The Republicans appear to be in a ‘throw-everything-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks’ mode. They have a playbook. But the game has changed. Look at some of today’s headlines:
Life Has Gotten Better in Baghdad – Rod Nordland, Newsweek
Violence in Iraq Continues to Drop – Buckley & Gordon, New York Times
Dems Increasingly “Jumpy” on Illegals – June Kronholz, Wall Street Journal
Nancy Pelosi: Mi Casa, Sue Casa – John Fund, Opinion Journal
How to Beat Hillary Next November – Karl Rove, Newsweek
Will Edwards’ Blow-Dried Populism Sell? – John Heilemann, NY Magazine
Mitt Romney: A CEO in the White House? – Fred Barnes, Weekly Standard
The Democrats’ Iran Dilemma – Robert Novak, Chicago Sun-Times
Chavez and the King – Jackson Diehl, Washington Post
The World is Drinking Al Gore’s Kool-Aid – Phil Valentine, The Tennessean
We can see the outlines of a Republican attack. First, they will argue that things are improving in Iraq. They’ll say this over and over again, hoping that we will not rebut it with equal vigor. And, of course, they are right about that. The Democrats will point out that we are making no progress towards national reconciliation. But they won’t do so with the same level of doggedness.
The Republicans will attack immigrants and try to drive a wedge into the Democratic caucus. They need not try too hard, as the work has already been done.
The internal debate has grown emotional in recent days, boiling over on Friday during a tense encounter on the House floor between Rep. Joe Baca (D-Rialto), chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.).
The caucus was upset because some House Democrats had backed a Republican measure protecting employers that impose certain English-only rules– the latest in what Baca called a series of frustrations with the party leadership’s approach to immigration.
“We’re tired of people trying to scapegoat the immigrants or Hispanics as a platform,” Baca said. “Republicans have done it, and Democrats have followed… because they’re afraid they’re going to lose their elections. But we got elected to represent all communities, not to vote based on whether we’re going to get reelected.”
John Fund didn’t miss the opening.
The Republicans will demonize foreign leaders…particularly Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad…raising the threat above any facsimile to reality…and then accuse the Democrats of being weak on defense.
The Republicans will attack those that push environmentalism, health care, or anything else that might require greater role for the federal government.
Finally, they’ll go after our candidate personally. John Edwards can’t be a populist because he uses a blow-dryer. Hillary ‘calculates almost everything, including her accent and laugh’. Obama is irritable, and he’s also half a Muslim, or something.
Meanwhile the Republican candidate is a CEO/former mayor, he’s actually run something more than his/her mouth. Or the Republican is a war veteran who knows what it’s like to be tortured…not some fancy-pants trial or civil rights lawyer that has never fired a gun in anger.
The Republican strategy is pretty much out in the open.
I somehow lost the second half of this post, which was all about how the Democrats should respond.
No need for the second half. It is all about what I am not hearing from the Democrats, who may be celebrating this great victory.
Booman I know it is not your fault, but it is “Mi casa, SU casa” unless they are playing with words of course.
it’s about freedom from liability for firing an employee for not knowing English. Yes, it’s word play.
Thanks, I never get those. BTW, the other I missed was the Durbin and war criminals. Found this and thought you might be interested.
Actually this is a better link to S888
Yes, and the press with comply and enable.
well, go back and either find the 2d half or re-construct it, cuz i want to read it…
there’s enough rumblings going around and enough explosive stuff waiting in the wings (a la sibel edmonds), that those desperate to hang on to money and power are going to be throwing everything but the kitchen sink into the fray in an attempt to recapture the high ground… is part of what’s driving it the relatively spontaneous movement to censure difi in cali and to keep the rejection of telecom immunity out of the fisa bill, which has, no doubt, incurred the wrath of the power-brokers…?
here’s a few more somewhat naive questions… why is denny h. choosing NOW to resign…? why is frances townsend resigning NOW…? why is there a move afoot to KEEP prouty in the cia…? there’s all these pieces lying around out there, and it seems to me that, if they were all put together, we just might see a very interesting picture…
but that’s just me…
It is, of course, no surprise to see the litany of names above spouting their inanity. We expect that from their kind.
But what is most exasperating is how the so called “liberal pundits” will play right along with those narratives, giving the aura of credibility to the nonsense. It is truly mind boggling.
From Maureen Dowd’s Hillary As Dominatrix column to Chris Matthew’s having a Body Language expert on to “interpret” the recent Demcratic debate, we are treated daily to the most trite and insipid presentations humanly possible.
Our beloved media. It has been that way for years. But it is not this way just because that is how the Republicans want it to be. It is because liberals have watched it for years and done nothing but wring their hands. It has been allowed to pass, without rebuttal and with no protest. Everyone just goes along willingly, acting like it doesn’t matter. But it matters one hell of a lot. Anyone who is caught off guard by this has not been paying attention.
Au contraire. The purpose of our media is twofold: a) To provide a forum for advertising and b) To provide as little news as possible. Both functions are admirable fulfilled by our corporated media and Democratic “silence” on the subject is simply another propaganda meme among thousands.
Yeah right. Bagdad has become a vacation spot, now that violence has been cut in half, and all is quiet on the Bagdad front, or so says the Whitehouse. This month only a thousand Iraqis in Bagdad have been killed, compared to multithousands just a few months ago. And the best news is that only less than a hundred American soldiers killed. That’s nothing, trivial.
Great going. I’m ordering my vacation tickets tonight.
first of all- what about the wapo piece of shit baker today? add that bullshitter.
Now- there is a question that has to be asked and I think that it is fundamental. Do we decide to fight the dirty fight or do we take the “high ground”? Thus- means vs ends. I humbly propose the following:The High Ground! However- taking that position does not preclude agressive responses to every single charge that the goopers pose. Now, I vividly remember that Dean established a “rapid response team that was charged with instant resposes to gooper attack ads. It takes work. Alot of work but I can’t believe for one second that there aren’t a ton of folks out here that would give up anything to join in this kind of action.
As I see it, the major problem that exists is getting these responses out there for the country to see! This too can be handled because there are plenty of POPULAR” folks in every branch of the population that would gladly use their public identity to support this. Additionally, once this approach is started, there will be a growing if not exploding growth is supporters. Pick the subject and/or pick the area and watch this take off!
One last area that needs to be addressed- The Youth Vote. Since the simple fact is that after the 04 vote dust settled, there WAS a surge(to use the latest vernacular) in the number of young people voting and the vote strongly leaned Dem. This approach will work. And it is clean!
Forgot one perfect example- WAPO article by Williams today re the youth vote! Go read it and then ask the key question- Are we doing anything similiar and if we are, where is the coverage?
They just have to steal one state. They need one biased sec of state and a dnc that will act all surprised when it happens again….
Since the war effort for Iran isn’t turning out to be too popular let us not rule out those pesky CIA black-ops setting up the next candidate. Pakistan.
because as goes the tennessean, so goes the nation.