I said to my mother-"The republicans are overplaying their hand."

[digonswine]

She said, "They always do." I am in Wisconsin, where the overplaying is, perhaps, more obvious. The question is, how do they get away with this perpetually and why don't WE do it, too, when given the chance? Have we ever overplayed our hand?

[opihimoimoi]

1. The Dems have a lock on Reason, Common Interest, and Sanity...the GOPers are of Negative

Polarity....

The Dems are more Optimistic with a + Polarity

The GOPers tend to be Grouchy Ole Perverts.....always whining and with pessimism/cynicism

[digonswine]

3. I don't think they have really paid a price for going as far as they can-

Would Dems pay a price for the same-in the long-term? People actually like what we do-in general. We might have a chance in 2012 to dominate. We should use it and not be soft-that's IF we can get some solidarity on this side.

[opihimoimoi]

6. Time is on our hands....Reason and Truth have escaped the GOP dungeon

[QED]

2. The GOP comes up with distractions from real issues.

Instead of the economy, they drum up divisive issues like beheadings in the desert and illegals on kidnapping rampages. Or start wars about mythological WMDs. Or bring out the RW religious people with threats of the "gay agenda." Or call anyone who disagrees with them socialist, communist, Nazi, or whatever.

And they're louder, ruder, and have more funny money behind them. Citizens United was the death blow to democracy as we know it.

[digonswine]

5. I know their games-why can't we beat them at it?

I guess it boils down to human nature-the easy separation-us v. them- is very powerful with the populace. In the end-I don't want to fight dirty -I want to appeal to reason. This is, however, a fool's errand.

[Curmudgeoness]

9. I also want to appeal to reason. But quite honestly,

reason is in very short supply. I have come to believe that we have to fight dirt with dirt. Or at least we have to drum on the ridiculousness of the RW and their ideas/opinions. Call that dirty if you choose.

We can be squeaky clean and lose, or get in the mud. It is our choice.

[tblue37]

20. Because several decades ago, when liberalism was the dominant

ideology in the US, a bunch of wealthy and powerful people decided to take the long view and start building a communication and organizational infrastructure to make their version of "conservatism" the dominant ideology.

They bought up radio stations--and eventually other media, including TV stations. They also founded and funded conservative "think tanks" like the Heritage Foundation, to have on payroll a bunch of "credentialed" talking heads to populate the media in order to "catapult the propaganda." Those foundations also produce an endless stream of "research" to provide support for their talking-points--though the research is no more trustworthy or valid than the studies the oil industry funds to show that global warming is a "myth."

They recruited and funded candidates to run in local and state elections, which most Americans foolishly ignore--everything from city commissions and school boards to state legislatures and boards of education. Those candidates often run unopposed (!), and often they are stealth candidates--not revealing their extreme views until they are safely ensconced in office. This meant that they always have a bunch of people in the pipeline to run for higher state offices and eventually for national offices. And of course their ownerhip of major media means they can give these people the sort of exposure that will enable them to become familiar names for low-information voters to mark on their ballots.

Meanwhile, they also had people of Karl Rove's ilk recruiting and traing dirty tricksters to undermine the integrity of our electoral system, and as we know, they also took control of our voting system itself, so they could swing close races electronically.

Of course, the fact that they are wealthy meant that such people could comfortably fund all these activities, and their single-minded determination to rule unopposed meant they were willing to put their money where their goals were. We know that a lot of these gazillionaires willingly continue to support RW operations even when they lose money rather than turn a profit.

Unfortunately, the wealthiest people on our side seem to believe that the footsoldiers in the good cause should be willing to devote their time and energy for free, or for a meager wage. Thus even those who do not believe in the RW agenda sometimes go over to their side simply because that is where they can make a lot of money. I am quite sure that many of these people--like Kobach, O'Reilley, Beck, and an awful lot of the others who do the most damage on the Right--are not really true believers in the RW cause. They just know what they have to do to become disgustingly rich. Even the footsoldiers on the Right are well compensated, whereas those on the Left are often dirt poor and thus unable to make organizing and activism a full-time job.

