The RNC launched their new ad campaign with a lot of PR.  It is an ad (available on their web site which is just pure fearmongering.  The whole point of the ad is There are terrorists who want to kill your family! Boogity Boogity Booooo.....

They never mention their failure to capture these terrorists, or Dubya's flip-flopping on hunting down OBL (dead or alive...don't think about him...on the hunt...it's difficult...we know exactly where he is ...we have no idea where he is...etc.)  They certainly don't mention their role in creating the newest generation of terrorists.  Heck, they have stopped even pretending they are going to capture or kill these terrorists.  After all, why kill a meal ticket?

Why do I say that? Because browsing the rest of the RNC site (down at the bottom of the page on the right) is a poll... and in that poll we learn what REALLY scares Republicans.  The results of this official RNC poll are clear.  Republicans fear accountability more than terrorists.  Details on the flip....

Everyone is all excited the president admitted we have secret prisons.  Now that this administration and its apologists are busy fessing up to stuff they used to deny, claiming credit for stuff they didn't do, laying blame where it doesn't belong and asking us to blindly trust them to get things right while they keep doing exactly what they used to say they weren't doing...  all I want to know is:  Who do they think they are kidding?  

Here's my problem...actually two problems...actually three problems...well more than three, but for now I will only focus on two.....

There's a battle waging today in America that will decide the future of the Middle Class.

On one side are those like Thomas Jefferson who believe that a free people can govern themselves and have the right to organize their government to create a strong middle class - which will, in turn, keep the government democratic. On the other side are those like Thomas Hobbes who believe that only a small elite can and should govern and that the people should be willing to pay the price of poverty in exchange for security.

The Republican echo chamber attacks anyone who disagrees with their madness and derides them as pawns of the HollywoodLiberalElite®.  Never mind the fact Hollywood entertainers hold more clout in Republican policy circles. Facts are tedious, boring things. Besides, a few well timed jokes about Michael Moore's weight and you can keep folks laughing and distracted for days.  

That difference in approach captures the basic problem with public discourse.  We want to talk substance, they want to talk personalities.  Like it or not, people prefer their approach. There is no point denying human nature; we need to embrace reality and use it to our advantage.

Fortunately, this election season the Republicans have provided a perfect opportunity for us to beat them at their own game.  I'm talking about the Corrupt Bastards Club.  Here's the best part... you can play too.

I remember when Richard Pryor dropped the n-word from his routine.  It was after he went to Africa.  He realized there weren't any over there...even though the continent was chock full of black folk.  He came back and decided to label himself, his brothers and sisters in a more dignified and respectful way.

What we call ourselves says a lot about how we view ourselves and how we want others to view us.  

We do the same thing with political labels.  Democrats become "Liberals" become "progressives" become "reality-based."  Republicans have gone from calling themselves "Conservatives" to being members of the "GOP," the "Party of Lincoln," or more recently, the "Corrupt Bastards Club."  This is not an epithet I am hurling around like "fascist" or "liar."  I wish I had thought of it... but I didn't.  This is a term Republicans used among themselves behind closed doors...