The Dems and MoveOn should marginalize the bullying white male voter ...

[Onlooker]

The right lies, distorts, uses manipulative advertising, uses tax money for partisan purposes, bullies and shouts over everyone else, and regularly resorts to name calling. Compared with the right, the Democrats are civil, good government types. They seldom raise their voices, rarely call people names, and run far fewer negative ads than their opponents.

Yet, the sad thing is: Our method doesn't work. Our method attracts a lot of people, but it fails to win the attention of voters who don't care about politics and fails to overcome the barrage of insults and taunts that entertain the masses.

The biggest weakness that the right has is all their faces are white mean-faced men. They have a token black and a token woman, but that's not who they are. They're Limbaugh, Hannity, Robertson, Falwell, Zell Miller, and people like that. They're the Swift Boat Vets. They're Rupert Murdoch's sleazy media empire. They're Freepers.

A campaign that challenged the bullying white male would appeal to an enormous number of people, and not just people who feel bullied. It would remind people that compassionate conservativism is an oxymoron, and remind them of how much civility has been lost. If we called them bullies, they would have a hard time fighting back. If they bullied, they'd prove the point; if they calmed down, they'd have conceded the point.

What if there was a long ad with 15 soundbites of their insults and rudeness, with the message, "The Republicans are trying to bully people. Ask them to stop."

[Prodemsouth]

1. "Ask them to stop"- might as well say it with a lisp- will only reinforce

the meme - Dems are a bunch of sissies. Fighting back and pointing out they are bullies but cowards also is the only way to go.

[Onlooker]

6. But I think a lot of people are bullied by them

I think there's a good amount of peer pressure among white males that if you're not a Republican, you're a "gurly-man." By going after the bullies, the Democrats could liberate a lot of people.

[LoZoccolo]

8. And standing up to that is the responsibility of all of us when it arises.

Having this "make it stop" thing isn't even a stand.

[Onlooker]

9. Of course stand up to them

But, part of standing up to them is to expose their tactics.

[Prodemsouth]

12. Let me ask you this question, since we seem to going back to those good

ole school days here. Anytime you remember a bully from school - how were they defeated? The ones I remember got their ass kicked- or were humiliated by a wise ass kid who could also fight decent. Al Franken was like the wise ass kid. When I was in fourth grade, a big overbearing bully was in the same class. One day a new kid comes and pulls his pants down in front of the whole class, after he made a smart remark to the new kid. Everyone in class laughed. The bully was quite the rest of the year. I thought about that kid when I read Rush is a Fat Idiot He used a same tactic to challenge some idiot from GOP think tank to fight when he said Democrats have "feminized" the country. "Teacher make Billy stop" was never effective and that kid was a sissy forever.

On edit: Btw, making this a racial and sexual issue is asking for a sure fire failure. Take on the bullies as individuals. Ever heard of Ann Coulter, Alan Keyes.

[Catt03]

2. I agree

The Republicans are appealing to the angry white males, regardless of their economic status.

A referenced example is the thread that was on DU last night, about the middle of PA and why they would vote for Bush, without jobs, education, little economic support. The bravado illustrated by Bush makes them feel good about themselves. Angry white men can be men again and damn the consequences.

I disagree with one point though: I do not believe they can be marginalized. I think they have to be exposed and eliminated. (sarcasm)

[roseBudd]

3. That is why WE THE PEOPLE must use guerilla marketing

Go here:
http://somnamblst.tripod.com/index.html

to download the 300 DPI TIF file for printing and distributing.

[Toots]

5. I love your flip flop image....May I use it?

I like to change my sig picture now and then and I really like yours. Could I use it as well?

[roseBudd]

7. Yes, but print it also and put it where people will see it

It is copyright free, feel free to modify the quotes and supporting facts

[Branjor]

4. I would settle for marginalized....... n/t

[alcuno]

10. I have a theory. I'll call it the "hunted white American male."

It's my only way of understanding the conduct of the majority of white males who vote in this country. THEY ARE FEELING HUNTED. That's how I explain the hysteria that they have been driven to.

Women have always felt that there is a day to day threat to them. It exists and we deal with it; it's that feeling that you get when you're in a grocery store parking lot at night. Abusers, rapists, serial killers; all have preyed upon women.

There's no doubt that African-Americans in this country were hunted, as well as Native Americans.

Now we get to the white American male.

[Onlooker]

11. That may have been what started this

When women's rights came along, they felt marginalized and fought back in a big way. Now they have a pack mentality, and many of them are really afraid to break from the pack.

[alcuno]

14. I think it's more than that; they see themselves as hunted.

There were other issues connected with women's rights and the response of white American males. This seems to have pushed many of them over the edge of rationality; driven them to paranoia.

Look at how crazed Ann Coulter appears. She is a woman acting completely out of character for a woman. However, if Ann was a man, her conduct would be keeping in line with the hysterical white men currently in charge.

[meow2u3]

13. Let's try this to expose the right-wing bullies

I agree with the sound bite idea, but let's say we put out 3 commercials with 5 bites each of the insults and character assassinations, with the message: "Republicans have gotten away with bullying us for too long. Isn't it time Americans fought back?" or "The Republicans are trying to bully us into keeping them in power. It's time for us to put them in their place."

[cosmicvortex20]

15. I dont agree.

You can of course sterotype this, but I think forcing race into this just makes the people doing it look just as prejudice as their people they are supposedly fighting.

Im a white male and you can be sure I wont be voting right in the election and I really take offence to the inclusion of "white male" into your scenario as the "evil" component.

Why cant you just attack their ideas? Why not just attack bullies? No, you have to be prejudice and sexist about it.