Republicans play the game to win and the Democrats play to

[WCGreen]

make a point...

Robert Wahl said that the other day on MSNBC and I half believe he is on to something...

The GOP will do anything, say anything in order to win while the dem's sit back and try to say or do the right thing...

There seems to always be threads on DU about dem's on TV letting Rep's say wild stuff and let it pass...

It happens all the time...

And then when a Dem gets a little indignant, the Rep acts shocked at the partisan behavior and therefor shuts the dem down...

Come to think of it, I really think Wahl is on to something...

For the GOP, winning is everything...

Just look at all the crap Bush and co. have said over the years and then quickly shift away without ever apologizing or even admitting that they changed their mind...

Interesting...

[ShortnFiery]

1. Then in order to win, the Demcratic Party has to sink to the dirty-tricks level? n/t

[WCGreen]

2. No they just have to look like they want to win...

They have to play to win...

Scoring brownie points doesn't get you anywhere...

[ljm2002]

9. False choice...

...and it is sad how quickly someone always comes along with this notion.

Fighting hard is not identical with fighting unfairly. It only appears that way because for the last several years, the party that fights hard also fights unfairly. We could change that, by fighting hard and fighting fairly. For example, we could call them on their lies every time the lies pass their lips. That would not be unfair, but it would be fighting hard. Yet time and time again, they are allowed to utter lies that go unchallenged. For example, the lie that Valerie Plame was not covert. The CIA says she was covert; Patrick Fitzgerald says she was covert; she has testified under oath that she was covert. Yet they continue to spout the lie that she was not, and are rarely called on it. This allows them to claim that there was no underlying crime; and as a bonus, it allows them to dismiss out of hand any notion that there may have been something really nasty like TREASON going on. This is how they control the argument, by framing it, whether by outright lying (as in this case) or merely twisting the truth. And we let them, time and time again.

Your framing, on the other hand, sucks. Sorry to make it personal but I for one am simply sick of people who think you can't fight. Piss on that. We can, and we had better start fighting harder. This is no time for wimpy bullshit about how fighting would be engaging in dirty tricks. This is exactly the thinking that allows abused spouses to stay with their abusers; it is exactly the thinking in a dysfunctional family who become enraged when one member tries to change the dynamic.

Please understand. I do not know you and I do not bear any personal animosity. And I know that what I am saying here sounds insulting. I'm not trying to insult you; just beat you over the head with a verbal sledge hammer because I know whereof I speak: FIGHTING BACK AND FIGHTING HARD IS NOT UNFAIR. Okay, got it?

[OHdem10]

11. Even the Christian Right has said --We do not have to agree

with you, We just want to know you have some principle, some
beliefs .


Our party never seems to get this.

Most people are impressed by candidates who show they believe
passionately in something and are willing to "fight" for it.

[ljm2002]

16. Thanks...

...and I agree wholeheartedly, people want to see someone who is willing to fight for their beliefs. Instead we give them triangulation and capitulation.

I do not want to be all doom and gloom; there are some glimmers of hope and of a new fighting spirit. But it really chaps my hide when people continue to act like we should just roll over, because to do otherwise would be "fighting dirty".

At this point, a little more fight from our side would be a good thing.

[msongs]

3. when action and words conflict, action is the truth nt

[Middle finga]

4. The dems are counting Joe Public to come to his senses and see

That the repubs are full of it and don't care about the average joe. But in order to get that point across the dems need to use their platform to point that out more forcefully.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. True on both counts, IMHO...

We seem to lack the killer instinct that the Republicans have...

And the higher up the office-holder gets, the less the killer instinct is visible...

There's plenty of anger and willingness to take bold action at the grass-roots level...

And then...pfffffttt...it's gone.

[razors edge]

7. Love your sig line.

My mom's boss had it put on zippo lighters and other hand outs about thirty years ago, I still have a couple.

But in the boss's typical way he had an extra line added at the end.

"However, a buck is still a buck."

[CaliforniaPeggy]

10. Thank you......

I try to live by it....

[roxnev]

6. It seems to me the Democrats

always want to take cup cakes to a shit slinging contest

[WCGreen]

8. Exactly...

It's like that opening scene in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid...

Rules in a knife fight...

[snowbear]

12. We didn't exactly do too shabby this past autumn...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~




...and we we will do EVEN BETTER in the coming elections!

[WCGreen]

14. You;re right about that....

But it could have been a lot better if the people supposedly representing the democratic party in the media had been slightly more aggressive...

[sampsonblk]

13. If only that were true...

But unfortunately, it isn't.

The reality is Republicans will do anything to win. Democrats will do anything to avoid losing. That's where the heart of this party's leadership is nowadays. If we were hell bent on doing right, someone would have noticed by now. Sadly, this is not the party of virtue, as you suggest. This is the party of futile efforts to attract 'moderate' voters with vague platitudes and play-it-safe votes, like the IWR and funding the war repeatedly.

[WCGreen]

15. Similiar sentiments stated differently...

The result is the same....

More losses than victories in the last few decades...