And something else they need to do - watch Howard Dean in a TV "debate" with any republi-CON.

For example, just today (Sunday) on CNN's "State of the Union." Fill-in host Dana Bash had Howard Dean and jim demint on. She gave jim demint all kinds of face time to talk about how "Obamacare" (which we should NEVER use because it's the bad guys' meme. The law is called the Affordable Care Act) was this bad and that bad and nobody likes it - ALL LIES.

Rule #1: DO NOT use the enemy's terms for an issue. Use YOUR OWN. Use OURS. Do NOT reinforce their talking points - EVER!!!!!!

Then of course, she shifted topics and asked Howard Dean some stupid useless irrelevant question out of left field about Joe Biden. WTF??? Joe Biden??? And she deftly did that when they were about 30 seconds away from the end of the segment. Cute, 'eh? Well, Howard Dean immediately went back to on-message. He said (paraphrasing) "well, before we talk about that, in the interest of some equal time here, I want to go back to something your other guest said about the Affordable Care Act..." AND HE GOT THE REBUTTAL IN.

Rule #2: DO NOT let yourself be sidetracked by lame questions that attempt to switch topics BEFORE YOU HAVE HAD A CHANCE TO REBUT what the other guy said that, otherwise, will be allowed to stand un-rebutted and un-challenged.

At the end, she thanked them both, and closed out the segment, with jim demint attempting (while purportedly saying some version of "thank you Dana&quot to squeeze in just one more little talking point to reinforce "Obamacare BAAAAAAD," again, all of it flat-out lies. Howard Dean jumped in on top of him and with his own "thank you Dana" he reinforced "that's not true" ON TOP OF jim demint. Just talked over him. Talked straight over him. Result? Not only did jim demint NOT get the last word, but the words he tried to squeeze in at the very end could not be clearly heard because Howard Dean talked over them.

Rule ##: DO NOT EVER EVER EVER EVER let the other guy get the last word. Be rude if you have to. Butt in if you have to. Talk over him/her. Sometimes that succeeds in forcing the opponent to pause because you butted in. GOOD!!! Then YOU finish and YOU take the last precious seconds before they go to commercial! That way YOUR message is the last one that's heard and that's allowed to sink in and stand unchallenged. If they don't concede the moment and they attempt to keep talking to get their point in - YOU KEEP ON TALKING AND DON'T GIVE GROUND!!!! At the very least, your talking over the opponent prevents their message from being clearly heard - because you got in the way and they didn't have a clear shot. That is NOT the time to decide to become Emily Post and be all mannerly and nice. Not with this. That assumes the opponent is nice, too, and we need to completely get away from that bullshit notion. They're NOT nice. Not a bit. Bill Clinton was correct in one of his rants to his insiders - they're EVIL. And what they want to do is EVIL. EVIL - to those who need help the most!!! And they should NOT be deferred to or conceded to or agreed with or reinforced IN ANY WAY.

This is not congenial chit-chat. This is WAR. This is open combat. Verbal, mouth-to-mouth combat. WE have the truth, WE have the facts, WE have the talking points that actually make sense, and reflect what's really going on out there in the real world. WE have the reality on OUR side. We should be smacking the bad guys upside the head with it at every possible moment.


It's not even time to say "please continue, governor." NO. NOT in a situation like that.

If he's a republi-CON, probably too cheap. Looks like he slapped a scouring pad.

One of those curly copper ones - used for awhile til the copper darkened.

The Kentucky Pipsqueak and Yertle. What a dismal duo. THIS is what's representing you in the Senate, Kentucky??? Seriously????? And you're okay with this? How 'bout if they stay in power and take away the ACA insurance that will finally be taking full effect by election time? Will THAT make you happy????

Every guy I knew I college was puddles for her. Most of us girls wanted to BE her.

I LOVE "Blue Bayou" - her voice is still one of the most magnificent in the music business. OH MAN did I want to sing like that - AND with that sex appeal. Nailed those high notes, the PERFECT vibrato - not too little, not too much. The feelings and emotions she evoked with that voice, so incredibly expressive, just astounding. Heart-stopping. I loved it when one of her songs came on the radio while I was driving. I would warble along, and I could hit all those notes, too - but MAN, not the way she did! What a loss!!! Same thing with Julie Andrews. Our finest songbirds - silenced. At least they can both still speak and they're both still here. But still, what a loss. Dreadful. A little less beauty in the world, at a time when we need all we can get. LOVED her records - used to play them during my show on college radio, all the time.

