I have run into 3 proud Republicans in the last week.

[IdaBriggs]

One was my local township secretary, another was a guy trying to get me to pick a company to supply my gas, and the third was the guy who shampoo'd my carpeting.

All three are proud to be Republicans. All three are unhappy with what is going on in Washington. All three are looking forward to picking the next President.

The carpet shampoo guy and I had a nice discussion where I pointed out that what he *thinks* Republicans stand for *isn't* what Republicans stand for. The Democrats apparently do a bad job of marketing their ideas, because by the end of the discussion, he was wavering. His biggest problem was that he considered himself to be a Republican during "the Reagan Years" when Mr. Nice Guy made being a Republican sound...respectable. He isn't a very well informed person, but I loaned him my copy of Fahrenheit 911, and we'll see.

HRC is absolutely guaranteed to get all of them to vote Republican, by the way. They hate her.

So, there is my anecdotal "we're screwed" information. They aren't happy, but they don't see the Democrats as a legitimate alternative. Or competent. Or ... anything but useless.

Its not a case of reality, folks. Its marketing. And we have some of the worst in the business. Sigh.

[havocmom]

1. Yep. Same experiences, twenty fold per month where I live.

Highly GOP area. People FURIOUS with the shit that has gone down. The realize their party left them and doesn't give a damn about America, but they hate HRC and will vote GOP if she is DEM nominee, no matter WHO the GOP nominates.

They want to know what the DEMS want to accomplish, clearly stated. They aren't getting that information, mostly due to corporate owned media, but the DEMs need to get out there and take some serious action against bush/cheney.

[beberocks]

2. Don't kid yourself, they'll find a way to oppose whomever the Dem candidate is.

All the repukes I've met are against any dem. They'll say they can't vote for Obama because they think he is muslim (not true, but that's what the right-wing smear machine tells them), John Edwards because he was a trial lawyer, etc, etc. The only solution is to keep the focus on the most important issues--Iraq war and economy IMO--and how the candidates are going to handle those issues. In any match up, the repukes will fail because they're all embracing B*'s policies.

[Hamlette]

10. exactly right beberocks. They say about HRC exactly what they said about Gore and Dean and Kerry.

Not only that, I (and many here on this very site) trash dems on a regular basis but there is no way in hell I would vote for any republican.

Don't waste your time trying to convert anyone. We do an excellent job of "selling" ourselves. Politics has become like religion, you just don't change your world view.

All this "HRC is polarizing and can't win" is tripe from the right to get us to nominate someone else. If HRC is polarizing why is that? Remember Bill left office with a near 70% approval rating, which he enjoyed during impeachment. The same 24-30% flat earthers who love Bush hated Clinton. That's not polarizing, that's politics. No wonder they are scared of her, she's got their arch enemy in her corner.

[blm]

3. My dear Ms.Briggs....why do you think GOP cronies bought control of broadcast media

throughout the 80s and 90s?

It wasn't so Democrats could prevail.

Was Gore's defense against the lies told about him ALLOWED to be aired?

Were Kerry's counters to the swiftsmears and Bush's lies ALLOWED to be aired?

Campaigns are created in newsroom editing rooms.

Here is what people hear when newsrooms get into the act:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk1k0nUWEQg

When does TRUTH ever matter? The truth gets the barest coverage while the lies and smears get a WALL OF NOISE.

[Aviation Pro]

4. This is true....

An overwhelming number of the leadership of jerkoff RepubliCON come from the ranks of the greatest liars in America, the ad business. These people are professional liars who are trained to program our brains with the vomitus they spew in print and media ads. One of the reasons why I cut TV out of my life is so my kids would not be brainwashed by this scum.

Democrats have sound ideas, but have difficulty conveying them. RepubliCONS have no ideas and make stuff up out of whole cloth. Why do you think they want Americans fat, stupid and happy?

[harun]

5. You could probably swing some of those people to

Edwards or Obama.

The republican propaganda is much better than the information Dem's try to get out. I think the amount of propaganda pushed out by outlets like Fox news is actually working against the repug's now though. A few former kool-aid drinkers are waking up. It isn't a lot but it is enough to swing a few people. They looked in the mirror at what the soul of the repugs is and know they don't want to be a part of it.

I think the marketing fixes are not that hard to make but I don't see it happening. They need to take a REAL stand on being against for profit Health Insurers. Not the HRC stand but the DK stand like with H.R.676. Making it clear they are getting rid of for profit Health Insurers, not for profit drug companies, things like that, most people don't see the difference.

[beberocks]

6. Remember that fewer and fewer people identify themselves as repukes.

Last I saw, the number of registered repukes is in the mid-twenties, and about 30% say they are dems. Most independents lean towards dem too. The only way repukes can win an election (besides rigging the polls) is if everyone else doesn't vote.

[NewJeffCT]

7. Same thing in 2004

I knew a lot of Republicans who strongly disapproved of Bush. I even knew one guy in the summer of 2004 that was telling everybody he knew to vote for Kerry.

However, he ended up holding his nose and voting for Bush because Rove and everybody else so effectively demonized Kerry that they thought of Bush as the lesser of two evils.

So, unless the eventual Democratic nominee actually goes out there and fights back effectively - unlike Gore in 2000 and Kerry in 2004 - the same thing will happen all over again.

[Skarbrowe]

8. I've tried to stay away from the Republicans hating HRC debate, but

I have to tell this story. I started staying the hell away from Republicans after 2004. I only had one old man that I would see in person and he was 89 years old and I just couldn't pick a fight with him anymore. heh Well, he has passed now and the only one that was left that gave me any heartburn was my step-brother that I only spoke to in e-mails. They stopped coming more than a year ago.

Anyway, my step-brother is a die-hard Republican. After the 2000 theft, which is obviously not what he called it, his e-mails would always throw Hillary Clinton in my face. Something like, "You're just being silly and you're a Hillary Clinton lover. This was right after she got her Senate seat. He was convinced THEN that she would run for President. Maybe a lot of people saw that coming. I have to admit that I didn't. The people he hangs around with dislike Hillary as much as we dislike Bush. Maybe more.

Like I said, I haven't talk to him since long before Hillary started actually running for President because it had gotten that bad between us. I've lost several family members over that 2000 fiasco. They are all religious people and I'm not, so, it's for the best. Point being, I know many people who will vote against Hillary. Most of them would probably vote against any Democratic candidate. All I can say is that the hatred for Hillary is palpable. It does worry me, but I have nothing major against her as a candidate and I will vote Democrat regardless.

[Ian David]

9. Tell them, "I am a Republican, and Ron Paul is the only candidate, from who makes any sense."

Make sure you tell every Republican you meet that you think Ron Paul is BRILLIANT!

Just so long as they don't know that you're a Democrat.

Repeat after me, and practice saying this in front of a mirror:

"I am a Republican, and Ron Paul is the only candidate, from either party, who makes any sense."

Say it again, until you can do it with a straight face:

"I am a Republican, and Ron Paul is the only candidate, from either party, who makes any sense."

Now again, this time, try and sound ernest and sincere:

"I am a Republican, and Ron Paul is the only candidate, from either party, who makes any sense."

Now, work on a 30-second "Elevator Speech" to explain to Republican strangers (who don't know you're a Democrat) why they should throw all their time and money behind electing Ron Paul, and why doing so is NOT futile.

Of course, it's all bullshit.

But you did NOT hear me say that.

Embrace Your Paultard Neighbors!

[RufusEarl]

11. When you control the media, you control the message!

That, and people only hear what they want to hear!


Peace!