A very Republican I know said this today...

[Rosco T.]

"Well they have good and well screwed the pooch on this.. every day this goes on they'll lose 2 seats in the house and a senator.. give it a week and the Republican party is done, done, done..."

I just had to smile and agree with him...

[HockeyMom]

1. Enjoy your TEA

is what I would say to them.

[Yupy]

2. I would love to agree but due to Gerrymandering I don't think that will be possible...

Still hopeful that Gerrymandering will find a way out of the system.

[Mz Pip]

4. 90% incumbent reelection rate

Not bad when there's a 10% approval rating for congress.

Gerrymandering pretty much guarantees reelection no matter how whack they are.

[Blanks]

20. People move.

I wonder how many of the people furloughed were republican?

How many of the people who own businesses that are frequented by the people who were furloughed?

If the tea party is effecting your life - whether you're in a gerrymandered district or not, you're not gonna support them. If you're affected and you don't normally vote in the mid-terms, you might make a special trip.

The people who live in gerrymandered districts didn't sign an oath in blood to vote republican for all eternity - that can be screwed up too. Especially in districts that are already close.

[Mz Pip]

24. The TP and Fox News

They have been working overtime to convince people this is the Democrats fault. If you are a low information voter and get your news from Rush, Hannity and your local Tea party congress critter then there's a pretty good chance you'll vote him in again.

There's no critical thinking going on. It's just blather and hyperbole. People buy it because its easier than actually thinking through the issues.

I hope things will change but I doubt it.

[Blanks]

25. If in fact 800,000 people are furloughed by this shutdown...

No amount of Fox News brainwashing is going to convince the at least 300,000 or so of them that believed that there is no difference between the parties.

Fox News lost quite a bit of their credibility with Dick Morris and Turd Blossom's predictions prior to the last election.

The loud obnoxious conservatives will never be swayed, but the quiet ones... That's a whole different thing. I don't think they're as convincing as they once were.

[CTyankee]

31. They also die off. We know the Tea Party supporters tend to be old, white people so it is only

a matter of time...

[Rain Mcloud]

6. Some laws were made to be appealed.

[pffshht]

8. Have anti-gerrymandering bills been written up? Brought to the vote? How recently?

House districts could be automatically drawn up by a computer from census data & zipcode demographics in a way that would make the votes as equally distributed as possible.

Even if it had no chance of passing, I would at least like to make a large number of crooked politicians sign their names and go on the record as opposing a loophole-closing, democracy-improving, anti-abuse-of-the system bill, and to hear their attempts to ethically justify their position.

[reACTIONary]

18. Having looked into this a bit...

...I'm a bit skeptical that this can be automated in a reasonable way. I think the solution is to have a state-wide multicandidate election as is sometimes done with school boards.

[OmahaBlueDog]

14. Bring back Howard Dean to the DNC. Make him "Chair Emeritus"

..and give him the mission to strategize winning back state houses.

[Blanks]

21. Good Plan. Start a petition. eom

[Hydra]

3. We can only hope... n/t

[Rebellious Republican]

5. K&R Roscoe!

[Heather MC]

7. How many days does the shutdown have to last for them to lose your friends vote

[Rosco T.]

9. They already have... Doesn't matter how the districts are drawn...

If you piss off so many of those people who you think will vote for you.

[Orrex]

10. I want to friend him just so that I can "like" his post!

[99th_Monkey]

11. Another "Please Proceed" moment: Obama to House GOP. lol ~nt~

[LukeFL]

12. Hoping he's not alone

But listening to talk radio these ppl are completely gone to the right and nuts.

I know I should keep my hope but man, the hatred I listen to is not a good indication things will get better.

[CTyankee]

32. If default comes then those folks' SS checks won't go out...we'll see what happens then...

[mikeysnot]

13. Where was he in 1998?

When they pulled the same stunt, and then sat around and tried impeaching the president for having an affair?

Or told us to "get over it" when the SC appointed Bush in 2000?

Or on 9/11 when bush failed to protect the US From terrorism?

Or when we found out that Bush was warned one month before 911 in a PDB on August 6th?

Or sold tax cuts that would lower the unemployment and raise revenues at the federal level? Which did neither.

Or when he took a 5 trillion deficit and turned it into an 11 trillion deficit?

Or pushed the bank bailouts for wall street crooks that they blame O for?

[nradisic]

15. Heard about the same...

have some family members that work on Wall Street, who are saying they are voting Democratic for the first time...had enough.

[Curmudgeoness]

16. I wish that the very Republicans that I know would speak like this.

I have been hammered constantly at work by all the extreme conservatives.....thanks to DU, I have been able to prove them wrong at every turn, even if they still continue with their lies.

If only one of them would at least give an inch, I would breathe easier.

[Blanks]

22. Good job.

I think when we confront them on their lies, at least the people around us know that we disagree.

We may never change the mind of the person we are actually confronting, but maybe the spectators won't want to risk taking it to the next level, and will see both sides of each issue.

I have a 'friend' on Facebook and I notice when I've had a confrontation with him, he gets less 'likes' in his follow-up posts. Maybe at least we are minimizing the extrapolation of bullshit when we confront them.

[Curmudgeoness]

27. I agree, which is why I do it, but

I wish that it wasn't a constant thing to have to battle lies and deceit every day.

The one thing that I have learned about it is that people who are on the fence, or who have received some of those emails blasting anything Obama, now come to me for the facts. It is a sad time we are living in.

[Blanks]

29. The republicans are supposed to be the opposition party...

There will come a time when people will have a better idea when someone is blowing smoke up their ass.

The increase in smart phones will assist in making that happen. Even now (as I type this on my iPhone) I can lookup a recent article that I saw on Facebook and debunk it.

I can do this while I'm walking around the store or eating breakfast or watching TV with the kids. I'm not exceptional - there are any number of people at DU right now doing the same thing. You may be doing it right now. This is why the republican demographic is shrinking. If I read something suspect on Facebook, I can look it up on snopes and post the link for the person who posted it.

We are winning. It's just gonna take a while. The ones without this ability are republicans, and they are dying out - whether through actual physical death, or because they too got a smart phone.

[Curmudgeoness]

30. If only technology were the answer.

I find that it is most of the problem. The emails and FB memes are constantly in your face, and there are too few people willing to take the time to check the facts. It is as if they really do believe that if it is seen on the internet, it must be true.

But you are right about making it easier for me to debunk the lies. I honestly do not know how people were able to find the truth before the internet on current issues.

[loudsue]

17. Not so. The dem party WILL NOT USE this shut down effectively against the republicans

in the next election....and I repeat...EFFECTIVELY. They NEVER get the mileage out of republican screw ups that is justified.

[elleng]

19. IF ONLY!

[CrispyQ]

23. I'm not so hopeful.

The 2014 elections are a long time away. People will have forgotten this by then.

[fredamae]

26. And once "the pooch is screwed?"

One cannot "unscrew it"....

[SLCLiberal]

28. I'd agree if it were not for the...

gerrymandering.

Most of these clowns will get to stay I'm afraid.

[libodem]

33. One, OH, HELL, YEAH!

And one terrorist fist bump.