Christmas in the New American Century.

This Christmas they
Will raise their glasses
Making merry toasts.
Sit down to dine
With loved ones over
Lovingly prepared roasts.
These crazy old men
Who think nothing
Of sending young men
Off to die.

It seems to me that if we have learned anything over the past 5 years from the Karl Rove playbook, it should be that you attack your opponent's perceived strengths, not weaknesses.  We must unify around the common theme that Bush has made our country weaker.

There must be a total commitment from dems to stick to this theme.  (I know we can't control Lieberman or Biden, but all reasonable dems should be willing to speak the truth on this and stick to the framework.)

My suggested framework below the flip.

Today in his column, David Brooks summed up the conservative view on, well, just about everything, but specifically on the Schiavo issue.  That view is "we're moral, liberals aren't".  He doesn't even believe we're immoral.  He believes we're amoral.

From the article:

'Then, if social conservatives tried to push their moral claims, you'd find liberals accusing them of turning this country into a theocracy - which is an effort to cast all moral arguments beyond the realm of polite conversation.

Once moral argument is abandoned, there are no ethical checks, no universal standards, and everything is left to the convenience and sentiments of the individual survivors.'

I'm not in a red state (obviously), and even though I'm in a very rightwing suburb, I don't interact much with many Bush supporters.  So I don't get to hear what the latest Limbaugh-inspired fantasy rants are.  So when I propose this idea, don't ask "Well why don't you just do it yourself?"  I just simply don't have the access or the cultural knowledge to do it.

Here's the idea:  Somebody create a repository (diary, web site) for effective, rapid responses to the latest rightwing talking points.

Hi all,

Just a quick entry to point out that MSM is not a good way to frame the problem with media.  If we complain about "Mainstream Media" then we are positioning ourselves outside of or opposed to the mainstream.  If we complain about corporate media then we are using a good frame that demonstrates exactly what we are complaining about and putting ourselves on the side of the populace.  If you want a handy acronym and CM doesn't do it for you, use CCM (for corporate-controlled media).

I thought this up for our local democratic party, but I think these themes might resonate nationwide, so I thought I would post here.  My thinking is that if we can get these themes out now, when the elections roll around it's easier to explain our positions on issues by fitting them into the broader themes that democrats believe in.  

I have organized it as a "flyer" that people could easily print out and distribute.