Imagine, if you will, that the shoe was on the other foot

[CatWoman]

and it was the Democrats melting down like this.

The Republicans would be front and center, a mike in every hand.

But when you think about it, that's how they wound up where they are. They modeled themselves as the pure of heart and the party of morality and ethics -- all the while throwing grenades at the Democrats.

I was just listening to Jim Hightower. He said that opportunity isn't just knocking on the Dem's doors, it's BANGING on it.

So, how do you propose the Democrats answer the loud banging?

[JDPriestly]

1. I'm talking to voters, walking my precinct

for the California November 8 election and waiting for our party to decide who our candidates will be in the mid-term election and next leap year election. I will probably support the nominees.

I'd like to see Democrats announce some positive program proposals right now.

But first and foremost, we need to try a few people for treason -- the treason of having robbed the American treasury by shipping billions of dollars to Iraq and not accounting for it, having stolen elections, having lied to get us into Iraq and many other things. And mind you, I've always considered myself to be a moderate Democrat. The Bush administration has made me radical.

[Mythsaje]

2. I posted something about this last week

that an effective PR campaign for the next election cycle would be to start out with a short lived commercial detailing many of the ethical and legal problems the Republicans have faced so far, then moving to a compare and contrast with how the Clinton administration did things differently with regards to placing people in high level positions, then followed by a commercial revealing a plan to improve the lot of the average American.

It was a little more detailed than this, but I sent it off to the DNC as someone suggested and the next day Howard Dean actually made a few statements that sounded amazingly familiar to a few things I'd said. Probably coincidence, but it certainly caught my attention.

[Parche]

3. melting

But we are NOT like the Repubes, we are better

Let them implode, and we will pick up the pieces


Maybe this is good, this shows America that when it is
run by Republicans, all of these bad things happen...

[unblock]

8. but we can't just LET this happen and hope the public figures it out

if we don't fight hard and fight smart, the banana republicans will quickly recover. they will lose a few key players but the movement as a whole will do well enough for them to continue ruining our country.

we CANNOT let the public think that this was an isolated incident.
we CANNOT let the public think that this was just a few bad apples.
we CANNOT let the public think that the next banana republican will be any better than these.
we CANNOT let the public think that the prosecutor is being political
we CANNOT let the public think that everything else about the banana republicans is just peachy
we CANNOT let the public think that democrats are no better than banana republicans
we CANNOT let the public think that the solution is more banana republican ideas
we CANNOT let the public think that fighting a war trumps all
we CANNOT let the public think that a few minor electoral victories in 2006 is punishment enough.

you get the idea. we've got a lot of work to do HAMMERING the entire banana republican party with the results of their rotten ideas and their rotten ugly truth behind their power. we MUST make sure that the public KNOWS -- ONCE AND FOR ALL -- that the banana republican party is the party of CORRUPTION and always will be.

[sharp_stick]

4. I just hope they answer the door

like Clinton did, hit back and hit back hard.

They have an opportunity here to actually change this country for the better and I hope to God that they take it.

Answer every disgusting Repuke attack with an honest and damn right angry response.

Finally once you get one of the dirtbags down step on it's throat until it quit's moving.

[corkhead]

5. we, as the people need to run for all elected offices

this will bite at the ankles of the currently entrenched and supplant the corporatists. A platform that is truly supportive of the MAJORITY of Americans would be a good start and include all those supposed "librul ideals" like universal health care, election reform, and campaign reform.

[DoYouEverWonder]

7. Even if you don't run for office

there are all kinds of local boards that you can volunteer for and have a direct impact on what happens in your community. At the moment, I am a member of my local Cultural Affairs Board. Before that I was a member of a Task Force looking at sheltering homeless people. Even just showing up at commission meetings and getting up during their time for comments can make a difference.

[tularetom]

6. 1. Develop a cogent concise message

2. Make certain everybody understands it and repeats it ad infinitum
3. Demonize and publicly ridicule the opposition
4. Everytime a repub fucks up express righteous indignation
5. Point out how each fuckup reinforces your original message
6. Do this over and over and over and over and over. You may get sick of doing this but its the only thing that will penetrate the cranium of joe sixpak & co.

[Greenpeach]

9. What about expecting all democrats

in Congress to vote like democrats. Not like the 17 who voted for the bankruptcy bill or for the war or for John Roberts or for any number of other things, even environmental issues, that demonstrated their lack of commitment to progressive causes.

[helderheid]

10. exactly how Boxer is answering it. I wish every Dem would have the ovaries

she has!

[Ksec]

11. By showing REAL leadership

Not screaming, talking about solutions to problems, having ideas on how to fix what they screwed up, and refusing to allow ourselves to be pulled into a mudslinging battle royale. We need to stay above these Foxnews AM radio mental midgets. If it were my call I would refuse to go on any network that has the obvious bias(Fox ,AM radio) When we go on there we are saying its a legit network. It isnt.

[cantstandbush]

12. No matter what we do, if the whoring media does not get our message out

it matters little. One thing the Republicans has locked up is the media. They do it through intimidation, huge salaries, threat of loss jobs and access, and other stuff. If you are telling the truth and no one hears it, what does it matter? If a lie goes unchalleged in front of millions of people what can you do?

[CatWoman]

13. valid point

very good point.

[sufrommich]

14. Talk to your neighbors

and not as a teacher would talk to a child.I push national health care as often as I can.I also talk about the sheer recklessness of the republicans.I live in a very blue collar neighborhood and am amazed at how quickly the tables have turned on them.And please,please refrain from "I told you so"..nobody likes to be reminded that they have been played.

[applegrove]

15. By accepting their compatriots as friends. As long as they are not

attacking you. If they are deluded - despite your anger - you should approach them with the facts and not make it personal (though the personal is how they were used and what was the stupidity that allowed them to attack you or enable attackers of you).

You take a big breath. You criticize them on their actions - not who they are. You remind them that "who they are" allowed them to be fodder for creeps. That they have some work to do.

But you don't attack the person. That is what the nefarious do. You remind them of the weaknesses they have to work on. You tell the truth.