Don't Trip on the Broken Glass

[mloutre]

Columnist Kathleen Parker is part of the nattering-heads panel on Chris Matthews' early-Sunday poli-blahblah show on ABC, and she referred this morning to something I hadn't heard of before:

"Broken-Glass Republicans".

Apparently, Broken-Glass Republicans are the conservative equivalent of Yellow Dog Democrats. Quoting Wikipedia here:

"In the late 19th century and throughout the 20th century, Yellow Dog Democrats were voters in the U.S. Southern states who consistently voted for Democratic candidates -— simply because of lingering resentment against Republicans during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods. The term arose from an apocryphal remark that a Southerner would vote for a yellow dog before he'd vote for a Republican.

"The term gained national prominence during the 1928 presidential campaign when many Southern voters disliked several items on Democratic candidate Al Smith's platform (as well as his Catholicism) but voted for him regardless."

The parallel term Broken-Glass Republicans doesn't seem to have anything like that kind of historical pedigree, though. As far as I could glean from using The Google to do a quick scan of The Internets on the subject, it only became current in the last few election cycles and seems to be used most by hard-core freeperii types (and by a handful of similarly-minded conservative MSM pundits like Parker and Peggy Noonan).

In a nutshell, the reason they're called Broken-Glass Republicans is that "they would crawl over broken glass if they had to in order to go out and vote against a Democrat."

And the only way that RoveCo can pull off a last-minute save against the looming Democratic turnaround 9 short days from now -- well, other than blatantly rigging the elections again in 2006, which thanks to the efforts of good Americans everywhere will be less easy to accomplish than they think this time -- is if the reich-wingers can motivate their crucial core of Broken-Glass Republicans to show up at the polls on November 7.

That's what they're counting on. It's worked for them before, and they're pulling out all the stops to make it work for them again. They've got what it takes to make it happen, too -- the money to spend, the manipulation techniques, the well-oiled neokonzertruppe machine in which to roll right over the gigantic cracks in their socio-political facade.

How can Democrats stand up against such a battle-tested blitzkrieg brigade on November 7? What weapons do they have with which to resist such an electoral onslaught this time? What tools do they have to use? What armies have they got on their side?

The answer is as simple as it is powerful:

You.

Yes, you.

You, your hearts, your minds, your mouths, your ears... your fingers on the keys, your boots on the ground... and, most crucially, your hands on the levers in election booths everywhere across America.

Yours, and those of everyone you know and everyone you can reach out to in these final critical days.

Don't let the Broken-Glass Republicans tip the scales on election day this year. Channel your inner Yellow Dog Democrats instead.

Gather up everyone you know, bring them with you to the polls, and make sure they know what's at stake this year. Make sure they understand that a vote for a Republican is a vote against their own futures, and the futures of their children, and of their grandkids yet to come.

Whatever happens between now and then, don’t give up and don’t give in. Do not falter, do not fail. Get out there and vote for Democrats on November 7... even if you have to crawl over broken glass to do it.

Vote smart.

Vote true.

Vote Blue.



climbing down off my soapbox now,
Otter

[dwahzon]

1. Interesting term

"broken glass Republicans" aka koolaid drinkers, soon-to-be the minority koolaid drinkers

[Possumpoint]

2. What Happened to the Idea of the Best Candidate?

I understand the sentiment and I've just voted a straight Democratic ticket on an absentee vote. However, what you advocate is a blind party vote without looking at each candidate and their merits with positions. To me it is responding to idiocy with idiocy. Taking my decision process out of voting goes against the grain.

[Glorfindel]

4. In "normal" times, your sentiment is exactly right

These, however, are NOT normal times. The only thing that matters right now is taking back our country from the foaming-at-the-mouth radical right. If that means supporting a Democrat you'd rather not vote for under ordinary circumstances, so be it. We need to get majorities back in both houses of congress; then we can begin the process of winnowing out the less desirable Democrats. At this moment, there are no Repukes with positions of merit. NONE. And by the way, welcome to DU!!!
:hi:

[Possumpoint]

5. Thank You for the Welcome

NM

[globalvillage]

3. Great post, Otter.

We've got a hell of a battle ahead, but we can do it. I caught three repub ads in a row on the local news last night, including the "yer all gonna die" one for Icky Santorum. At this point, he just looks pathetic.
The forces of good will win this time. If everyone votes.
k&r

[Straight Shooter]

6. Fine. Then I'll be a Fire-Walking Democrat.

Because I'll walk through fire if I have to, in order to vote against a Republican.

[glitch]

7. Nicely written. I think their actual base is much smaller than they'd like us to

believe. The "broken-glass republicans" don't include my (formerly) diehard republican brother who is going to sit out this election.

We still need to swamp them, not just to win and make their fraud more difficult, but also to scare the hell out of them with our overwhelming numbers. And make our winning margins so big there is no doubt about America's change of course. The world needs that sigh of relief.

But I think these alleged brilliant plans to get out the base (aka "ghost voters") are cover memes for what they'll really be doing election day.

But massive turnout is step one of our remedy, agreed. Step two will be to truly investigate any suspected fraud, and not buy into their chaos during the count. A big part of that will be to not believe their propaganda going in.

[Fovea]

8. I think that broken glass republicans

represent about 30% of their coalition.
I think that they are the ones who like war against brown people,
yellow people, and are against taxes on the rich, because their
retirement plan is to win the lottery.

And I want them to crawl over acres of broken glass, just to get
slammed in the election. With the Foley scandal widening, Halliburton
war-profiteering crawling zombie like out of its shallow grave, and the PaleoCons
leaving the reservation, fraud and voter suppression are the only
arrows left in Karl's quivver.

Saddam's trial won't do it, invading Iran certainly won't do it.
And a 'national emergency' will start Civil War, V 2.0.

So let's make sure we pile the glass deep in front of the polling places.
We want them to remember this election for a long, long time.

[eppur_se_muova]

9. That expression's gotta come from Texas. A bit off topic ...

I once read that a young TX man said a particular woman was "so beautiful, I'd crawl a mile through broken glass just to let her piss on my toothbrush." Oh, what hormones can do! :D