up we better convince them fast and often

[rrrevolution]

28. I live in Red State, but lots of jobs have left and many Repubs unhappy

They typically won't publicly criticize the Republican Party here, but privately many are plenty unhappy with Bush's handling of the economy here -- we have been bleeding jobs, CAFTA and NAFTA are killing us, and so many Repub promises have gone unfulfilled.

We need to not change our views to appease these folks. We just need to be the conscience and the voice of truth in pointing out the deficiencies in the Repubs handling of the economy and the war on Iraq.

[wli]

34. it doesn't matter, the elections are all rigged shams anyway n/t

[rrrevolution]

37. Latest Poll Numbers From Gallup 40% Job Approv are proof that....

Some so-called self-identifying Repubs are beginning to change teams.