Hang up your tweed coat and roll up your sleeves.

[TWiley]

The “news” on CNN today has covered only the republican viewpoint. I have seen no substantial commentary supporting President Obama. Meanwhile, the “lets be nice” faction of the Democratic Party is busy attacking their own in support of their crazy ideals that we “must be above all that”.

Myself, I realize that the Republican Party has declared war on us back when Mr. Clinton was president and it got noticeably more hostile in 2000. I feel that the “lets be nice” crowd cost us two elections, and we risk sabotaging our own President if we put any stock in their nonsense. I say bring a gun to a gun fight, and bring a knife to a knife fight. Attacking your own in defense of some pie in the sky ideal is a lousy way to get your message out there and a fine way to let the opposition define our party and its motives.

I would be willing to bet that there are far fewer “racists” here on DU than in most any other group. Many, if not most of us here supported Mr. Obama, and lately we hear more negative about him, and more ridiculous defense of people like Governor Bobby (I will not say his last name because someone will probably accuse me of being racist) by those who fancy themselves as above the rest of us. Bill Schneider on CNN even referred to the “slumdog millionaire” during a piece covering the Republican Leadership. I think most of us understand how a comment like that would be received here.

I am grateful and thrilled that I saw a TV ad supporting Mr. Obama’s budget proposal, and a second one suggesting that Rush Limbaugh was the true voice of the Republican Party. We absolutely need to push back hard on them and make every effort to get our message out there. I say, don’t start it, but fight every bit as dirty as they do, and do this at every opportunity. I heard some tough talk from Mr. Obama, and hope to hear more of it in the future.

The tweed coat and hat folks will cost us yet another presidency if we allow them to sell their intellectual pride and big-me-little-you-isms as virtue. Survival is also a virtue. We are in a fierce battle for the future of America. The GOP tried to spend this administration into bankruptcy before it began, and Mr. Obama has the courage to try to turn this around with spending in education, health care, energy, along with a host of regulatory changes.

We need to fight to get our message out there and this does not mean fighting senselessly among ourselves over stupid accusations that most all of us do not remotely resemble anyway.

[lumberjack_jeff]

1. In this struggle, the only bad tactics are ineffective ones.

Jindal's speech was ridiculous, and this perception has been cemented in the conventional wisdom due to quips like "outsourcing the Republican response".

Does this go against our grain? Yes, but it works.

[TWiley]

2. Yes, it does work. Maybe we need a bit more of it.

So much depends on how successful we are at this juncture. We really do have a chance to change how our country spends and recieves its money. A good portion of all living creatures rely on us not squander this rare opportunity. Lets not let ego and pride ruin the day.

[patrice]

3. We need good cops and bad cops, not for hire, but who actually live by the values that they espouse.

And if they espouse destruction and/or annhilation of anyone, then the antipode that shares that value are justified in destroying/annihilating them.

If they espouse justice and tolerance, then an antipode that does not reciprocate should be rejected by the group.

[TWiley]

4. absolutely !

and, I dont think they are espousing justice and tolerance these days. We cannot expect them to be nice to us just because we are nice to them. It just will not work in today's political environment.

[patrice]

7. The Golden Rule should be the standard for all relationships, even with those

with whom one "agrees". Everything should be about behavior.

By their fruits, you shall know them. That's in the Bible somewhere, I think it's a pretty good principle.

ANY Lying is grounds to call "the deal" off.

[librechik]

5. Believe me, if we went IN PERSON and picketed CNN in New York

with big specific signs, they would pay attention. They HATE that, especially Fox/ Murdoch, cuz it can't be covered up.

You almost never see it, and it is very effective. Look at Sharpton last week--he got an apology from the man himself!

[TWiley]

6. maybe that is the type of thing we should be doing?

anything is better than the nit-picking of the past few days.

[librechik]

8. If I lived in NY or Atlanta, I'd do it. n/t

[patrice]

9. Yes!!! Lying Media should be EXPOSED.

I suspect there are quite a few people around these days with time on their hands and willing to do this sort of thing. I hope they are peaceful and just a little OUTRAGEOUS, like Code Pink is.

[Mean_Barbie]

10. We do need to get back to work.

The coffee break is over!

