Frankly, I don't know anything except what they tell me on the tee-vee.

Which is worst? Republican cravenness? Democratic timidity? Or public ignorance and indifference?

"Two, they're the party that's expected to do extremely well in November"

Americans are the dumbest fucking people on the planet.

The problem is clearly that liberals are condescending toward republicans.

agree radiation early

The only way to stop the rape of America by the corporations is to kill corporate personhood, bring back the fairness doctrine, and make all campaigns publicly financed, with free network access.

You want to take the country back, take the money out of the equation.

Republicans are the party of the little people- the little, ridiculously-rich people.

-Z

They'll do well in November because:

The American public is largely mean-spirited. Our entertainment, our humor is in large part based on meanness. The Republicans are mean, they're bullies, and people like that.

The American public has an undying infatuation with the wealthy. I think people in this country are so consumed by the desire to be rich that they'll always support the interests of the wealthy over their own. The super rich are this country's Olympian gods.

I think most Americans are socially conservative, and the corporations who rule this country have played a masterful game of using those beliefs to stoke resentment, hatred and bitterness.

This country suffers from what a friend of mine always called "blue collar snob." Science, education, art, engineering are not prized very highly by a lot of Americans.

I know someone who is a hard-core, right wing conservative. Once she shrugged off the energy crisis with, "When the oil companies want us to have alternative fuels, they'll give them to us. They'll take care of us." Last year at the auto show all she looked at were gigantic svu's. I pointed out that one of them only got 12 miles to the gallon. She screamed at me...right there in McCormick place, "I can use as much gas as I want and you and the government can't tell me I can't." There is no reasoning with these people.

I don't think the GOP will retake the House or Senate in November, but they'll make very big gains because they tap into every unappealing, unpleasant aspect of the American people.

And if they do in fact do well in November, this nation will have the government it deserves. Don't blame the parasites at the top if the ignorant voting public chooses to reward them. All the whining and strategizing in the world won't rectify that level of willful ignorance and stupidity in the electorate. For my part, I hope to escape to civilization for my retirement before it's too late.

I have a brother-in-law who stands to benefit greatly from all the policies that Democrats have tried to move through Congress. He HATES Democrats 'cause they want to help shiftless niggers and illegal aliens. Period.

None of that other stuff matters to him.

"The problem is clearly that liberals are condescending toward republicans."

Yes, exactly. They resent it when we call them ignorant.

I feel very hopeless about this. Does anyone have any good ideas how we can combat the bazillions that are going to be flowing in to support Republicans? They have an amazing con going on--create a dismal economy and destroy the government and reap the benefits!

People gets what they deserve. The American people, who can't even begin to understand to what degree the Republicans ruined this country -will get what they deserve in November.

I'll add one more thing: The Republicans think this is how the country should be run. The Republicans are very happy with the state of the country as it is right now. This is what they've been working toward for generations. They can be the Party of No because you don't need to provide a solution to any situation that you view as acceptable as is.

They've got us right where they want us.

The mission really was accomplished.

You forgot that the GOP has the love of Jesus.

Benen: Two, they're the party that's expected to do extremely well in November, all of these details notwithstanding.

One, I would quibble with "extremely;" we're not near close enough to election day to know that.

Two, for many, many election cycles, the party in power, in this case controlling the administration and both houses of congress, typically loses a significant number of seats in the mid-term election.

This is not a unique situation. People are no more stupid now than they've been for many years. The world is not ending. Get over yourselves and get to work electing Democrats.

Do I have that right?

You left out the bit about global warming being a farce.
And Gore is fat and says he invented the internet...
And Obama is a foreign born socialist...
And...

Thus it has ever been so. "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it -- good and hard." H.L. Mencken, in 1916.

I'll echo jharp.

Americans are some of the dumbest fucking idiots on the planet.

Why couldn't I have been born in France?

The nice thing about the rapid decline of the US is that it will make it less painful to relocate to third-world countries in pursuit of a living wage.

Maybe this is obvious, but:

I was wondering recently how it is that all 41 Senate Republicans could afford to oppose things like unemployment benefits, reasonable campaign finance reform provisions, Wall Street reform, etc.--all, on their face, popular things. It seemed like political suicide.

And then I realized that virtually no Senate Republican faces a meaningful challenge this year. Those that are up for reelection are generally either (a) from extremely red states (AZ, AK, AL, GA, ID, KS, LA, OK, SC, SD, UT) or (b) retiring (FL, OH, MO, KY, NH). The only exceptions are Burr in NC, which generally goes red (blue by a whisker in '08), and Grassley, who's an Iowa institution. For the rest of the Senate GOP caucus, it's unlikely that a bunch of votes in 2009 or 2010 will be a big issue when they run again in two or four years. Maybe the Dems can make an issue of all this obstruction in the NC and IA races, but in most races it's simply not relevant. Ergo, the GOP can vote to torture puppies if it wants to.

What I don't understand is: what about those who are retiring? (LeMieux in FL, Voinovich in OH, Gregg in NH, Bond in MO; forget Bunning in KY, who's none too stable). They're out of there in a few months--what does McConnell have on them that keeps them toeing the line? Losing committee chairmanships isn't an issue for them anymore; maybe they want to run for governor and can't afford to alienate other Republicans, but it seems unlikely for any of those guys. Are they simply true believers? Do they have no consciences at all? It's a mystery to me.

