Ok, it's not really apostasy, I haven't "abandoned" anything, but it's a word that's been abused lately, so I appropriated it.

I'll give you a topic:

It seems there is a common, almost Jungian / Mass Consciousness type of response here on Kos when a mover and shaker like Senator Kerry comes on board to fill us in on the latest outrage.  For example, the utterly fabricated and beyond bonehead comment by Boehner.  We all gather and lay palm leaves appropriately, giving kudos and recs, and high-fiving each other with all the zeal of the true-believer, expressing outrage, and uttering vague threats of how we're not going to stand for it, really, seriously, we're not, and we mean it this time.

That's all well and good, but Mr. Kerry?  Aren't we preaching to the converted here, as well as on HuffPo?  

Bear with me kids...Follow me over the fold...

As the general election campaign fast approaches, every non-naive Democrat knows what to expect from the opposition.  Namely, an onslaught of attacks and negative advertising of the kind that we now call swiftboating.  After what happened to John Kerry in 2004, candidates and supporters alike have vowed "never again" to let a swiftboat campaign bring down a candidacy.  It's great to say that and its great to have fight and resolve, but the real question is how exactly are we going to deal with or counter swiftboating this time around?  The tricky thing about swiftboating is that it appeals to parts of the American psyche and American ignorance in which things such as facts, truth, and important issues have little relevance.

The Republicans lost another crucial election last night. It was their third special election loss in a row. All three were deeply Republican districts in the past. This one was in the heart of Mississippi and was in a district that George Bush won with 62% of the vote in 2004.

The Republicans are in deep, deep trouble. If they lose in these districts (the other two were a Louisiana seat they had kept for three decades and Dennis Hastert's former seat in Illinois), they can literally lose anywhere. The whole electoral map can be redrawn.

So, what's their new plan? Go further to the right! No, you schmucks, that's what got you in trouble in the first place. The problem is the Republican Party has become so extreme there are no moderates left to tell them they should head in the opposite direction.

When I heard that the GOP is trying to rebrand itself as agents of change I had a good laugh and thought of this part in "Oh Brother where Art Though?"

A majority of Americans say they want us out of Iraq. A majority of Americans want universal health care. A vast majority of Americans wanted Congress and the President to extend health care benefits for children of poor and lower-middle-class families - even if it meant raising their taxes.

House Republican leader John Boehner and his colleagues have heard their calls, and responded...by crafting a marketing slogan that tells Americans what idiots they are.

Chris Bowers reports that the new GOP slogan "The Change You Deserve" is a lot worse for them than you think it is:

Third, it was particularly brilliant to unveil a campaign slogan that is already copyrighted as an advertisement for an anti-depressant.

I don't feel a need to dwell on this.  It sort of speaks for itself on the pure irony level, plus it was discussed in a  front page diary yesterday.

Instead, let's focus on the other possible slogans the GOP could have picked.  ASD has a list of registered slogans that provide all sorts of alternate possibilities:

I like EMLA's "numbs the pain," because it accurately reflects the short-term effect of us all getting drunk and crying into our drinks should McCain win in November.

I don't know if anyone has diaried this already, if so, I apologize. I just could not resist drawing attention to this when I saw it at Huffington.

The GOP has decided that the "compassionate conservatism" of 2008 will be "change you deserve". A short list of things this slogan is being used to market includes... oh yeah! Effexor! The anti-depressant! This is absolutely priceless, more below...

Note:  This is a significantly expanded version of a comment I made on another diary; in other words, it's not just deja vu.  

It's been a shame to see Chris Shays' metamorphosis over the years from Weicker-like independent liberal Republican to typical GOP hawk (pronounced "hack"), as for the most part his principal identification with the administration has been on the war and homeland security issues, while remaining semi-independent on others, though to a lessening degree over time.  

Unfortunately, those are the ones that matter, and the fact that Shays
has always been too moderate to be acceptable to the core of the GOP anyway does not bode well for his own party's support this November, despite the fact that this district has voted Democratic only seven times since 1895.

This is too rich.

I assume you saw this piece linking the GOP's new slogan to Effexor.  Read it.  It is hilarious.  But come back and read the rest of this diary.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

What the GOP doesn't seem to realize, because they are idiots, is that "the change you deserve" is the registered advertising slogan of Effexor XR, a drug that many of you might have started taking as a result of all the...you know -- terrorism. (Hat tip to Bluestem for catching this gem.)

Effexor, also known as Venlafaxine, is approved for the treatment "of depression, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and panic disorder in adults." Its common side effects are very much in keeping with the world the House Republicans have striven to build: nausea, apathy, constipation, fatigue, vertigo, sexual dysfunction, sweating, memory loss, and - and I swear I am not making this up - "electric shock-like sensations also called 'brain zaps.'"

Those are not the only side effects.

Read the rest below.