[Peace Patriot]

11. Well, I do agree with you. Here's my motto:

"Organized money hates me--and I welcome their hatred!"-- Franklin Delano Roosevelt

That's the kind of president I want. That's the kind of Democrats I want. Tough as nails new New Dealers!

But I think there are two BIG problems that your OP does not address, that profoundly influence the far rightwing slant of our public debate, and what will happen in the future, including whether or not we might "lose" this presidential administration in 2012, and thus our last chance to restore democracy and prosperity in this once fabled "land of opportunity." The two BIG problems are these:

1. Voting machines run on 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code, owned and controlled by a handful of far rightwing Bushite corporations, with virtually no audit/recount controls. (--a zero audit--or handcount--in half the voting systems in the country, and a miserably inadequate 1% audit in the rest.)

2. Related to the first problem, and not really fixable until we fix the first problem: Rightwing corpo-fascist control of all news and opinion on our public airwaves, and mega-monopolies of TV/radio and news print.

I think that our biggest peril would play out like this: Deliberately instigated civil disorder, as the Bushwhacks' Financial 9/11 hits home. The corpo/fascist 'news' monopolies write a feasible-sounding narrative about Obama's 'failure' as a president. Diebold & brethren select Hitler II for president in 2012.

There are other perils--for instance, nuclear weapons, biological weapons, private armies created at our expense, billions and billions of dollars stolen from us and stashed beyond our reach (and also likely billions in drugs/weapons trafficking profits), secret operatives within our military and intelligence agencies, and other agencies of government, and in foreign countries, and also massive blackmail dossiers, all in the control of the currently out-of-power Bushwhack principles--Cheney, Rumsfeld and their backers and minions.

This is yet another reason why the Bushwhack principles should be prosecuted and jailed. They are extremely dangerous people.

But the fact of the matter is that Diebold & brethren can easily--EASILY!--steal the next election, and the corpo/fascist 'news' monopolies would go right along with it, as we have seen before. If a Hitler II scenario is under way, they may well use another attack to further it. But the attack isn't what we should be worried about--because there is nothing we can do to prevent it. We should be worried about--and mobilized about--the voting machines, because that's what the 'TRADE SECRET' code is for--to steal elections--and that we can do something about. Power over our voting systems still resides in local/state jurisdictions, where ordinary people have potential influence.

The best thing we can do to help the Obama adminstration is to insure that we can keep him in the White House, with transparent vote counting, when we re-elect him.

The public debate that the corpo/fascist 'news' monopolies permit is difficult to influence. They really don't give a fuck what you or I think. Right now, they've giving...I don't know, wild guess...70% of their opinion coverage to the right and far right. It would be good, yes, for our "Blue Dog" Democrats to shut up, and for the "soft-edgers" to be back-benched in favor of kickass new New Dealers, to argue Obama's program in that narrow 30% closet. We don't have air time to waste. I am all for this. It should be done, yes. But it is not nearly enough to save the Obama administration, if the scenario that I have outlined is in progress, or anything similar to that, involving false narratives and the 'TRADE SECRET' vote counting.

I don't know if it is, for sure. I'm saying the bad guys have this capability. And they have not hesitated to steal elections and totally fuck this country over before.

The media is a secondary problem, and one we can't do much about until we have transparent vote counting again, for Congressional and other elections. In South America, they have terrible media--even worse than ours--and yet they have elected leftist after leftist after leftist. Why? Because they've done a good decade's work or more on transparent, well-run, honest elections. We don't have that kind of time. We have to do it NOW.

[TWiley]

12. Well lets get to work then.

Time to ignore the holier than thou's among us and get to work. The first shots have just been fired in this war, and it is likely to get very bloody indeed. The tweed hatters need to take the cotton out of their ears and stuff it into their mouths for a spell.

You gave us a great laundry list of action and we would be better off to follow it. Sipping coffee and calling others "racist" around here is highly counterproductive and will ruin the day for all of us if they succeed in dominating each discussion.

We need more spending on voting machines absolutely, and this needs to be addressed now. The bushtapo stole both elections with them, and I am sure they are already planning the third.

My money is on Jeb the shrub as their candidate in 2012. CIA daddy walker shrub would love access to a few voting machines for sure.