Crossposted from Docudharma
Then follow the current Dem "strategy."
Republicans are vicious thugs who will do literally anything to get and keep power.
Power that they then use to screw Americans and enrich the elite.
They will kill the economy for the rest of us, for the rest of the world, so that they can grow richer. They will kill every safety net the American People have. They will start wars of aggression and kill hundreds of thousands of innocents to get what they want. They will torture to get what they want. They will subvert the Department of Justice to get what they want. They will pursue political prosecutions to get what they want, and they will steal elections to get what they want. They will impeach Presidents to get what they want.
There is literally nothing that they will not do to get what they want.
They will even kill the entire planet by refusing to address Climate Change, by questioning that science itself is legitimate.
And the Democrats, including Obama last night, praise them for it. And call them patriots. They reach out their hands in bipartisanship and beg them for their votes. Even as the Republicans lie about Death Panels and refuse to state that Obama is an American and is not a Muslim.
Even as The Republicans consciously foment Right Wing violence, Democrats reach out their hand to them. Even as The Republicans effectively shut down government in the Senate through the filibuster and promise to do even more nothing if they take the House and promise to try to impeach Obama....
The Dems act as if they are merely discussing some abstract political ideology......and go about their business as if this was ok, normal, and pretending that The Republicans are acting in good faith.
The Republicans want to change the Constitution. The Republicans want to round up 12 million people and deport them. The Republicans want to create an aristocracy through the tax laws. The Republicans want a war on all Muslims. The Republicans want to establish America as a Christian Theocratic Empire.
And The Democrats treat these radical extremists as if they were sane.
As if they were legitimate political actors.
As if they have the best interests of the country and average Americans as their goal.
The Republicans have openly stated that they will do everything in their power to make sure Obama fails.
The Republicans have openly stated that they will try to impeach Obama.
And The Democrats .....do nothing.
No sign of fight, no sign of resistance, no sign that they even understand that something is seriously wrong here.
The Republicans, even as they prove again and again how destructive they are, are allowed to frame every issue, allowed to establish every narrative, allowed to outright lie to the American People.
And the Democrats.....do nothing... to fight these extremists.
They do not resist the framing, they do not correct the narrative, they barely contest the lies.
They do not attack, they do not take the offensive, they do not even effectively defend themselves.
They do not fight back.
The Republicans under George Bush absolutely ruined this country. And instead of actually DOING something about it the Democrats want to look forward and turn the page.
The Republicans established that they can start illegal wars with no recriminations, that they can torture without ramification, that they can corrupt entire segments of the Government from the DOJ to the MMS, that they can crash the economy with no consequences.
That they can literally get away with murder, and that the Democrats will do absolutely nothing about it.
Wall St, The Ruling Class, mostly made up of Republicans, stole or destroyed billions of dollars of ordinary Americans life savings. They "stole" millions of American jobs and shipped them overseas. They "stole" millions of Americans homes. They stole elections, they stole 4000 American lives and at least a trillion dollars.
And the Democrats.....do nothing.
The American People are in shock, standing on a street corner with no home, no jobs, no savings....and the Democrats are, certainly in the eyes of the millions who have been affected......doing nothing.
No one has gone to jail for any of this, there are no high profile investigations, and even as the ideologues who are either directly or indirectly responsible for all of this openly announce that they will try to impeach yet another Democratic President....
This matters.
This is serious.
But The Democrats act as if this is all just business and politics as normal.
Act as if this is NOT a turning point in history where we either defeat the most corrupt, lying, unscrupulous political party in America's history, or return to the years of 2000-2008 on steroids, fueled by the Tea Party narrative and the hatred of racist, war mongering, torture approving, corrupt and hypocritical Theocrats.
The small resistance they do offer to this prospect is wholly, and literally unbelievably, ineffective and weak. Their complete lack of principle or spine is plain to see, in the face of complete Republican dominance of the narrative. What DO Democrats stand for? What ARE they trying to do to save the American People from the Republican destruction looming on the horizon? What WILL it take for them to abandon collegiality and the insane quest for cooperation with people who have openly sworn to destroy them?
The Republicans absolutely ruined America, and The Democrats are not only doing nothing about it, they are praising President Bush.
.
50% of Americans don't vote.
That number went down last election as the jaded and disaffected and young people came out to vote in 2008, lured by the prospect that something, anything, would change. Someone promised to fight for them, and they hoped and believed that, and they came out and voted.
They hoped that The System that was so patently unfair, that was so obviously destructive, that had sapped their will to fight back and bludgeoned them into apathy would be at least be challenged. Not policy differences, not ideological squabbles, not that kind of change, but change to the glaringky unfair SYSTEM.
