A Method to GOP Madness

[Nancy Waterman]

The Pattern Continues.......So, the Republicans have never been made to pay a political price for their scheming to undercut sitting Democratic presidents -- and to grease the GOP’s route back to power. Whenever a Democrat is in the White House, the Republicans believe they are free do whatever they want to block him from solving national problems, making him look weak and ineffectual.

That was true of Johnson, Carter, Clinton and now Obama.

This GOP strategy is pursued even if it tarnishes the international image of the United States or if it undermines national security, even if it means more than 20,000 additional U.S. soldiers dying in Vietnam, or 52 American hostages facing longer captivity in Iran, or the likes of Timothy McVeigh feeling empowered to blow up a federal building.

The strategy continues even if it raises the current threat level against President Obama and Democratic lawmakers. The strategy continues because it works......

The same two elements – tearing down a Democratic president and creating a sense of political havoc – are again at the center of Republican strategy, except that today the GOP is even better placed to carry out a repeat than the party was in 1994. Then, there was no Fox News dominating the cable TV ratings and the right-wing media was far less developed than it is today.....

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/samplegirl/110

[Nancy Waterman]

1. I hope everyone reads this

I think it is a really important piece.

[dionysus]

2. kick

[WCGreen]

3. They are the disloyal opposition...

and should be treated as such...

We are like Charlie Brown hoping eternal that Lucy will let him kick the ball...

We look for the good in man...

They look for the flaws...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Yes...

They exploit the flaws for their own gain...

They don't even care if we notice.

Since they own the airwaves and the news outlets...

[ellenfl]

5. kick for later. eom

[greymattermom]

6. but they're not smart

Someone should figure out how to get them to be against Mom and apple pie, or baseball, or the flag, or holidays. Or, maybe they should be for drilling platforms just off Naples pier.

[political_Dem]

7. I see it this way whenever this problem comes up.

We need to boycott the sponsors of the right wing talk shows.

Nothing says more than a loss of audience when it comes to abandoning the folks who continually spew that hateful crap on the airwaves and not giving their sponsors anymore money to continue to broadcast that message.

That cuts off their message totally--especially if there is the idea that nobody's listening.

Or, the Dems have to fight back on their own to link right wing messages to violence and unrest. If they could do that, then, people will start to distance themselves away from the right quickly.

That is...if someone in the Democratic party is that courageous to confront the entire right wing blathering that seems to incite people in America to do seditious acts in the name of their party.

[Nancy Waterman]

8. A possible Dem strategy to deal with their lies

I think we need to not focus so much on the content of any particular attack (defense), though it may need to be answered to some degree with the facts. More important in a strategy is to go on offense. Point out repeatedly that the GOP are MANIPULATING Americans, playing on their feelings of victimization, fueling their anger using lies tailored to enrage them, stoking their fears with purposeful lies. In other words, describe the process, over and over, of how the GOP base is being played. Also give examples, the way Rachel has lately (she is so brilliant), of how the GOP promise things to excite and agitate the base and never, ever deliver, even when they have majorities. The threatened repeal of HCR, and the promised anti-abortion amendment or change in laws, etc., are examples. No one wants to be manipulated, and if the GOP base begins to see they are being manipulated by appeals to fear and anger with purposeful lies by GOP leaders and by big business, they may see things differently.