They overtook the gop, now they want to overtake America

[Philosoraptor]

The tea baggers and the far right, science denying Christian crazies infiltrated and then completely conquered the republican party. They invited them into their big tent for their money and votes, now they can't un-invite them. They've crapped in the punch bowl and ruined the party, but it's too late, the grand old party is over.

todd akin is only the tip of the iceberg, fortunately he blew their cover the other day, and their agenda for America has been exposed in all its dark age ugliness. What they did to the gop, they now want to do to YOU AND ME.

America simply can't be in the hands of extremists, dominionists, end-timers and rape re-definers. THEY ARE DANGEROUS TO US ALL.

The last few days have been a wake up call. I'm not exaggerating when I say America is in full blown dead zone danger.

[MrSlayer]

1. Yes and people vote for these assholes.

They like the wild rhetoric. They prefer that you stand firm for something, even if that something is batshit insane. We are indeed in a danger zone and there isn't anything to counter this craziness. Milquetoast centrist policy isn't going to get it done.

[Philosoraptor]

2. Appeasing them or trying to reason with them only makes it worse

They need to be removed from our government.

[MrSlayer]

3. I agree but how?

People really like these nutbags. If there was no appeal, no one would vote for them. That's the truly frightening part.

[Philosoraptor]

4. Expose them, by name and by agenda

Identify and defy them, expose their agenda and what they have planned for the rest of us.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. +1. Have talking points. Be calm. Let discussants froth. Enhance cognitive dissonance.

Read the stories on DU and elsewhere where DU'ers turned right wingers around. It usually happens when the good guy is able to manoeuver them into a position where they have to admit that to believe cherished point A they have to believe point B which goes against their beliefs. That's cognitive dissonance and starts their own internal dialogue which will erode the foundations and crumble their facade that is willfully ignorant of reality.

You have to begin by being friendly. That's why all the screaming and rabid foaming at the mouth that goes on here (and on the other side) is counter-productive and unhelpful to say the least.

The Scaffolding of Rhetoric, by Winston Churchill:
http://www-adm.pdx.edu/user/frinq/pluralst/churspek.htm

How to be as persuasive as Lincoln:
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2009/02/16/203702/abraham-lincoln-figures-of-speech-shakespeare/?mobile=nc

Abraham Lincoln, Master Persuader:
http://www.prmuseum.com/burger/chet_lincoln.html

"If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart which, say what he will, is the great highroad to his reason, and which, when once gained, you will find but little trouble in convincing his judgment of the justice of your cause, if indeed that cause really be a just one.

"On the contrary, assume to dictate to his judgement, or to command his action, or to mark him as one to be shunned and despised, and he will retreat within himself, close all the avenues to his head and his heart; and though your cause be naked truth itself, transformed to the heaviest lance, harder than steel, and sharper than steel can be made; and though you throw it with more than Herculean force and precision, you shall no more be able to pierce him than to penetrate the shell of a tortoise with a rye straw.

"Such is man, and so must he be understood by those who would lead him, even to his best interest." -- Abraham Lincoln

[HenryWallace]

18. Your use of Lincoln as an example is ironic!

Lincoln is loved for his use of rhetoric.

He is remembered because of how he dealt with a situation where rhetoric failed!

Demonized by his opposition and barred from their friendship, he ultimately had to fight for what he believed in. Any of this sounds familiar?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

20. Of course rhetoric failed then. Are you saying we should give up and go home and tune out?

Lincoln was a leader. He couldn't persuade everybody, but he was often persuasive.

Just because he wasn't successful with rhetoric in the most dire of circumstances doesn't mean we must give up on talking to the "other side". That would be the wrong lesson to draw.

[freshwest]

21. +1,000

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. Exposing them as ridiculous by parody and satire is a good way. Nobody wants to endorse a joke. nt

[Philosoraptor]

6. Especially a sick joke like todd akin

[Bernardo de La Paz]

12. Parody runs counter to my Lincoln examples, but is good for impersonal (internet) exchanges.

Parody runs counter to my Lincoln examples, but is good for impersonal (internet) exchanges, such as postings on forums. However, most forums are one sided, so a lot of the posting is preaching to the choir, but humour does help the morale of the troops, so to speak.

