There is nothing I hate worse than a politician wearing a T shirt over a button down. Bipartisan bad taste.

If these people still can't accept the war in Iraq was a mistake, I doubt one or two election cycle losses is going to sink in. That's the world they live in: business. So of course everything is about marketing. To be fair, I think that map of the red states is overly generous to the dems. I live in the bible belt and I think you guys are underestimating thier chances. All it takes is one well placed distraction issue or Obama failure to deliver on the economy and they are back in the saddle with voters. Our win this time around was not a long term guarantee. Rush still ownes many ears out here.

We need to take this threat seroiusly and stop pretending they are out of power for good now. Remember, Obama still only one by 52% despite the past eight years of abject failure on the part of the GOP. That's some staying power.

and I don't know why, or what synapses are firing, but in the Reagan years there was a lot of talk about "Reagan Democrats", peevish little cross-over Me Generation putzes who dressed in a similar way. The trauma of it forced the memory from my mind until now. Reagan was very effective at keeping the Reagan Dems in the fold, fat and happy, for eight years (12 if you count Bush 41, but we don't, do we?).

Which brings me to my point, that there must be millions of Obama Republicans out there. How do we find 'em, harness them, and learn about their care and feeding? Or do they just eat their own young, like the rest of their tribe? Maybe they don't look like such dorks, making them harder to spot. Anyway, like it or not, Demorcrats, we need 'em.

Who are the Obama Republicans?

The Lemming Conspiracy is launched.

Against the broad national will the weepublicans will froth and grumble against the dawning of the light, aided and abetted by the most vicious, cynical, and ignorant among the press and the far too many of our fellow citizens who are unaware which orifice is for speechand the other for evacuation.

The promise of the return of what we have just experienced, eight years of utter ineptitude, thievery, and attacks on the constitution, should really play well. Don't you think?

winning such Democratic strongholds as North Carolina, Virginia and Indiana.

Republican strongholds

Voters are a fickle bunch.

On one hand they idolize a president or party unconditionally. On the other hand should that person make a simple mistake, they pounce on him and destroy him, throwing their weight behind the opposition while forgetting its mistakes and crimes.

The GOP knows this well.

That is why it refuses to change its tactics to suit the mood.

They know that voters have short memories and will forget and forgive GOP's crimes if Obama slips a little.

Their target is 2010 and 2012.

And they are bound to capture presidency and the House because:

1) The Dems are STILL playing defense. They never will go on offensive even when they have overwhelming majority because all of them are cowards.

2) The GOP supporters have deep pockets and are the super-rich, This is far better than the $10 supporters of Obama, many of whom have lost their jobs now.

So, in short to keep the majority the Dems have to:

1) Start destroying GOP one man at a time. Starting from top: Force Cheney to testify in House and convict him if necessary.

2) Pursue every rich supporter of GOP for tax violations.

Unfortunately, Dems are stupid and dumb.

Which is why they will lose in 2010 and 2012.

Try reading that line sarcastically.

I can't use your article for students when you write such sarcastic lines! High school students might get confused!

How long did it take for Republicans to recover from the stigma of Hoover and what most people saw as his depression?

How long did it take Britain's Tories to recover from Blair (they haven't yet)?

How long will it take Republicans to recover from Bush's multiple disasters (as they truly are)?

The answer is at least two election cycles. The 2010 election is the Democrats unless they try anything serious with gun control, which is the only major talking point the Republicans have left after Bush's unprincipled reign threw out everything the GOP used to claim it stood for. The 2012 election is Obama's, because if the economy is still not back to normal, it will still be Bush's and the GOP's disaster, and if it is back to normal, it will be from Obama's efforts. But 2012 isn't a sure thing for Democrats in Congress, only Obama.

2014, now that is where the Democrats have the first real chance of screwing up big time. If Obama is feeling cocky and doesn't care about re-election, he may go crazy with gun control and bring the GOP back to life. It will also be six years since Bush, and time for memories to start fading, unless the economy is still in the tank and can be clearly blamed on GOP obstructionism.

for Bill Clinton's success as president is that his chief critics came to be perceived as odious. Remember Newt Gingrich and Ken Starr?

A conceited, thin-skinned blowhard like Rush Limbaugh is a wonderful foil for President Obama.

TARP passed despite popular majority sentiment against it; given the mind-blowing amounts of pork and useless spending in the new plan, combined with the massive doubt as to whether it will work or not, plus the fact it'll go through despite their votes against it, why would they vote FOR it? Even as Obama decries the failures of TARP, in specific, the fraud of taxpayer money going to 'shameful' bonuses for the very people who drove their companies into bankruptcy? I told my congresspeople that I would vote against them if they voted for (the then-unnamed) TARP, and I did. Perhaps the rest of the repubs are getting the message? It's their only recourse.