Care about winning. That is the message that Democrats should internalize in the face of the Bush and conservative onslaught. There is not very much I like or admire about our President, but one thing that I give him credit for is not caring what those who dislike him think.
He really doesn't care what those of us who voted against him think because we weren't the majority. He values winning over being popular. Too often Democrats do the opposite. We value being liked over winning. We pull our punches when dealing with Bush and the Republicans. We say things like "the President misstated the facts" when what we really mean is that "the President lied." If you think that Bush lied, then say so, and let the chips fall where they may.
I am not saying that we should go around and look for ways to be rude to Republicans in everyday life, unless they are rude to us, but in our public speech, and in how we target Republicans, we need to be as tough and intent of winning as they are.
This is why I wanted Howard Dean to be chair. Howard is the kind of guy who will wake up every morning and say to himself, "how can I fup Republicans today?" When he goes to bed each night, he will say to himself, "Hey, I did pretty good at fing them up, but I can do better tomorrow."
Another thing, if you do something and Republicans bitch about it, do it again, only more so. They don't whine when we do things that fail, they whine when we do things that work.