It is time to stop "admiring the problem" of successful Republican attacks. It is time to devise a strategy that combines the Democratic Party's worthy instincts to engage on the issues with a hard-nosed and effective strategy to belittle the opposition. The strategy: Ridicule and belittle on the issues.

Here's my take on how to do it:

1) Attack McCain, not Palin.

2) Turn "maverick" into "reckless" with "bomb bomb Iran" and matched quotes on the importance of experience-- pre- and post-Palin's selection.

3) Deride McCain as unprincipled (this has the additional benefit of making him so mad the top of his head will blow off). Specifically, demonstrate that he has repudiated the central principle of his life: thou shalt not torture.

4) Ridicule how it is impossible to "turn the page" or "change Washington" when the same party is being returned to power.

Ridicule. Belittle. But do it on the substantive points above.

Editorial Notebook

Lives of the Party

Francis X. Clines

"One young woman approached the stage uninvited and unfurled a sign that read: "Be Pro-life -- Stop the war." Ms Schlafly grabbed the microphone from the intruder. She was escorted to an exit.

"Sarah Palin, a woman, obviously doesn't let others define who she is. She demonstrated that last night.

Were she not a Republican, she'd be considered a strong feminist."

If you can demonstrate that Sarah Palin actually wrote that speech, you might be on to something. Your problem is that the speech was written long before Palin was nominated. There were only minor adjustments made in deference to her gender and history.

A "strong feminist", on the other hand, wouldn't accept being a mere sock puppet for the GOP speechwriter's union.

From that perspective, she's closer to G W Bush than McCain but McCain has recently fallen into the same mold...because he wants to be President and is willing to sell his soul to acheive that objective.

Buy cardboard.

RWA is a personality type that fuels the R party. As I'm sure you are well aware. Somehow Democratic spokesman need to tackle this greased pig. It seems that naming and describing the participants (basically proto-fascist followers) can only help the defeat them.

For those not familiar the book is

Conservatives without a conscience, John Dean

Wherein he takes several decades of solid and verified research and demonstrates that this mean, irrational, fearful, hypocritical, and non-reflective personality type is what drives and indeed characterizes modern Republican partisans.

There are also the leaders who seek social domination as a need and goal at any cost.

Democrats ignore knowledge of evil at your own peril.

The Mother of All Lies

"I watched all the speeches last night -- Romney, Huckabee, Guilliani, and Palin. They stretched the truth in many places, and took their share of cheap shots, but the Lie Above All Lies that every single one of them repeated, is that the GOP believes in small government."

I totally agree with this statement! I am so tired of Republicans claiming and believing that they are "small government". How can you call your policies and ideaologies "small government" when you want to control and enforce a non Pro Choice upon women in this country? If you believe in "small government" then you should respect those who wish to live their lives without government telling them how to choose, what to choose and the repercussions of your choices religiously! They base their ideology on Judeo Christian principles only and blow off the rest of the sector. How is that "small government"?? They are NOT about "small government" in any way! Well, unless you want to own a gun, they'll let you do that and not interfere in your decision, "because that's your right and your choice man." To me there is so little choice offered if any in the Republican campaign! It's their way or the highway for the rest of us...

I was disgusted by the meanness of the RNC again last night and if voters allow it to go to hell AGAIN by electing this horrific (their tactics do seem a bit "un-christianlike" don't they?) duo as our leaders, we have let ourselves down as a nation. I am now really looking forward to the debates.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTclUmYQMYQ

Inside USA - Buffalo blues - 14 June 08 Part 1

It's worth taking a look at that clip, of on-the-ground day-to-day conditions in Buffalo NY, and then taking a look at the US media coverage - left, right, corporate, whatever.

Notice, first of all, that the jounrnalist is not interviewing some "expert" or other talking head in a studio setting. The jounralist is traveling around, going to people's businesses and homes, and getting the story in a friendly and non-confrontational manner.

In contrast, CNN, FOX and Democracy Now all put a premium on the studio format. Whenever the show goes on the road, the coverage is typically sensationalist style - hurricane chasers. There is never any in-depth background or mention of the past. No setting of the stage is allowed.

That's why pundits and politicians can get away with saying one thing one day, and another thing the other day, because our lackluster press won't call them on it. You have to go watch the Daily Show to see that in action - Lieberman kissing Obama's feet one day, and attacking him the next; Bill O'Reilly defending teen pregnancy in one case and attacking the irresponsible parents in the other, some bubblehead spewing the latest talking points for McCain, etc.

Any country or nation that gladly tolerates such blatant hypocrisy is doomed to corruption, decay and ruin.

Just ask Edgar Allen Poe.

"The Fall of the House of Usher"

"DURING the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. I know not how it was; but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit. I say insufferable; for the feeling was unrelieved by any of that half-pleasurable, because poetic, sentiment, with which the mind usually receives even the sternest natural images of the desolate or terrible. I looked upon the scene before me—upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain—upon the bleak walls—upon the vacant eye-like windows—upon a few rank sedges—and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees—with an utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly than to the after-dream of the reveler upon opium—the bitter lapse into every-day life—the hideous dropping off of the veil..."

"...I scanned more narrowly the real aspect of the building. Its principal feature seemed to be that of an excessive antiquity. The discoloration of ages had been great. Minute fungi overspread the whole exterior, hanging in a fine, tangled web-work from the eaves. Yet all this was apart from any extraordinary dilapidation. No portion of the masonry had fallen; and there appeared to be a wild inconsistency between its still perfect adaptation of parts, and the crumbling condition of the individual stones. In this there was much that reminded me of the specious totality of old woodwork which has rotted for years in some neglected vault, with no disturbance from the breath of the external air. Beyond this indication of extensive decay, however, the fabric gave little token of instability. Perhaps the eye of a scrutinizing observer might have discovered a barely perceptible fissure, which, extending from the roof of the building in front, made its way down the wall in a zigzag direction, until it became lost in the sullen waters of the tarn."

The Fall of the House of Bush...