I started responding to a thread at mydd.com and I got into a bit of brainstorming while doing it (at least I like to think so). I noticed what I posted was different from the original post and it got me concerned that my observations haven't been fully picked up by the Democratic community.
I talk to Republicans on IRC (Internet Relay Chat), the following are my observations:
1.It's amazing the number that say "I'm an independent, not a Republican!" Clearly they are embarrased by the antics of their party.
2.Bashing Bush is clearly the latest Faux News/Republican talking point. It's now acceptable for Republicans to bash Bush over immigration, the prescription drug bill, the size of the deficit and, with some, how Bush let the WMD escape to Syria. If you bash him over anything else you are still a "Bush hater."
3.As per immigration, the drug bill and the size of the deficit, the key one sentence Republican/Faux News/Hannity talking point criticism of Bush is that he is "liberal light". This is a straw man attack of liberals, a dishonest attempt to escape from their past mindless cheerleading of their Idiot in Chief, and finally a ridiculous attempt to rationalize that conservatism hasn't failed under Bush because, after all, Bush isn't really a conservative!
4.It is amazing the number of Republicans I've spoken to who mouth the exact same talking points with virtually the exact same language.
I think there is no question that all of these talking points have been used by all of the usual suspects and the dittoheads have picked up on the mantra. I have to say, I find it pretty amazing how the same talking points have spread all over the country in such a short period of time.
5.The job of Democrats is:
A.To point out the strawman of Bush being a 'liberal light'.
For instance, on deficit spending: point out how Clinton had surpluses and how the deficit has been largely created by huge tax cuts for the wealthy, which Democrats opposed and on spending for Bush's crony friends (like the prescription drug bill), which Democrats also oppose.
B.To point out that Republicans in Congress mindlessly supported the Bush program that so many of these "I'm an independent, not a Republican!" Republicans now stunningly say they opposed all along. Tell them if they really oppose the Bush program, they must not vote for their Republican Representatives and Senators.
C.The most dishonest meme being pushed by the Republican talking points now is that Republican voters didn't support Bush after all in 2004, they merely voted for him to stop Kerry from getting elected. This meme is absolute garbage and must be rebutted until it is finally put to death. It is clearly nothing more than an attempt to distance conservatives from the record of their president. If they didn't vote for him because they supported him, but merely opposed his opponent, they can say that he doesn't truly represent their views. We have to stop this out and out lie before it starts to be believed by the public at large and, especially, the mainstream media. The best evidence refuting this lie: there are dozens of polls taken during 2004 that show that the VAST majority of Bush supporters were voting for him because they STRONGLY supported him. Many of these Bush supporters were self described conservatives. They did not care one whit who his opponent was, they just couldn't wait to turn out and support their President. That is the undeniable fact.
As has been shown on MyDD, at Kos, and at other places, what Bush and the Republican Congress have done for the past 5+ years is REPUBLICAN CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT IN ACTION. We must not allow, in any way, conservatives to escape their past support of their leaders or to deny that they once fully viewed these congress people and the president and his administration as fellow travelers in the conservative movement. Bush has not changed his views on any issue since the 2004 election for Republicans to honestly be able to say "he's no longer with us." The only thing that has happened is that these Republicans have finally woken up to the incredible incompetence and cronyism of the President they elected and once fully supported.
Finally:
I'm pretty sure at the end of the day most of them will come out and vote Republican in the midterms despite their protestations of displeasure with Bush. At the end of the day, loyalty to the Republican Party is pretty absolute.