Which concession will neuter the GOP line of attack?

[jpgray]

The GOP will argue Obama and the Democrats are wasteful anti-business spend-crazy over-taxing ultra-partisans. When they craft a message around some issue, however trivial, this will be the overarching theme. Obama and the Democrats have made several concessions on discrete issues that have been used to launch this narrative.

When we pushed for a smaller stimulus, and made a third of it tax cuts, did this have any impact on the narrative? Or did the attacks continue? Did voters remember the tax cuts?

When federal worker pay was seized upon to further the narrative, did freezing pay destroy that narrative? Will voters remember the pay freeze and disbelieve the narrative, or will they forget all about federal pay as a new issue is raised to push the same idea? What will be the lasting benefit to the concession, in your view?

Might it be that conceding on discrete issues does little or nothing to collapse the larger narrative of attack? Might there be an endless supply of issues, from the petty to the significant, available for the GOP to gin up the same outrage? How long do you expect the GOP and voters to remain in the glow of gratitude and respect over a concession? What if they spend no time at all in this state, but simply move on to the next attack?

At that point, do we concede again?

[bemildred]

1. Well, if Obama and Biden both resigned, then Boner could be President.

Maybe that would do it.

[Enrique]

2. when the public option was taken out, what happened?

the GOP was screaming about the "government option". After the public option was gone, did their rhetoric change one bit? Not only the "robust public option" but all the compromises like the trigger, the co-op and the Medicare buy-in.

[txlibdem]

8. Seriously. They Pukes were able to label

The Republicans succeeded in labeling the biggest giveaway to the insurance industry and big pharma a "government takeover of health care." A Republican idea for paid-for consultations wound up being "death panels." And the Dems stood there and did nothing to match the effort being put out by the Pukes.

The Pukes have always been good at messaging (after all the companies they represent can sell you a box of turds and call it chi-chi). The Dems have always been abysmal at messaging and branding. That is their failure and has been since Carter, who had great ideas but terrible messaging which shot himself in the foot time and again.

[kenny blankenship]

3. All of them! Make it a deal they can't refuse! Throw in everything at once, plus the kitchen sink

the Republicans will be so confused they won't know what to do next. Eleven dimensional cave in will overload their circuits and render the GOP helpless! Go for broke! Sure, strategic cave in has accomplished nothing good so far, but that's because it has not been applied in full measure. We haven't caved in enough. Checkmate is just around the corner once we kill off all of our pawns...

[txlibdem]

9. So funny, I might just cry

I don't know whether to laugh or spit after reading this...

Good post!

[sweetapogee]

11. dude,

The pukes are not going to tell the President what or where to cut. Instead, they will insist on a budget and let the President decide what to cut, making the dems the bad guy. I have said this before and will keep saying it, we did ourselves no favors by not having a budget. The repigs have sent the signal that they are not going to shut down the government because there isn't a spending plan, instead they will put limits on the amount of money available and let the dems make the hard decisions.

In some respects we would have been better off loosing both the house and senate. If we were to have lost only one chamber, I think it would have been better for us to have lost the senate.

What we need is a plan, not wishful thinking. A good solid workable plan to right the economy. This should be our priority. We should not be expecting the pukes to stumble. If they do, great but we should formulate a good solid plan and debate the plan, not the individuals or parties.

Our goal for 2012 should be to give the voters something to vote for, not something to vote against.

[dbonds]

4. We could concede to not raise the top end tax rate to 90%.

If they say no to that, then go to 91%, 92% ...

[TheKentuckian]

5. I wish people would process this fact of life. No matter what you give the Republicans

they will demand more, much more.

There is no compromise with unmitigated greed and avarice for power.

This shouldn't be insight or theory because it is observable fact.

Decades of giving in have made the Republicans AND the Democrats more fucked up and dangerous to self determination and broad prosperity.

This tactic has been an unmitigated failure for the people and will only continue to make matters worse.

[a kennedy]

7. got that right......

nothing!! :mad: :mad: :mad:

[StarsInHerHair]

6. I'd concede they 'make their own reality' because that's what the doctors

advised, to prevent them completely breaking down & simply move around them. They will ALWAYS attack, one would be a fool to believe otherwise; begin from this realization, and that they are testing the very limits of our society-like a psychopathic horror-movie child-a glance over at rightwingwatch clearly shows this. After they've tested those limits they most often break them and push further, think of all the outrageous things we've all read and heard coming out of the mouths of various GOP/TPs........since 2000 they've been able to count on the majority's disbelief, the majority claiming surely they couldn't mean it like that, they must be good people.......

[JVS]

10. I don't think that joining a dialogue with the right is in any way constructive.

The goal should be to out shout them and silence them.