Dreadful.






Fuck.

I think you're onto something here.

Self-loathing propels a lot of other hatred, she said, her mind racing directly toward teabagger-ville...

How many times a day does this happen - in even one community?

DAMMIT - can't we get over this? Ever??????

Just still so discouraging, that this woman should have to put up with such sneaky-ass covering-up-for-plain-'ol-racism crap.

When do we grow up as a nation and get beyond this stupid shit? Why the fuck don't they just be honest about it and burn a cross in front of the store? Or have their checkers wear sheets and hoods? "That's our policy..."

Now they just go "under the radar" to perpetuate this shit.

Crying! Sobbing like a two-year-old!

Those people are gonna go to Heaven when they die.

Hopeforpaws.com

Man, THAT is a thing of beauty!

Truly! NOTHING phobic about it. It's not about fear. Hell, it's NOT going to rub off on you or stain your clothing or spoil your food, and it isn't contagious!!! You're simply an asshole.

Hey, O'Mara - you just coming around to realizing that your client is a loose cannon?

How long did that take you - or your spokesman Shawn Vincent?

Zimmerman is clearly a man with no conscience, and no sense whatsoever of responsibility or consequences for his actions. Certainly no sensitivity either.

Still appalling as hell.

Dear God, it BETTER!

Maybe your childhood wasn't "perfect," but, seems to me it prepared you wonderfully

for the world outside. You weren't insulated or homogeneous. You weren't a one-note. My family was all Anglo. But they taught me a few things about being broad-minded. My father was horrified by the very thought of the "n-word," and reacted accordingly. He hired people he thought were good at their jobs, and quite a few of them weren't Anglo. Toward the end of his life, his closest and most trusted friends were Latinos - whose kids played with my kids and had great times! As I grew, the religious realm was where I found myself personally experiencing change and evolution and progress - feeling comfortable watching and being part of the change from single-note in school - Catholic school. I started in a 100% Catholic student body. There eventually was one girl who was Greek Orthodox. By the time my kids were in Catholic school, Catholics were not the biggest subgroup - they were a distinct minority. Only one third of our daughter's 2nd grade class made their First communion. Everybody else was of a different religion, and participated fully.

And it was a NEAT evolution to see! My mom used to talk about how she'd learned in Catholic school that all her non-Catholic friends were going to Limbo or some such place after they died because they weren't Catholic and thus couldn't be admitted into "Heaven." And she said she always felt terrible about that. By the time our kids were in Catholic school, NOBODY taught any such ridiculous thing anymore.

We evolve! YOU were born to it. Your story is literally an inspiration! Many of the rest of us came to it, or it came to us. Whichever the circumstances, it was all about open minds and acceptance, and live-and-let-live. Reminds me of Anita Bryant - who, during the 70s was a raging homophobe, and used her high-profile celebrity status as a singer/actress/entertainer, former Miss America contestant (back when the Miss America thing was still a big deal), and Florida Orange Juice pitchwoman as a platform to condemn gays and the gay lifestyle and advocate against it. She was a devout Christian extremist who became a symbol of intolerance and persecution to the gay community. Almost like a female rush limbaugh because she had such a large public platform and she didn't hesitate to use it. The knuckle-draggers of those times applauded her. But it also aroused enough indignation elsewhere among the public to start boycotts and protests and activism. She got knocked around by life pretty seriously, and it cost her dearly to be so strident. The bad press and publicity soon grew to overwhelming. Eventually it cost her that big Florida Orange Juice endorsement deal, bookings with Bob Hope's USO tours, and other major prime time variety shows and so forth, of the day, and her marriage went belly-up. And years later, it compelled a change of heart. The last thing I remember her quoted as saying, as she stumbled into a growing obscurity on the sidelines was how she'd finally come to realize it's far better, easier, and more sensible just "to live and let live."

We evolve. Well, many of us can, and many do.

And remember, NOBODY'S childhood, no matter how rich, insulated, comfortable, or purportedly stable and secure, is completely "perfect."