Reply #14: Two things have to happen:

[Sick_of_Rethuggery]

1. Elected Dems must present a united/consistent/concerted front against the dangerous/suicidal Rethug excesses. At some point, this business of giving them the benefit of the doubt should stop, in order to make it clear to the people (who are usually short of time, resources and the inclination to know the details necessary to be truly outraged) what really is going on behind all the rhetoric (ofcourse, if people were more educated/tolerant, they would find even the rhetoric sufficient cause to revolt). Part of this unity/consistency must also be standing up for each other, especially when they are being unfairly charaterized/caricatured by the media...

2. The media, whom the people by and large, (at least subconsciously/instinctively) trust enough to take their cues from, must start being the watchdogs they are supposed to be on behalf of the people: would we get the sense that anything is seriously amiss in this country if we watched just the evening news and/or FAUX/CNN/MSRNC? If these people (the media) keep equating/conflating serious, felonious behavior of the Rethugs with personal/silly transgressions of the Dems, a casual listener is apt to notice no difference between the two parties.

Neither seems a possibility in the near future...