It's Saturday night, and I go out to dinner with an old friend, his girlfriend, and a couple of other people. We're drinking, eating, casually conversing, when the subject of politics comes up.
Suddenly I find myself the lone vocal liberal with three conservatives at the table...including my old college buddy and his girlfriend (when did he turn?!). The fifth person at the table was a Democrat, but wasn't nearly a part of the conversation as the rest of us.
So it's me against three. More below the fold.
While the three conservatives were all solid Republicans, with one being completely partisan, they were still not the type to be considered political "junkies". One had volunteered for a Republican gubenatorial campaign, but he had also voted Democratic before and planned on voting for Rendell next year. They followed the issues but not with the fervor of conservative zealots.
But here's the thing: the arguments they were making were all made as if they had been prepped from a Republican talking points memo. Even without being hardcore partisan hacks, they still spoke from the exact same page as Bill O'Reilley, Sean Hannity, Tom DeLay, etc. It was like Frank Luntz had coached them before we went out to dinner.
It was further evidence of the incredible job conservatives have done in getting their message straight to ordinary people. The conservative meme's were flowing as if rehearsed. And of course, I was the only one who could counter their arguments. The other Democrat at the table was not as intensely political as myself, and seemed to have little to say in countering their arguments. It was me against three, and while I'm proud I held my own rather well, the uniformity of their thinking and speaking was amazing.
And therein is the difference between the state of the conservative and liberal movements: the "lay" conservative has all the arguments and talking points down, burned into his/her mind through constant repetition on FOX News and talk radio. Average liberals have to form their arguments on the spot, which is often ineffective and -- when under a coordinated assault -- usually futile. It is this reason why the other Democrat at the table stayed relatively silent and left me alone to battle three conservatives -- he simply didn't know what to say.
While I'm very optimistic about the fledgling "Left-Wing Conspiracy" that Kos has mentioned, we still have a LONG way to go. Republican ideas and meme's regulary flow through the mainstream. Ours do not.
Until we turn this situation around, we will never have a Democratic majority. The majority of America will simply "think conservative" because that is what they're hearing.