Dems Are Feeling It: The GOP Machine Can Be Beaten

[Sapphire Blue]

Dems Are Feeling It: The GOP Machine Can Be Beaten
By Joshua Holland, AlterNet. Posted November 1, 2006.

Next Tuesday's midterms could be just another election or they could mark a major electoral shift. Grassroots progressives could have an enormous impact on the outcome.

In less than a week, Americans will go to the polls. It could be like other recent elections -- votes that recalled Shakespeare's line about a lot of "sound and fury, signifying nothing" -- or it could be an immense, cleansing wave washing away the worst period of one-party rule in American history.

The two parties will do what they will, but ordinary citizens -- the grass roots -- will largely determine which scenario will play out.

It may well be a historic moment. Next week has the potential to usher in a rare electoral realignment -- the kind of political shift that comes about once in a generation. The administration's disastrous consistency in everything it touches, from Iraq to Katrina to Terri Schiavo, could do for the progressive movement what Reagan's "revolution" did for the New Right -- move a whole generation of voters.

Analysts from across the spectrum agree that the Republican coalition is facing a perfect storm; it's not just the meat grinder Iraq has become and the boondoggle that's plagued its reconstruction. It's not just a host of scandals -- sexual, financial and electoral. It's not just an economy that's growing in aggregate but hasn't put more money into most people's pockets. It's not just the four million Americans who have fallen below the poverty line or the five million more Americans who lack health insurance since Bush was sworn in six years ago. It's all of those things combined with a profound sense of insecurity as health care and tuition costs skyrocket, jobs are shed overseas, Americans are neck-deep in debt, and the country's global leadership is being challenged even by staunch allies.

Continued @ http://www.alternet.org/story/43736/

Can you feel it coming In The Air Tonight? Turn up your sound & sing along with me, DU... I'm Takin' My Country Back!


***** GOTV *****

[wake.up.america]

1. Don't underestimate Rove!!!!! Every vote counts (I hope)

[beltanefauve]

3. Rove needs to come off the pedestal

Sure, he's great for rallying the base, and the GOTV machine is legendary, but this election is about old school Repubs who have been snookered on the fiscal responsibility issue, about Fundies who really haven't seen their agenda move forward (their issues are front-and-center in an election year, only to gain no traction) about elitist Repubs who are pissed that the Fundies got invited into the tent, and most especially about Moderates and swing voters who are pissed. And a lot of people are just plain old fed up with one-party rule.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but I'm hoping that the people who simply "can't" vote for a Dem just stay home and that the election is carried by energized Dems, Moderates who think the country has swung too far to the right, and swing-voters who want change.

[RiverStone]

2. Yes. The GOP machine is breaking down.

Thanks for the optimism! Its shared here. Too much blue momentum now to stop. We are going to win lots on Nov 7th; the only question is how big? It all rests with the turn out. Lets just hope our numbers are so obvious that no about amount of Rove manipulation will hide the exit data. Confidence does not equal complacency however. Every breathing Dem must vote!

[luckyleftyme2]

4. LETS WIN IN NOV. CUZ

I want to help "rove" and his buddies get a new wardrobe.I'm thinking pink pin stripes,free room and board and a gay biker roommate! you know a life of ease for 20 years to life!
Please help me achieve this by :VOTING DEMOCRAT IN NOVEMBER
THANK YOU MY FELLOW "DEMOCRATS" AND INDEPENDENTS!

[emanymton]

5. The Machine Will Still Exist No Matter Who Wins!

Regardless of outcome of 7 Nov 06 election, the machine exists and represents a real threat to the people. The machine is well financed and powerful. It will not be un-done by one election.

This is a long term battle and will require years of honest effort to tame the political party money machines.

FYI - I am no fan of the idea of replacing the GOP's machine with the Democratic Party's machine.