To treat the Karl Rove thugs as just another political party would be

[KlatooBNikto]

a very big mistake.They are gangsters and thugs out to do their damndest to steal this election by voter suppression, deliberate miscounts,voter intimidation and any other tactics they can come up with.I hope we have our own VOTE POLICE to monitor these thugs at each and every precinct.Unfortunately, these thugs may also resort to violence when their tactics fail.We may also have to be prepared for that.

Remember Bush cannot afford to lose.He may very well be facing criminal action if he loses.He will do everything possible to win or fix the election.

[Anakin Skywalker]

1. Right On!

I don't see the neo-con GOP as being representative of "the people". They are a propaganda machine controlled by the bigwig corporations and special interests. It is a machine that must be dismantled.

[bryant69]

2. How do you dismantle it though?

There are glimmerings that more sane heads might prevail in the Republican Party, particularly if Bush doesn't win a second term but let's say they don't? Can outsiders really dismantle a political party? has that ever happened in the past?

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Anakin Skywalker]

4. What I had in mind...

..is educating all working people that the GOP does not give a damn about them. Voting Republican is a slow suicide for the working class. All those corporate bigwigs laugh at the peon GOP voters behind their backs. It is only through a combination of things (slick propaganda that includes fear-mongering, religiosity, etc.) that they are able to lure some working class folks who don't bother reading up on the economic issues. Getting the working people to realize that they are supporting the wrong party will not be an overnight thing. And by dismantling, I meant that party will fall apart once enough people stop voting for them. They will be ineffective. That's about as far as "dismantling" goes, realistically speaking.

[flordehinojos]

3. if the "macaco" (monkey) bites you, it will not let lose 'till you set

its tail on fire...(as a child I grew up hearing people in the Cuban countryside saying this ... or, if someone wanted to control the heck out of a situation or out of anyone, people would say, he/she is like the macaco he/she won't let go 'till you set their tail on fire) ...
well, fittingly: Bush and his Rovian coons are like the macaco they won't let go till their tails are set on fire.

[Bandit]

5. Funny saying and probably very true

The most afraid I have ever been was when I was engaged in hand to hand combat with a Rhesus Monkey in SE Asia. It weighed about forty pounds and had fangs over an inch long. It went straight for the throat and the more I would hit it the more enraged it became. It would latch on to one arm and when I would try and hit it off with the other arm it would latch on to that arm only closer to my throat. It was a very scary experience.

[flordehinojos]

6. Wow!

Have you read the work of Jane Goodall with Chimpanzees in Africa?
You might also want to read Frans de Waal's GOOD NATURED.

This quote from page 19 of his book

"If animals can have friends; if they can cheat they can be honest, and if they can be spiteful they can also be kind and altruistic. Semantic distinctions between animal and human behavior often obscure fundamenteal similarities ....."

:) :)

[CoffeeAnnan]

7. Your comparison with a wild animal to describe the goons deployed by Rove

is certainly correct.When you suspend reason, compromise and logic and adopt a win-at-all-cost attitude, our whole process becomes a shambles as happened in 2000.They are planning a replay.

[Cleita]

8. Oh I so agree.

They are very dangerous and capable of anything to keep their power.

[DeepModem Mom]

9. They operate outside our traditional system -- ethically, and legally --

Anything they are involved in is not politics as usual. We must rid our country of this extreme political faction that has a chokehold on our government, and our free press.

[KlatooBNikto]

10. Even better than the Macaque monkeys analogy above, I would

compare the Rove Goon Squad to a python that coils itself around the victim and gradually increases the chokehold until the victim is unable to breathe and is strangled to death.The first four years were just a dress rehearsal for things to come if they are selected again.

[Malva Zebrina]

11. If something isn't done to bring justice to these pricks

after Kerry wins, we will not have defended democracy far enough. If the US lets these treasonous criminals off without charges and prosecution for their many crimes against their own people as well as all over the world, our reputation as a just, democratic country based on law will continue to be sullied by the BFEE.