One on one (even on the internet) especially in person, if you really wish to persuade, be calm, friendly and enhance cognitive dissonance. In forum debates you can parody and use sarcasm because you are unlikely to convince the opponent, but may convince readers or reinforce wavering readers on your side.

[dolt201]

7. True Colors

The scariest thing that has happened in the last week is simply that the GOP is showing their true colors. Todd Akin's comments were not a gaff but a true accounting of the GOP's position. When we see GOP leaders rushing to distance themselves from their own platform it should paint for us a very clear picture of how these people think. There is one and only one effective weapon in our arsenal... our vote. Education, Medicare, Roe vs Wade, the Tax Code and many other issues are on the line. This November, get out and vote and bring a like minded friend with you!

[Philosoraptor]

8. In a way, akin has done us all a favor

Welcome!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

13. Welcome to DU.

"dolt"? If you keep writing as cogently as you have in your first post here, your name will turn out to be a misnomer!

Welcome to DU and keep writing.

[Hubert Flottz]

15. "one effective weapon in our arsenal"

There is one more thing in our arsenal...the truth.

It will finally dawn on the moon struck dead enders and their inbred hordes...when it's too late.

The country is not going to get many more chances to wake up. We are literally running out of gas. Expending everything for nothing.

We have been dominated by "TRICKLE DOWN" since Ronald Reagan and it has drained the life and the cash out of our country. "Creating jobs" in China, India and Japan since Ronald Reagan. Destroying the unions in the USA, like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini did in Germany and Italy in the 30s.

What the @#$%, were those elite CONservative "THINK" Tanks, thinking? You can bet they were not thinking about what would benefit every American taxpayer the most.

[Dustlawyer]

10. We need sound bites, talking points and repetition! We also need to keep quickly debunking

their lies like we have!

[avebury]

11. Agreed K&R nt

[ananda]

14. Just remember the 24/7 media, polling, and propaganda machines..

.. are not on our side.

[DaveJ]

16. succinct and well put

That about sums it up. They really might bring about another Dark Age. It could easily happen again.

These people are lunatics.

I do not know how we ended up in a situation where these lunatics could have such power, but they do... human DNA seems to still contain the lunatic gene after all these centuries.

[spanone]

17. the gop deserves them, america does not

[Philosoraptor]

19. ..............

[hifiguy]

23. They are kooks, but very dangerous, well-funded kooks.

These kooks who believe that they have the One True Answer from their Imaginary Being in the Sky tend to band together for the purpose of taking over the country and turning it into whatever medieval hell on earth would be the result of their rancid, paranoid and kooky belief system are out of control.

They would be perfectly willing to kill you, me, or anyone else who questions (blasphemes, in their tiny little minds) their kookery. They are a clear and present danger to the republic.

The 1% are free to do as they will to assert their own self interest. Murder, the impoverishment of millions, flat out theft and fraud. All is just fine in their tiny minds.

The rest of us, on the other hand, are free to be fired for no reason, free to be homeless and broke, free to have no health care - unlike the citizens of every other industrial democracy, free to be brutally assaulted or killed by militarized cops for looking at them the wrong way, free to be searched without suspicion, free to be reduced to utter poverty so that the Romneys of the world can own god knows how many homes, free to be treated like a second class citizen if you happen to be female, gay or non-white and above all else, free to sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up while your "betters" pursue their own self-interest at your expense. You are also free to grovel before the one percent like Willard Romney because they are just plain better than the rest of us peasants.

Their ideal world is a totalitarian theocracy for the 99% and the Divine Right of Plutocrats for the other 1%. IOW, neo-feudalism.

[Philosoraptor]

24. .......

[eppur_se_muova]

25. overtook =/= took over but reccing anyway. nt

[Thinkingabout]

26. Maybe they thought GOP was really GOD.

This week has proven the party heads has lost control of the party. I have been saying for some years now when the only issue they care about is whether someone is against abortion and that person gets their vote. It does not matter if they have abilities and now it shows.