Who's afraid of the Republican base?

[babylonsister]

http://www.burntorangereport.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2...

Who's afraid of the Republican base?
by: Josh Berthume
Fri Oct 27, 2006 at 09:57:30 AM CDT

(GOP is in bad shape when you lose Dick Armey's support - promoted by John McClelland)

Democrats have long struggled with communicating their core issues to the base American electorate. New polls and general anecdotal evidence are showing that it has started happening by default. Democrats now control the agenda on issues that are truly important to Americans, and it is due in large part to an unlikely ally - traditional Republican base voters.
Josh Berthume :: Who's afraid of the Republican base?
This poll details something Dick Armey was talking about on MSNBC the other day. He went on a few shows to discuss the following remark:

The Republicans are talking about things like gay marriage and so forth, and the Democrats are talking about things people care about, like how do I pay my bills.

The problem the Republicans are currently having stems from the desire to establish what they refer to as a "permanent majority." The use of the legislative floor for shucking and jiving about gay marriage or any other moral issue couldn't go unpunished forever. Now people have started to notice that while the GOP put on the evangelical song and dance, two very important things were not happening:

1. They were not seriously fighting for laws that would advance the agenda of the evangelical religious right; and
2. They were not passing any other laws that really made a difference to people just generally aligned with conservatism but less ideologically motivated.

The GOP failed at immigration reform, they failed to do anything about Social Security, and they failed to do anything but make a hash of foreign relations and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

more...

[acmejack]

1. I am!

If they honestly believe their Texas platform I am terrified of them!

[SharonAnn]

8. I'm an American, descendants of revolutionaries. I'll fight them.

[acmejack]

11. Yay, you.

[flaminbats]

2. Republicans no longer have a base..

the majority are honest voters who vote Republican, but would vote for a Democrat who gave them a reason to.

Republicans are too snotty to pay more taxes to help our troops in Iraq. Republicans are too snotty to too pay more taxes to provide universal healthcare. Republicans are too snotty to pay more in taxes to balance the budget and reduce the national debt. Republicans are too snotty to pay more in taxes to in improve education. Republicans are too snotty to pay more in taxes to fight a war on terrorism. Republicans are too snotty to pay more in taxes to defend the four freedoms embraced by FDR.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Freedoms

These Republicans have never been too snotty to send others, who serve in uniform, off to die in Iraq or Vietnam. Republicans have never been too snotty to raise taxes, as long as they never have to pay a penny. Republicans have never been too snotty to collect our tax dollars, and then waste our money in the most destructive ways possible. Republicans have never been too snotty to live off their parents hard earned dollars. Republicans are never too snotty for slapping around the welfare moms, who can rarely sleep just to put food on the table.

Almost everyone I know is a democrat who supports the four freedoms backed by FDR, but not enough of those voters know that our party exists to defend those freedoms. Too many of those people vote Republican, while expecting nothing in return for their hard earned tax dollars. If our party got the message out, Republicans would only be a bad joke..not another way to vote in this country!

[elocs]

3. "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism".---Howard Zinn

http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/a/146858.htm It's a great quote no matter who said it and does not need the weight of a Founding Father to validate it.

Most of your average Republicans are decent folk, but that flies in the face of the black and white world of many here who believe that if you are not with them, you are against them. Oh well, such is life in the black and white world. Certainly there is a segment of Republicans who would support Bush if he came on tv and bashed in the skulls of puppies and kittens, but there is also a segment who would support a Democrat given the right circumstances and candidate. Those are the ones we need to peel away from the Republican fold and welcome into the Democratic tent. But then, how anxious would you be to come into the tent of people who have vilified you as representing all that is evil and at best consider you to be a dim witted and stupid dupe? That would certainly stop me from ever becoming a Republican, other than the obvious reasons.

[flaminbats]

4. that's what makes life worth living..

if the world really was just black and white, what would be the point? But the Democratic Party isn't like that, and this is why we can win!

even if you're a candidate running against an incumbent who will win, the fight is still worth it. First you can make the race competitive, win the votes of people who otherwise wouldn't of thought about this election. Second..by coming within 5-10% of beating the incumbent, you force the winner to reconsider some of their positions on the issues. If they don't, they'll lose even more votes next time. If they do, then we forced someone to listen! Either way, everyone wins.

[Eric J in MN]

6. In US House races, coming within 10 points of the incumbent....

...means the DCCC will probaly spend a lot of money in that district two years later.

[elocs]

7. I agree that the Democratic Party does not paint things black and white,

but too many Democrats do. They paint all Republicans with a broad brush and the only 2 colors they have are black and white. You are either for us, or you are against us. Which means that if you are not for us and do not line up exactly on the major points you are against us. Unfortunately they are not above attacking and eating their own. That is not helpful.

[flaminbats]

10. unfortunately that drives many voters into traps set by neocons..

but no voter is our enemy, a self described conservative loves liberty just as much as a liberal..and the liberal wants as much back for their tax dollars as a conservative does. so I believe one political opinion is not the opposite of another.

regarding the Jefferson quote, this is my source..http://chatna.com/theme/patriotism.htm

you can be the judge of whether or not my source is true.

[elocs]

12. I stand by my first 2 posts in this thread.

I respect your opinion and your choice to disagree. "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism" is a Howard Zinn quote.
Please check out http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations / which is a specific site for Jefferson quotes and not just a general site for quotes from many people. If you do a search for that quote you will not find it because Jefferson did not say it. So look at it and you can judge if your source it true. It is a great quote, it just needs to be attributed to the right person. I would rather cite a great quote credited to the person who actually said it than to one who did not.

[Eric J in MN]

5. Howard Zinn is a great man...

...and so if an expression needs a great man to validate it, then he'll do.

[LaPera]

9. Not I...Only their control of our voting apparatus's...That's scary!

They'll steal an election in a heartbeat, with their republican owned voting machines.