Right after the 2004 election, I posted the following on this site:

http://www.democrats.com/node/163

Now, I'll admit, only about half what I posted came to pass, but we did get off our butts, raise a lot of money, and retook congress.

Now, with less than a year to the primaries, I am not happy. One look at the blogs and forums on this site show that we are poorly focused, and badly wasting time and energy.

Let's lok at the past year: The WSJ became an official part of Fox News, Evangelicals are re-energized over a recent vistory against partial birth abortion, Air America is a shadow of what it was in 2004, while Neal Boorts, Michael Savage, Hannity, Rush, and Bill -- not to mention Moody Broadcasting -- use the airwaves to promote the Republican agenda everyday.

Meanwhile, the new Congress can't end the war. Hell, we can't even get rid of Al Gonzalez. ...and what are we doing? We're collecting petition signatures for an impeachment fight that won't stand a chance in the Senate. We're doing analysis that shows that John Kerry really won the 2004 election. What we're not doing is focusing on what we need to do to win.

Back to basics, boys and girls. It's the 2008 version of "No Democrat Left Behind"

 Here is this years Hall of Shame: 

Look well at that list. It's a lot of Republicans.. it's a lot of seats for us to win, but these are, in many cases, the Reddest of the Red States. Meanwhile we have to defend seats in Louisiana, Montana, Arkansas, and South Dakota. If you are looking forward to glorious, easy victory in 2008, you need to put the pipe down, sleep off your high, and get up tomorrow ready to go to work.

Here are my suggestions for 2008:

1. The 50 state strategy works! The fact that W had to visit Nebraska to defend Nebraska 3 shows that any seat is vulnerable. The mor red seats we challenge, the more money they have to raise to defend them. Remember "Media Corps?" Let's get back to the low dollar donation, low cost, grass roots strategies that almost got John Kerry elected and carried the day in November 2006.

2. Take nothing for granted! We have no safe seats. We have no easy road to the White House. We need to focus on getting every vote. However hard you worked in the past two elections to register people and get them to the polls, work that hard and harder this time. The Republicans were humbled for about 5 minutes; now they're back to labeling us as unpatriotic defeatists.

3. We need to get clear on one talking point: When Republicans talk about a Democratic Plan for failure in Iraq, we need to -- without missing a beat-- reply about George W. Bush's Failure in Iraq. You know, if you build a house, and you build that foundation wrong, that house will not stand. George W. Bush built a foundation for war on lies, wishful thinking, and shoddy intelligence. Wishing for victory in Iraq is like wishing that house would stand.. it's a nice wish, but wishing won't fix the house or win the war. No Democrat, from this day on, should fail to mention at every reaonable possibility that the failure in Iraq is George W. Bush's fault. Republicans who support continuing on to an imaginary, undefined "victory" are not facing facts. We can't afford to lose more of our best and bravest because many of the the President's  supporters can't get the heads out of the sand.

4. Don't allow us to get Swift-Boated again, ever! Here are some Repubnlican talking points for which we need a quick, coherent, hard hitting responses. "Have you forgotten 9-11?" "We don't want European health care, we want American health care." "Senator Obama's recent comments on Pakistan show he has no understanding of the war on terror" "Why do you people care so much if a Koran is flushed doen a toilet at Guantanamo, but you won't bat an eyebrow if a Holy Bible is desecrated or a flag is burned?" I could go on, but you get the picture. We are still not patriotic or godly enough, and every voter will have that message drilled into them until we stop it and stop it cold.

5. Republicans = incompetence, corruption, and hypocrisy. Don't let anyone in your district or state forget that a Republican Congress and George W. Bush are responsible for the incompetent handling of Iraq, the incompetent bungling of Katrina, the incompetent handling of veterans at Walter Reed, the incompetent failure to deal with Bin Laden, the hiring of incompetent leaders like Mike Brown, Don Rumsfeld, Porter Goss, and Paul Wolfowitz. Don't let them forget the corruption of Duke Cunningham, Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, Bernard Kerik, and all of those fun loving Bush supporters at Enron. Don't forget the hypocrisy of those who aacted as stalwart members of a party that stood behind family values to cover their own transgressions, like Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Rudy Giuliani, Mark Foley, David Vitter, and McCain Florida campaign chair Bob Allen.

Remind voters at every opportunity that, in 1994, Republicans made a contract with America to be honest and responsive. They've broken that trust.

