The give 'em enough rope to hang themselves strategy has played out. The Rethugs have enough rope.

[backscatter712]

It's clear that the only thing the Rethugs want is to humiliate Obama. That's all they care about. They will destroy this country to do it. They will leave us unemployed and starving and without health care and desperate to do it. They don’t give a damn about anybody except their billionaire country-club buddies - high on their to-do list is screaming about Obama’s capping of executive pay for recipients of TARP money.

The strategy for the first two weeks was play nice, and either the Republicans will reciprocate, or they'll make themselves look like assholes.

Guess what. They look like assholes.

It's time for the second stage of the give-them-rope-to-hang-themselves strategy: making sure they're hanged.

It's time for Obama to stop acting like Abraham Lincoln and start acting like LBJ. Start twisting arms. Start using the bully pulpit and all the levers of political violence that the President can inflict upon his opponents, and force them into submission.

Bipartisanship only works when both sides negotiate in good faith. They're not. While we think bipartisanship is an equal game of give-and-take and mutual compromise and finding things in common, the Republicans thing bipartisanship is forcing the Democrats to submit to them.

Fuck that. I'm not interested in the Rethug kind of bipartisanship. If that's all they have to offer, then fuck it, let's get hyper-partisan and get our way through naked force. It's time the Republicans learn that they lost the election, they lost their access to the levers of power, and for the next four years, they need to shut the fuck up.

[w4rma]

1. So-called "moderate" Republicans need to be shown as the partisans they are. (nt)

[county worker]

2. "I'd rather have them in the tent pissing out then outside the tent pissing in" LBJ

[Bolo Boffin]

3. They won't come in the tent. n/t

[county worker]

5. That's right. On civil rights and the great society they would not come in.

It is really to bad that LBJ escalated the Vietnam war. We could have had the same terms we have now and a great society to boot.

[backscatter712]

6. Exactly.

LBJ wasn't a wuss like Harry Reid - he knew how to twist arms and make people's lives hell if they weren't playing ball.

We've given the Republicans enough carrots. It's time to grab the stick and smash their heads in!

[KharmaTrain]

4. Watch The Pressure Of The Bully Pulpit

Some here aren't used to it...it's been a long time since we've had a Democratic President. While Clinton was a master of the media and triangulation, Obama's trying it a different way and the polls show he's winning and winning big. 2 out of 3 people want this stimulus package done and the pressure is building.

If anything, President Obama's outreach has spotlighted just how obstructionist the repugnicans have been. They blocked a ton of legislation last year and no one said boo...and thought they could pull the same stunt this year. Hell, many here were quick to condemn Democrats while it was both Senate repugnicans and the boooosh regime that prevented things from moving forward. With boooosh gone, the Senate now needs to get some "religion"...and this just may be the case.

Personally, I'd love to see the GOOP try to fillibuster a deal...let them dig a bigger hole into irrelevancy. The pressure isn't just going to come from voters but mayors and governors who desperately need those funds. This is where the arm twisting will take place.

Cheers...

[backscatter712]

8. Obama is a master of the media.

He proved that in the election.

It's Congressional Democrats that are getting snookered by the media. Thus Obama pretty much has to carry the entire Democratic Party all by himself. It does help that he's the President, and the media can't just blow him off in the same way they blow off the Democrats in Congress, but they still spin the hell out of his message - when Obama had his evening of interviews, the only soundbite they'd carry at all was "I screwed up." because they were doing all Daschle all the time.

Despite the media's spin, Obama's consistently come up with new ways to get his message through the media spin gauntlet.

I think Obama needs to have his PR people throw some seminars for House and Senate Democrats. Throw something like "Playing the Media Even Though They Hate You 101."

[wroberts189]

7. With Limbaugh as their now de facto leader...

They are hanging themselves as i write this. No worries my blog friend. k&r

[backscatter712]

9. We need to keep tying Rush around the GOP's neck.

Everyone who says "Oooh, we shouldn't piss off Rush Limbaugh!" doesn't have their head straight. Not only shouldn't we worry about pissing him off, but we should be going out of our way to piss him off. Every day, he gets more unhinged, and the more the country hears of him going apeshit and saying things that are racist, classist, out-of-touch or otherwise hateful, that shaves more off his credibility. We need to be constantly implying that the GOP is the party of Rush, and make sure when Rush goes down, he takes the entire Republican party with him!

[applegrove]

10. We can only hope they are seen as obstructionist and hang themselves. GOP doesn't

want governance so why the hell are they running? What would ever be the point in electing them.