I wish the wealthy people who believe in progressive values would spread their wealth around a bit more, the way rabid RW gazillionaires do. I also wish our side could take the long view. Every time we don't get our dreams fulfilled quickly enough, we fall into disarray, so that every cycle we seem to be starting from square one, whereas even when they lose elections, the RW keep working consistently toward their long-term goals.

BTW, now that the RW owns the media, if we do decide to overreach, we will be castigated for it 24/7 in the media. When the RW does something really, really extreme, the IOKIYAR principle kicks into gear.

And now that the RW owns the election apparatus, were doubly screwn.

[stillwaiting]

4. The Democrats do not expose the Republicans for who they are. Period.

It seems the Democrats want to ensure the status quo by maintaining the integrity of the Republican Party.

They have been given golden opportunity after golden opportunity to expose the Republicans and they never do anything with those opportunities.

Elected Democrats have been undermining their own stated platforms by embracing conservative Democrats and rolling over for the Republicans many, many offenses to the American people. Of course, the Republicans have served TPTB very, very well at our expense, and unfortunately, our own party is infested with individuals who have successfully remade our party to serve TPTB instead of the people. We have a new Democratic Party now that's for sure.

[digonswine]

7. Yah-

since I was 18, I thought the biggest issue was money in politics-it ain't sexy and people don't care-but this trumps all other issues in a fundamental sense.

[abq e streeter]

8. +1...............Right on the money, unfortunately

[digonswine]

14. Perhaps, but we can scream it from the rooftops-

and don't get the instant megaphone messaging system they have at their disposal. WE know Weiner and Sanders and Grayson, etc--how big of a voice do they have at large?

[proud patriot]

10. After bush seniorI asked my dad

"this is the end of republicans right? all the corruption Iran contra , saving and loan etc people know how awful they are right?"

his answer "I said the same thing when nixon left office"

[aquart]

11. Ever heard of Boss Tweed?

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Any party in power long enough will become corrupt. The Republicans, however, seem to have speeded up the process to exceed the speed of light.

[kstewart33]

12. We overplayed with health insurance reform.

At least, that's how the public perceived it.

[digonswine]

16. We were out-played, out-messaged, and outspent.

[MadMaddie]

13. I think they have gone beyond overplayed their hand

their decisions are impacting their Repug constituents.

Synder, Ryan,Perry and the others have shown their hands too soon and the gig is up. This is why the Repug contenders are dropping like flys.

I don't think the Repugs are not done with their insanity I think the remainder of 2011 and 2012 will push the country away from the Repugs.

[digonswine]

15. If only.

[digonswine]

17. I love the concept-

we may be in for some windfalls, but they will re-brand reality in two years, to the populace that needs instant change, and come back into power. It seems inevitable.

[mmonk]

18. No to your last question. They know our hand. Compromise

and corporate donors. They don't ever have to move from theirs and even when they are obviously extreme, the Democrats will still compromise with them.

[digonswine]

19. Yeah-we move to met them where they are rather than staking out our own territory.

[SheilaT]

21. tblue37 said it best.

I would like to add that too many people have been duped into thinking they benefit from Republican ideology, especially the tax cuts. I have a supervisor at work who is a great guy in many ways, and possibly the best supervisor I've ever had -- fair and good to us. But, but, we all say to each other, He's not rich enough to be a Republican. None of us can really understand why he buys into the Republican b.s., and none of want to engage him in much conversation about it. I will say that he doesn't inject his beliefs into the workplace. It comes out somewhat obliquely, but after a while we've all figured it out.

But he is in many ways typical. For some reason he buys into the selfish mind-set, thinks his taxes are too high, thinks Medicare is a waste, and so on. I just wish he or one of his children or grandchildren would acquire a pre-existing condition and be unable to pay for the needed health care, and then maybe he'd understand. Or that he'd get caught up in some sort of disaster, like the recent tornadoes or flooding, and come to understand that the Federal Government really does have its place. It's what I actually wish on every single person who thinks we don't need government.