I agree. I guess we will just have to fight a rear guard action to limit the damage. I wonder if George Washington's army felt like this that Winter in Valley Forge. I think so.

We have no choice but to continue our struggle for the very soul of our nation. We cannot let the forces of darkness win without a fight. The struggle between good and evil is eternal.

Your Democratic Friend,
Stephen Crockett
----- Original Message -----

"We all tried so hard on this one and we all feel so dejected and defeated now. The future looks bleak."

According to Christian Coalition executive director Ralph Reed, it is
"...just good strategy. It's like guerilla warfare.... It's better to move quietly,
with stealth, under cover of night... It comes down to whether you want to
be the British Army in the Revolutionary War, or the Viet Cong." At a
Religious Right conference in Denver last year, participants were instructed in
tactics that include:
> * Hide your affiliation and true agenda
> * Use the gay issue to raise funds for the cause
> * Always cover your tracks; always use local front men - a wacko if
necessary
> * Appeal to people's fears of society and change
> * Appeal to American's worst impulses
> * Remember that "tension will provide the winning edge for candidates"
> * Lie, if necessary

They don’t care that Iraq is turning into murderous quicksand and a killing field for our children. They don’t care that the Bush presidency has made us less safe by creating more terrorists, inspiring more anti-American hatred and refusing to engage in the hard work that would be necessary to make a meaningful dent in our myriad vulnerabilities at home. They don’t care that he has mortgaged our children’s future to give trillions to the wealthiest among us. They don’t care that the economy continues to hemorrhage well-paying jobs and replace them with Wal-Mart; that the number without health insurance is over forty million and rising. They don’t care that Medicare premiums are rising to fund the coffers of pharmaceutical companies. They don’t care that the air they breathe and the water they drink is being slowly poisoned and though they call themselves conservatives, they even don’t care that the size of the government and its share of our national income has increased by roughly a quarter in just four years. This is not a world of rational debate and issue preference.

It’s one of “them” and “us.” He’s one of “them” and not one of “us” and that’s all they care about. True it’s an illusion. After all, Bush is a millionaire’s son who went to Yale and Harvard and sat out Vietnam, not even bothering to show up for his cushy National Guard duty, and succeeded only in trading on his father’s name and connections in adult life. But somehow, they feel he understands them. He speaks their language. Our guys don’t. And unless they learn it, we will continue to condemn this country and those parts of the world it affects to a regime of malign neglect at best—malignant and malicious assault at worse.

Given the media’s talent for pandering to their lowest common denominator, the things that have driven us crazy about their past pathetic performance are bound to get a lot worse. Most of us—readers and writers of this web log and peoplelikeus-- derive an awful lot of benefit from being Americans. We owe it to our better selves, and though it sounds horribly clichéd, to our children-- not to walk away from this battle. I will admit, however, it’s pretty damn hard to see through this fog just where to turn before we march.

A final word to readers while we all try to take in the news. I deeply appreciated all the warmth and gratitude sent in yesterday, and I send it back. Everybody should understand, however, that I get paid to do this. Everybody else who contributes of their time and expertise does it because they just happen to care so damn much they can’t help themselves. No one, as all my readers know, is more important to the flavor and voice of this site than the great Charles Pierce. I know he’s done much to keep my spirits up this past year and illuminate the corners of the media that would go unseen and unreported save for his proverbial eagle eye and rapier wit. As you can see below, Charles is particularly moving and brilliant today and I just want to say how lucky I feel that he chose Altercation as his home away from home. Go Sox.

Name: Charles Pierce
Hometown: Newton, MA
Hey Doc --
As Mo Udall once put it, the people have spoken...... (more at) http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6382485/#041103

We need better target marketing and more variety of marketing mechanisms. We need some more universally appealing themes. I have some specific ideas on the marketing techniques but think it would be wise to not share them with the world (which includes Republicans) at this point.

On the message issue, I advocate a mix of class warfare with economic nationalism. We need to define our policies as supporting the middle class, the somewhat affluent and the poor against the super wealthy. I advocate creating a higher tax rate for incomes over $1 million annually and middle class income tax breaks.

I believe we should eliminate the ceiling on payroll taxes and make everyone pay on all their income but at a lower rate than currently. The super wealthy should pay the same percentage on their total incomes as all Americans!

We need to oppose economic globalization policies that are not in the interest of middle class Americans. Outsourced jobs should mean no access to the American market for that company and group of companies if that applies. Free trade with third world countries that lower the general standard of living for American workers should cease. Immigration rates should be tied to unemployment rates. We should stop accepting the idea that globalization is the result of market forces. Globalization is more the result of policy decisions as market forces. We need to tie the Bush Republicans to globalization

We should say that they are being un-patriotic in not protecting American jobs and the American standard of living. We should say they support global money more than they support American values! We should state that it is immoral to vote in the interest of the large international corporations instead of America's poor and working people.

We should drive home the point that Republican health care policies put American companies at a big disadvantage in competing with foreign companies and outsourcing in the marketplace. Republican policies put the health care cost on individual American companies instead of the government. All our foreign trading partners have the government pick up the cost of health care.

We should point out that the Republicans are stating their policy CHOICES in favor of international corporations are inevitable. We should respond that globalization is only inevitable if you vote in Republicans that make it so with their policy choices.

We need to re-define the public debate.

and at Political Posts
http://www.politicalposts.com/news/index.asp?id=235728

and East Bay Democrats site in California