Crunch the numbers however you will; the problem we face is not just a problem with the Right, or within our own ranks on the Left. America has some learning to do before it realizes just how badly it's been deceived.

I think Matt is quite correct. The screws will have to be tightened a bit before a major shift back occurs. More populist candidates on our part would help, but our victories always seem to hinge more on the gross republi-con incompetence we've seen since Nixon.

Our democracy does not function well with wealth and power concentrated as it has again become. There is a massive social upheaval looming in the near future. Either that, or we'll need to increase prison capacity to 30 million for social control rather than the 6 million we have now have, and which is so symptomatic of the the problem.

They control the media, they control the electronic voting devices, they control the agenda and they control several crucial corrupt secretaries of state and still BARELY won.
Regime change is very,very do-able.

Regime change is very,very do-able.

Probably even more so after the idiot son starts to push the uber-conservative judges the republi-cons block, social security reform, and nominates an evangelical supreme.

Great post YR. It is true that many long term demographics such as race, ethnicity and educational-occupational trends will help bring about the end of this pathetic fear based reactionary coalition. But we can't just wait for the 'numbers' to bring us victory, we have to engage people on issues that concern them.
Consider how Rove went after hispanics with enough success to take New Mexico and impact other states as well.

We also need to run smarter campaigns.

Just after the Kerry-Edwards convention there were briefly two Edwards commercials shown here in the Carolinas praising the merits of Kerry. They were brilliant, use Rdward's charisma and easy on the ear speaking style (and southern accent)to frame the debate on terms favorable to the Democrats. The 'unstoppable' Bush lead had fallen to single didgets in SC and was down to the margin of error in more Democratic NC. Then August hit and the whole Boston 'brain trust' had their infamous attack of dumbitus and not only stopped using these effective commercials, they didn't respond to the swift boat attacks.
Again and again we see that if you don't frame the issues the other side will. And they will always go negitive, what else do they have?

Thanks again for the post and keep up the good fight. America needs us, it just doesn't know how much yet.

there is not now ..nor has there ever been any "mandate" for bush..he was not elected in 2000..al gore was..bush was appointed by a crooked supreme court that had no legal basis to hear the case..it was stolen by a group of criminals...the day before 9/11 bush was mired in a failed presidency..then 9/11 occured which if bush ..and others..had been doing their jobs might have been prevented...but instead they used it to instill fear in the american people in a truly despicable manner..and used it to illegally invade a country for its oil...thats not a mandate..it's theft by a group of amoral greedy bastards who care for no one...bush has been a failure his whole life..he is a failure now..and for anyone paying attention iraq is a failure of historical proportions ..as are many of his policies here at home..this will be his legacy..the people will wake up..i just hope it's soon

One thing Republicans do well is demonize Dems. We should have won in 2000 and 2004 but the conservative lie machine have managed to characterize two strong candidates as weak and everything liberal as evil. We tend to personalize the contests, with some reason, as Bush v. Gore or Bush v Kerry. It's really our ramshackle political machine v. their carefully constructed propaganda ediface. There doesn't seem to be anyway to defeat it. Major cogs in their party get caught cheating, stealing, gambling and taking drugs and they're somehow still able to present themselves as the party of morals. Knowing how competant and professional are Gore and Kerry how is it possible a screwup like Bush is president? They hate us more than they do Al Qaeda.

Well said Dennis.

This Country has been ruled by fear far too long by the likes of Wolfowitz, Perle, Rumsfeld, and Cheney. These people are not knew on the scene, for they have been promoting fear for years behind the scenes. WMD has been used over and over again for decades. Remember how the Soviet Union were going to nuke us with their WMD? Then Iraq was going to kill us with their WMD. Now Al Qaeda is going to kill us with WMD. Fear is the greatest tool to control masses of people, and this Administration has done it better than anyone.

I mean "new on the scene".

Hey Judith- I have news for you (in case you were not alive during the 50's and 60's). The Soviet Union had WMD and certainly could have used them if we did not have WMD to deter them. Your post suggests that the nuclear threat was immaginary. This is the problem with the Democratic Party. You folks are so hell-bent on creating entitlements and redistributing income that you refuse to acknowledge that there are bad people out there who really want to destroy our way of life. Sometimes military action is vital and jumps ahead of the need for social programs.

who the hell is talking about creating entitlements??????? i'm talking about invading a country under false pretenses and killing perhaps 100,000 innocent people...the iraqi people did nothing to us...nor did saddam hussein that we can prove...saddam husseins threat to us was that he did desire to control the flow of oil in the middle east..that's what kuwait was about...didn't have a damn thing to do with wmd..we made all that crap up to falsify the invasion...as for nuclear weapons..as far as i know the only people that have ever dropped an atomic bomb on anybody was...guess who...i'm no bleeding heart..and there are things worth fighting and dying for ...but this group of neocons ..all chickenshit bastards...with their grand vision for the world isn't one of them...and shame on anyone who backs them..may they all rot in hell

The Soviet Union had WMD and certainly could have used them if we did not have WMD to deter them..

And the facts support that republi-cons blew it all out of proportion...and used fear to control public opinion for years, and spent assloads of money to overcome the threat by a factor of hundreds to one.

Right on Phidipides. Yeah, it was called the Cold War. As Thom Hartmann claims, it worked for decades. This Country is taught to always fear something.

And the facts support that republi-cons blew it all out of proportion...and used fear to control public opinion for years, and spent assloads of money to overcome the threat by a factor of hundreds to one.

Fear was watching Russians place nuclear warheads in Cuba thanks to JFK's failed attempt to overthrow Castro.

Chevy: The Bay of Pigs was origionally an Eisenhower administration plan that was carried over. And why did Cuba become communist?
Because of the colassal blindness of the pro-Batista elete. The one time WMD's were an immediate threat to the U.S. during the Cuban missile crises president Kennedy dealt effectivily with it without turning it into a political issue to scare people. What a contrast to your beloved Bush who only understands fear and cannot deal with complexity.