Be Prepared
When the Tea Party first emerged, I was puzzled by their very existence. Before the movement was co-opted by the Big Money Republican Machine (TM), I couldn't figure out why a group of mostly blue-collar, working class voters would find themselves pissed at the Democrats. I know, I know, some Democrats have gone over to the dark side with regard to corporate influence, but for the Average Joe, how could you be opposed to the party of FDR?
Mostly it was because they were lied to, and when you're predisposed to being pissed off, it's easy to accept comforting lies that reaffirm your sense of being aggrieved. And so immigration became the reason why your textile mill closed, and your inability to afford college for your kid was somehow connected to gay marriage. And dammit, somebody out there is going to take away my gun. As so a lot of voters who had historically been part of the Democratic coalition found themselves voting for Romney -- who is frankly the poster boy for the REAL cause of what ails them.
Now Republicans are starting to splinter. Bill Kristol is saying that raising taxes on the wealthy wouldn't be so bad. John Boehner says that Obamacare is "the law of the land" and Bobby Jindal is saying that Republicans have to stop being the guardians of the One Percent. While it's going to be fun to watch, we need to be prepared.
Not because they're going to co-opt our message, but because we now have an opportunity to start a dialogue with some erstwhile Republicans. Once their eyes are opened by their party leaders, we have an opening to win many of these former lunch-bucket Democrats back to the fold. Once they realize that abortion and gay rights have ZERO effect on their personal interests, we're halfway toward driving a stake into the heart of the Republican Party.
I saw we make the best of this chance.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Bye! Bye!You get a double tombstone award 
Way to piss them off
