Mass Hysteria

[AlCzervik]

and i mean Mass in every sense of the word.

The GOP is one HUGE machine, it's well financed all the time, not just in election years. They decided this year that America should be afraid that the very roots of their society would be threatened by gay marriage and if that was scary enough, Osama Bin Laden would come blazing into St. Louis with Zarqawi riding shotgun to kill your men folk and cattle and rape your woman. Now they were very effective in communicating this with out fellow Merkians in several ways-Television coverage, and lots of it, surrogates in the form of GOP lawmakers repeating this over and over again in the halls of congress live on Cspan, and hey, thats free PR. They also use mailers, yes, good ole snail mail, and not just one per voter, they mail at least 3 pieces out and that has prov-en successful. All this fear mongering has worked because of the above mentioned things and also repetition of talking points, the same type of repetition you would use in teaching a small child the alphabet.

OK, we wont go to these lengths because thats not who we are, i think their fear mongering is probably one of the lowest forms of campaigning ever but what we could try is that same type of coordination and organizing. I did a lot for the local Kerry office here but we just aren't as disciplined as they are.

[Mick Knox]

1. yep I agree 100%

That is how they do it - and they do it damn good.

[AlCzervik]

2. We have to start treating this like a business

but with our agenda, thats what they have done and it's worked. There is no reason why it can't work for us.

[KharmaTrain]

3. There Needs To Be Serious Grassroots

Want to see how the GOOP is where they are, look at how much attention was paid in the 80's and 90's at local races and how they fielded candidates that led to majorities in a lot of states, including BLUE ones.

Next look at their communications empire...several radio networks that drive their agenda 24/7 through commercial and religious stations that showed their power by really mobilizing their herd to vote on Tuesday. There's not only no infrastructure here, but resistance from many within the Democratic party to discuss setting up such systems...everyone wants to control or be "the star".

Just because they play like pigs doesn't mean I will ever condone such a thing...instead using the truth and honesty...something I bet many people would be surprised with if they felt it sincerely.

Yep, the GOOP is more disciplined...it's its strength right now, but also its weakness. There were signs that their walls were going to crumble, not ours...the difference was they went and built a stronger wall...we're watching ours totally crumble.

[AlCzervik]

4. well said

And now we have a radio network and hell we have postage machines. At this point i hope to hell whoever takes over the DNC will consider some of this.

[KharmaTrain]

5. AAR? That's small change

I won't go into the "fun" experience I've had with this network over its lifetime...and haven't posted on this topic for months, but this is NOT the answer...it's just a little piece that could be integrated into a bigger picture...however that isn't going to happen under the current management.

There needs to be a whole lot more. There needs to be a network set up of non-commercial, publicly/privately funded liberal outlets to counter the Christian ones. There needs to be a "liberal" corporate entity that just doesn't stream a talk radio station, but develops a media empire like at Clear Channel that takes money you spend on the concert tickets you bought or the album or magazine or video you rented and uses that money to keep their talk operations cranking. This goes way beyond the box and beyond what many here have wanted to investigate and work on.

And whomever ends up with the DNC is probably going to be "meet the new boss, same as the old boss"...I'm holding little hope for now. As I say...I'm going back to being an observer now...waiting for the dust to settle and see what pieces are left.