That some form of justice, that some form of accountability, that some new and exciting energy....represented by The Democrats, would come into being and change their lives, change our corrupt and rotten government.
In spite of all the promises, that has not happened. It is business as usual in America.
No wonder Americans have lost faith in their government.
You can publish all the lists of accomplishments over and over and over, and it won't change a damn thing.
Until The Democrats actively fight back, actively stand up and point out who is responsible, actively show that they are doing something to STOP those who are responsible, actively make the case that they are somehow different from The Republicans....
Until someone somewhere actually shows the American People that they care enough about them to fight for what is right...to be at least perceived to be fighting for them.....
The American people will continue to LOSE hope. To give up on their corrupt government and stay home.
Yes, Obama and the Democrats have an impressive list of legislative accomplishments. But somehow that does not seem to be swaying the voters. Why is that?
Because the American people KNOW that their government is corrupt, dishonest, and works for The Rich, and not for them. And they DO NOT see that changing.
We all cheer the Ledbetter act, and hope for the best from Health Insurance Reform, etc....that was NOT the Change they were looking for.
The American People want someone to fight for them, to take on the bullies, thieves and warmongers, to make a REAL difference in how America is run....since it is now glaringly obvious that it is NOT run for them.
Until The Democrats stand up and fight for that, what possible reason do The People have for supporting them?
Lists of accomplishments won't help, threatening people with Republican Rule won't help. Calling the voters stupid won't help.
Doing something will help. Fighting back, loud and mean, against The Republicans who are preventing anything from getting done, will help.
The American People are beaten down, broke, and exhausted. They tried. They elected a guy who said he would change things, not "small" things, but BIG things. The big things that so desperately need to be changed. The System that is screwing Americans needs to be changed. Dramatically. THAT is what the voters came out for in 2008.
And the Democrats just plain haven't delivered.
Because they haven't even fought The System.
Go ahead and argue with me, with Markos, with the pollsters and the pundits all you want. Blame whoever you want, shake your fist and rail at whoever you want.
It will not change the fact that in the mind of the public, the mind of the voter, nothing has Changed.
They tried. They voted for the guy. It didn't work. So why bother to vote for Democrats again?
If YOU don't want The Republicans to win, stop defending the Democrats who will not fight for the American people. Put aside your petty differences and join together to raise your voices and tell The Democrats to FIGHT BACK against the lies and corruption of The Republicans.
It is after all, the only thing they have never tried.
Can we not all agree on that? Is there anyone here who doesn't want to see the Dems fight back against The Republicans and their lies and their lying narratives? Anyone who thinks the Dems should just slink off into the night and let The Republicans impeach the President?
As we once again slouch towards Republicanism and the impeachment of another Democratic President, take a moment away from your partisan ideology and your carefully constructed defenses and attacks and ask yourself WHY.
Why would any sane person allow The Republicans who destroyed this country to reclaim power. Why? There is one overriding reason....
They just don't care anymore. Things suck, they are getting worse and NO ONE IS DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT.
No one is fighting for them, so why should they fight for Democrats?
Yes it is irrational, people are not rational, they are human.
And there is only so much bullshit they can take. And right now, whether it is coming from Democrats or Republicans, all they are getting is bullshit. They know it, they feel it in their bones and in their hearts.
The Democrats don't care about THEM, so they don't care about the Democrats.
It is too late for policy to win the midterms, that ship has sailed and sunk in the maelstrom of attempted bi-partisanship with the corrupt crooks of the Republican Party.....it is not too late for "rhetoric" to do so. As long as that rhetoric is not just more bullshit.
The formula for electoral success is as clear as a bell, as clear as
"it's the economy, stupid."
The formula for electoral success...and by the way for repairing the America that The Republicans destroyed....is simple.
We Will Fight For You.
We are on YOUR side.
And yes....
I welcome their hate.
Because they already hate you, so what do you have to lose??? Besides the election.
Stand up, Democrats. Stand up and fight loud and mean against the REAL villains. Call them out, call them villains, and tell the TRUTH about them and about what they have done and about what they want to do.
What are you afraid of? What are you waiting for? What have you got to lose? Besides the election you are already losing.
Stand up and fight, stand up and tell the American people just exactly who is to blame and just exactly what they will do.
And when the media inevitably gasps in shock and has a hissy fit about it.....stand up and fight THAT too.
Or do you want the Republicans to win?
You can pretend The Republicans and the media are sane and just surrender the House...or you can fight back. And in the process of fighting back you can destroy The Republicans credibility and start us down the road to healing and restoring the country they destroyed.
Now THAT would be change.