From the Courage Campaign

Democrats and the GOP have been going back over proposals for health insurance reform. All of them focus on insurance and access to it. That's important, no question.

But I'm going to take a different tack here. I'm going to lay out some little-discussed reasons why health care is more expensive in the US than in almost any other country. I'm talking about the built-in costs. That is, all the stuff that keeps the system running -- and doesn't need to cost as much as it does.

Basically, there are three components: the cost of being a doctor, the cost of interacting with insurance companies and the cost of having the oversight for the medical profession in the court system.

Please bear with me, the point I am trying to make is both subtle, yet far-reaching. The basic premise is that right now, today, here, at this point in our nation's history, we should be grateful that President Bush has been president for 8 yrs. It could have been far, far worse.

Let's take a good look at this man. Inelegant,  inartful, clumsy with words, proud, spoiled, vane, arrogant,  vindictive, spiteful, uncurious, unread, intellectually lazy, and stubborn. And not necessarily in that order.

The very things that set our teeth on edge, still excite and unify his base base of 21%, over half of which are religious nuts, and the rest, neoconMen, the true believers in PNAC, endless war, and the destruction of the American federal government.

Actually, I still suspect that those numbers are artificially inflated, and his real base is smaller. It remains mainly a collection of hugely supportive, highly disturbed and irrational people to whom facts are inconvenient things.

Still, we cannot discount the President's effectiveness, nor his talents.

The local paper (Journal Inquirer),ran a story yesterday on our favorite ex-Democratic Senator,and current BFF of John McCain, Joe Lieberman and his political money.

The story entitled "Lieberman continues to reap from Republicans" basically shows who has shown Joe the money recently. The list is compelling--- and scary.

In 2000, McCain eviscerated Bush during a debate because the Texas Governor refused to endorse allowing exceptions for rape, incest and the mother's life in the GOP's anti-choice platform. In 2007, during a town-hall debate in Des Moines, Iowa, McCain again reiterated that he wanted to change the party's platform to reflect these exceptions. Let's be clear: Not only did McCain support changing the platform, he used it as a campaign issue and as a means of building his image as a maverick willing to buck the national party.

This "principled" stand will join many other "principled" stands, apparently, in the trash heap since McCain has become the presumptive Republican nominee. ABC News reports that he is dropping his demand to change the platform.

On the flip...

Have you been wondering which tactic the Right-wingers are going to use is the fall?  Remember all of the gay marriage bans used during the 2004 election?  Well this year we are going to be subjected to attempts to ban abortion to draw in voters to the polls. If you thought the gay marriage issue was bad, wait until the Anti-Choice groups hit the streets during the run up to the election.

I wrote this on my personal blog and I see that I can post it here.

Recently, a lame president spent some time with correspondents and made some unremarkable remarks, except for saying that if he and Dick were to have a band they would call themselves "Bastards from Hell." Quite astonishingly accurate. I have taken to referring to them this way in my own conversations, and certainly in my head.

Obstructionist Republicons in Congress have joined the band, I'm afraid, summed up nicely in WaPo with this engaging title by Dana Millbank that caught my eye: Republicans Vote Against Moms; No Word Yet on Puppies, Kittens

N.Y. Congressman Acknowledges Affair, Child
Panel Clears La. Senator In Call-Girl Complaint
Capitol Briefing: Senate Ethics Dismisses Vitter Complaint
The Sleuth: Embattled Rep. Fossella Speaks With House Chaplain

Yeah, I know, same old, same old.....GOP.

At GOP.com, our crafty little nemeses have created an engine so "regular folks" can ask Obama the questions that concern them.  Of course, the site does not let you see which questions have been asked, does not let you vote on which questions are most important and provides absolutely no forum for discussion of the merits of any given question.  VERRY Grass Rootsy.

http://net.gop.com/...

Some questions I'd like to ask Obama include, but are not limited to, questions like:  1)Why do you care if the U.S. was misled into Iraq under false pretenses?  2) Can you explain why GOP economic policy has nearly bankrupted our Country?  Is your temperament less volatile than John McCain?

While Archimedes-in-a-pantsuit tries to rewrite the laws of mathematics, the rest of the nation has properly begun to weigh the Presidential contest between Sens. McCain and Obama.

Obama has, however, learned a valuable Clinton trick from this protracted primary--how to obliquely reference the "vast, right-wing conspiracy" to misdirect people's attention away from glaring, personal deficiencies.

During his victory speech in North Carolina on Tuesday night Obama said, "We know what's coming...the same names and labels they (Republicans) pin on everyone who doesn't agree with all of their ideas."

Actually, we have some new names and labels thanks to Mr. & Mrs. Obama's own words and ideas, as well as the Senator's cozy relationships with corrupt influence peddlers, domestic terrorists, and a hateful, bile-spewing spiritual advisor.