...I know nothing about Gallups methods, nor did I see the numbers, but from where I sit in my benighted little corner of Eastern Tennessee, I think the map might just be a tad generous to the Dems.

And Oklahoma?? Deep Blue, also?? Wow. I find that one hard to swallow. Any Okies care to weigh in?

Eeeuw!

I am so embarassed to be from Texas!! This is why I always say I am Texan by birth, not by conviction. What a chauvinist dinasaur! Marriage to him? Sure - if it involves leather, whips, and a rhino stun gun!

----

Don't foget the size 48 Baby-Doll nighty and a great big strap-on...

...in a straitjacket.

Two posters have already mentioned that the best thing the GOP has going for them is Marketing Skills.

These are business people (or at least the jocks who majored in "Management" or "Marketing" in college.)

They do marketing better than anyone. Of course, that's what you HAVE to do if your goal is to amass as much power as possible without doing any actual work.

The GOP and their supporters have very deep pockets. Be prepared for a veritable tsunami of PR bullshit aimed squarely at the American lizard brain. It's coming, and it has a very good chance of working.

Advertising aimed at the lizard brain acts below the sub-concious, hence the danger. One must have an unusual degree of awareness and be extremely secure in themselves to resist. (Ignoring the TV is a good place to start.) Unfortunately, that does not include most Americans. All one has to do is look at the millions who have eaten themselves stupid while becoming enslaved by debt.

I know progressives don't do marketing. Like all sentient creatures, they find the concept repellant. But it is necessary.

Please, devote more time to this idea. This is where the battle will be fought. Their think-tanks are already in over-drive. Will ours be ready?

Thank you for your contributions.

To the rest of you, they warrant a second look. Would that we see such heart in "mainstream" Christianity in this country.

Sure, let's spend.

One needs wealth to spend.

Debt is not wealth.

This is what I have always hoped for.

Let's be realistic, here-

People are going to always fight for their particular truth. That is an earmark of a healthy society. More speech, not censorship, blah-blah-blah. People just don't change their minds that easily.

So, that being said, why on earth would someone deliberately refuse an opportunity to work with people who share similar goals, just because they don't think the most helpful solution to the problems of unwanted pregnancies is to outlaw abortion?

It is a rare person, indeed, who does not want to see abortions reduced. That's why it kills me to hear anti-choice foamers referring to pro-choicers as "Pro-Abortion" or worse, "Pro-Death." Good way to win friends and influence people, there.

At the end of the day, it's very hard to make the claim that outlawing abortion will eliminate it, or that outlawing it won't spin off a whole new set of creative tragedies and misfortunes for women and children- especially those who are poor.

Of course, it seems to follow that the most sensible thing to do is to find ways of preventing unwanted pregnancies in the first place. Naturally, that is a whole other can of worms, but the data is clear. Early sex education, and access to contraception are key. It doesn't hurt to also encourage abstinance, but that doesn't stand so well on it's own.

I am ardently Pro-Choice. I wish to see abortion remain safe, legal, and rare.

You mean to tell me that WJC showed up, they all didn't leap out of their chairs, point at him an shout, "There he is!! This is all HIS fault! Get a rope!"

Or whatever they do in Switzerland. I dunno... maybe press him between two 500kg wheels of Gruyere? Somebody help me out here.

...and document and save everything they do and say.

The people writing Democratic campaign ads are going to have the easiest season ever. Just playing clips of these idiots drooling in their own words will be more than enough to get the message out.

"Bush 43's ... other primal characteristics were constantly on display: swagger, taunting/provoking enemies for a fight, put-downs, anger, declaring war and thoroughly enjoying his authorization of torture."

I think most Freudians would see that as a reliable indicator of TeenyWeenyPeeny syndrome. That would certainly go a long way to explaining why WJC was so reviled.

My sister, and her other Capital-land friends always made a point of referring to DCA as "bzzt-bzzt National Airport"

More Near-Death experiences!

---------------------

"Perhaps it is just an atavistic instinct to survive, but when you're hurt, you become more compassionate. All too often, prosperity and contentment anesthetize and atomize us."

And isn't that the whole idea behind civilization -- to be civil and civilized?

--

Well yes, but that's not the United states, where we're all Rugged IndividualistsTM and civility is for pussies and leftists.

Here, let me fix that for you...

----------

Let's make work

The government should hire everyone who doesn't have a job, give them each a shovel, and pay them to dig holes...

...that are deep enough for New Deal Revisionists to stand in up to their necks...

...and then fill them back up.

Let the creative juices flow. Who wants to propose the perfect Roald Dahl treatment for Rush and Palin?

-------------

"Willy Wonka and (the Great, Crass?) Palimbaugh

Further (and different) thought, as seeing images of Palin and Limbaugh bring Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to mind: I can easily imagine Limbaugh and Palin both morphing into grotesque, "spoiled" children... "

h/t Patrick McEvoy-Halston

Suppose you were to yank his cowlick upward, and vigorously thrum your fingers up and down his neck...

...would it make the same sound as Beaky the Buzzard when Bugs did the same to him?