6. Start attacking Hillary! You heard me. Google to your heart's content. Get out all that old stuff on Vince Foster and WhiteWater and the missing Rose Law Firm Files, and whatever else you know or think the Republicans will throw at us. You know the Republicans will throw all that stuff in her face; let's give her a chance to hone her answers now.

7.  Nothing has changed since 2006; we still do not have the luxury of Republican friends. Michael Bloomberg could be our friend; he quit being a Republican. Joe Liberman could be our friend, but he is trying every ounce of patience I have. However, Susan Collins and Chuck Hagel, although well meaning at times, cannot be our friends. They can become independents, and caucus with us, or we will make every effort possible to crush their candidacies and take their seats. It's that simple.

8. In 2002, we were led by the well meaning, but incompetent, Terry McCauliffe. As a result, we didn't win some seats we really should have won. To that end, Mr. Coleman, Mr. Sununu, and whomever runs for Mr. Allard's seat need to enjoy every grassroots effort we can throw at them. These are seats we can and should win. However, I have a special place in my heart to get rid of one candidate in particular, a candidate who smeared and degraded a decorated war hero for his own personal glorification. I speak, of course, of Mr. Saxby Chambliss. Should you have even a $5 bill and a stamp to spare, send it to whomever is running against this slime, and get him the Hell out of our government.

9. Forget impeachment. It won't happen. Re-direct your efforts to something useful. I have a few immediate suggestions. 1) I walk into a lot of businesses (Sam's Club leaps to mind) that make me watch Fox News while shopping. Start petitining these companies, and tell them you'll do business elsewhere if they don't cease making you watch partisan propaganda. 2) Suggest to your Republican friends that they ought to start a campaign to recall that traitor, Arlen Specter. Let them know you'll help! (turnabout is fair play; remember Grey Davis?) 3) Petition Fox News advertisers; let them know you don't appreciate their support of propaganda. Don't stop with Fox -- let Savage & Boortz's advertisers know how you feel as well. 4) If you know your local Republican Congessman or Senator frequents a favored adult night club, get some video and put it on You-Tube, and last, but not least 5) Re-focus from impeachment to war crimes. Start reminding Republicans that they love accountability, and so we're going to hold Republican leaders accountable for ordering torture and inhumane treatment.

10. Never forget we are at war. We don't like the war in Iraq, but we still owe Iraq  troops and veterans our love, support, our respect, but mostly we owe them the best equipment, great pay & benefits,  veterans benefits and the best medical treatment known to humanity. We need to remember that the war in Afganistan is a whole different subject than the war in Iraq, and that we better damn well have a plan for victory there. We need to remember that if the government in Pakistan falls, a nuclear-armed, Islamic fundamentalist foe will likely emerge, and we need to convey how we will  deal with that. We need a clear eyed vision of the future that balances military and diplomatic strategies to acheive our goals in the Middle East.

and 11.. We need to present a vision of financial and energy independence. We need to return to the Clinton fiscal policies, but take the word "surplus" out of our vocabularies and replace it with "debt repayment." We need to treat the national debt like a 30 year mortgage and pay it off. We ned to start facing the fact that, if people live to 90 and 100, we can't start paying Social Security at 65. We need to balance some sane oil exploration, a lot of wind and alternative fuel, and some nuclear power to get us off the oil additcion and on to a better place in terms of foreign and domestic policy.

To close, I'll repeat what I said in '04. Don't whine, and stop talking uselessly about impeachment. Instead, take the time you would have spent whining and invest it in your own state house/senate/assembly races. Which Republicans might be vulnerable? Who's old? Who's in an area that's changed a lot in the last few years? Then start by creating buzz. Write to papers like you did for Media-Corps. Start talking up your state Democrats, and start taking down your state Republicans.

Take time to remind people it's the right wing media now, and it's not just Fox News and Rush Limbaugh! Moody Broadcasting, uunder the guise of religon, broadcasts endless attacks and slanted news 24 /7 on many FM stations in every market in this country.

Remember that every righty has a weakness. Bill Bennett will be happy to lecture you about virtue as soon as he pushes himself away from the gaming tables. Rudy Giuliani would be happy to tell you about courage and morals and committing adultery in Gracie Mansion. Rush will lecture you on the error of your liberal ways as soon as he gets the maid to bring over the Oxycontin. O'Reilly will call you a Liberal Pinhead as soon as he can get off the phone about the loofah. Expose the hypocrisy in your right wing politician and shout it from the rooftops.

Paul Wellstone said the future belongs to those who are passionate and work hard! Follow Paul's advice, and we will reclaim America!