As Mencken said (sort of): "Democracy is the theory that common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."

Nearly every example used to show the extremism of the Republican party--unflinching obstructionism, teabagger craziness, hatred of "others," etc.--can be turned around and shown to be simply another death knell of the party, hunkered- and bunkered-in as their numbers decline, one last hurrah of extremists who have no choice but to win or die.

Now is not the time for Democrats to bitch and moan, to predict doom and destruction. Now is the time to turn and run towards the front, attacking the final remnants of republican barbarism and hatred with every ounce of our beings.

If Democrats can stand strongly and limit losses this November, continue to work together to overcome obstructionists and improve the economy, we have the potential for striking real death blows in 2014, 2016 and 2018.

As Thrax says above, we have already backed them into the reddest of the reddest states and districts. Now is the time to hack away at whatever shades of red that are still left.

Voinovich has been chatting to the press lately about hoping to pass a transportation bill before he retires, and funding it with an increase in the gas tax. What little I've heard sounds not unreasonable and might get Dems on board, but how he hopes to get Republicans to suddenly do something reasonable I have no idea. If they lose in the Fall, they won't be in a frame of mind to cooperate with Dems, and if they win, they'll want to put everything on hold until they hold the chairmanships and can write a bill that uses social security funding to subsidize drilling costs for the oil companies or some such.

Everyone says exactly what I'm also concerned with, so why do I need to add my penny's worth?

1) I'm so glad commentators above are expressing the same thoughts I have.

2) I'm grateful to Steve Benen for stating the seminal point : [T]hey're the party that's expected to do extremely well in November, all of these details notwithstanding.

3) I'm desperate to find the Achilles' heel in the Right's strategy. Where is it?

4) I haven't found it yet.

5) As jhapr, and others, observe: Americans are the dumbest fucking people on the planet.

6) SaintZak's analysis is spot on. In summary: The American public has an undying infatuation with the wealthy.

7) Don't blame the parasites at the top if the ignorant voting public chooses to reward them. All the whining and strategizing in the world won't rectify that level of willful ignorance and stupidity in the electorate. - Don Sinfalta.

8) Can anything be done?

9) At this juncture, probably not.

Conclusion : Short of a sudden, unlikely, miraculous mass awakening, the only thing which will radically rectify this abysmal demise is a catastrophic collapse of the American civilization. In some ways it was a pity the financial crisis was not allowed to run its course in true free-market capitalist style - then a majority of the people would really have tasted the failure of the prevalent right-wing political ethos. Short of that, they'll never see it.

Hi, cr! I love your optimism and enthusiasm. You may be right. I wish I could believe it.

I can't help expressing my despondency. Please forgive me. I'm with you in the fight, but I'm not optimistic.

Goldilocks: Short of a sudden, unlikely, miraculous mass awakening, the only thing which will radically rectify this abysmal demise is a catastrophic collapse of the American civilization.

And the more that the ten percent of voters who call themselves "progressive Democrats" broadcast this, and continue to intentionally encourage Democratic and independent voter apathy, the sooner it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In cr's bizarro world, voters wouldn't notice double-digit unemployment if only DFHs didn't talk about it.

Since the Reagan years, the social security fund has been siphoned off to fund wars, Bush tax cuts for the rich etc, now the republicans want to dismantle this safety net (now that it is full of IOU's in the amount of trillions)they would now like to give our social security future to Wall Street, that should work well.
Now that over 50% of the wealth in this country, and 80% of corporate stocks are owned by the top 2% I think we qualify to be a banana republic.
Good Read - The Social Security Scam
byYashwanth Manjunath

labonne: In cr's bizarro world, voters wouldn't notice double-digit unemployment if only DFHs didn't talk about it.

That's a very untrue and totally ridiculous thing to say. You're really reaching now.

And you should stop calling yourself names; it's not healthy. I'm sure your mother still loves you. (doesn't she?)

(I love you too, Goldilocks. But not in front of the children.)

Exactly the childish response I'd expect from the sort of person whose only bit of political "wisdom" is that if those who notice the Emperor's nakedness would only STFU, all would be well.

Steve LeMaletleVilain: Exactly the childish response I'd expect

So, what are you saying? Your mother doesn't love you? I'm soooo sorry.

Steve, that's not the way it works. As Obama said a while ago, the job of progressives is to keep up the political pressure to make doing the right things possible. When we've got the closest thing we've had for a long time to progress, we should nurture it and grow it, rather than stomping the crap out of it because the progress is too slow. If the emperor is naked but is better than the most likely alternatives, supporters would be ill-advised to lead the jeering and shred his credibility, but would better serve their interests by shielding him from view, handing him some clothes, and persuading him to get dressed.

VOTE FOR THE RICH, VOTE FOR MURDOCH, VOTE REPUBLICAN...

VOTE FOR HIGHER PRICES, VOTE FOR UNPLOYMENT, VOTE REPUBLICAN

VOTE INTOLERANCE, VOTE CLIMATE DESTRUCTION, VOTE REPUBLICAN

The text of the ad...

the images... Are appropriate to the words...

Well, there goes your reputation, N. Wells. Sane, commensense, advice that includes absolutely no disparaging remarks on anyone? That is NO way to maintain your "cred"; or is it "crud", I often get the asperations confused with the results...