According to
Jean Hardisty, the secrets to the success of the New Right are not ideological discipline and top-down control, as often assumed, but listening to people's resentments and then reflecting them, building a huge grass-roots movement through work in churches, gun-clubs and other civic institutions, and tolerating diversity of opinion within the movement (i.e. social conservatives + libertarians). Hardisty also questions the current obsession with "framing," observing that presenting new ideas with CONVICTION has it's own power. She writes that, "What ultimately forces change is human beings seeing fellow human beings act from a place of deep conviction."
I think that this is why street demonstrations, face-to-face conversations, and organizing for local action are still at least as important as "spinning" the media. These are the ways gradually to change people's assumptions about the world (i.e. debunking "government is bad and can do nothing right"). We HAVE to change people's assumptions about the world. People dislike Bush now but that doesn't mean they won't just turn around and elect another Republican.
Another very important point Hardisty makes is that the supposedly monolithic "Right" is actually a complex coalition that has sustained its unity because of its success and because of leaders' willingness to "listen" and tolerate diversity within the movement. I think that we at Kos could learn from this. We're not all going to agree on all of the issues (for example gun control) but we have enough in common to work together.
I highly recommend Hardisty's artice from The Nation, reprinted at The Public Eye, linked above in the Intro. Also check out the Public Eye website. It's a longstanding research group dedicated to understanding right-wing movements and its a great resource for progressives.