GOP Game plan for '06: The Memo

Rep. Tom Cole a former executive director of the RNC is telling collegues that Republicans can prevent losses in the 2006 midterm elections if they successfully define Democrats as carping critics who favor surrender in Iraq, higher taxes and more government spending.

http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2005/12/the_cole_burrr.html

Well it's good to know what to expect and it's easy to refute those points.

1) We are "carping" critics of a war manufactured by a president and White House which falsified intelligence to achieve its goals and misled the U.S. Congress and the American people.

2) We are not critics of responisible tax relief to deserving, hard-working Americans but we do have a problem with the Bush tax giveaways to the rich and powerful.

3) As for Government spending--look at the billions which are being wasted in Iraq while national domestic priorities are being cut--once again the poor and middle class are seeing their programs which aide them cut (Pell Grants, Food Stamps, School lunch programs). Furthermore government spending under Bush is up dramatically and so are budget deficits--he inherited surpluses from Clinton.

Now our talking points for 2006:

The election must be a national referendum on Bush

1) A president who misled the country into war with no timetable for evacuating our troops.

2) A incompetent administration which screwed up royally during the biggest domestic tragedy of our time--Hurricane Katrina.

3) A corrupt administration which fed journalists the name of a CIA agent all the while pretending to be defenders of national security.

4) A president who promised to be "A uniter not a divider" has done nothing since 2000 except divide the country and divide the world against us.

5) An administration which is beholden to the far right religious zealots and whose policies are dictated by them--an administration out of touch with ordinary Americans.

In short our message to the American people should be--"Had Enough?"

How the Republicans have "WASTED" so much money. We should use the Prescription Drug benefit as an example: we spent $300 billion and only 6% of Seniors got coverage. Any way you look at it, that's the biggest waste of money in American history.

Talk about the money we have spent in Iraq: $500 billion so far, and counting.

Ect. Ect. The Republicans give the people's money to their rich friends, in exchange for cash contributions. This Republican Congress has WASTED more money than any other Administration in history.

We should provide a list:

All the big spending measures by this Congress, and where the money actually went.

End our message with this:

Republicans say that corruption doesn't matter...it doesn't if you don't mind them wasting all of your money.

Democrats offer a better course of action to save this country.

The federal debt as of December 13: $8,136,066,508,140.10

Under Bush I the debt grew 47% and government spending grew 28% in four years.
Under Clinton the debt grew 37% and government spending grew 29% in eight years.
Under Bush II the debt has grown 42% and government spending has grown 29% in five years.

It is estimated by 2009, after eight years of a Bush presidency, the debt will grow 99% and government spending will have increased 53%.

The federal debt will be around $11.4 trillion and spending will be around $2.9 trillion annually. And that doesn't include the spending in Iraq, Afghanistan or anywhere else for the "war on terror."

As my old retort against the Freepers in the 2000 election..."I don't see Clinton on my ballot"...and I already am hearing the Repugnicans saying the same thing. They were able to craft booosh hate into some kind of "cry wolf" game that has never worked for the Democrats just as much as the Clennis hate never helped the Repugnicans.

Democrats will win if they take many of your points and tie them to the local representatives and how they voted that worked against the overall interest of the voter/area. This isn't a national election, it's 435 small ones that have common threads, but each one will be contested and won on different variables.

Lastly, campaigning on the negative hasn't worked for Democrats in 2002 or 2004...and if it does in 2006, it's only because of Repugnican weakness, not Democratic strength.

We know we stand on the right side of so many critical issues...and even more on the local level...it's developing a strong party and positive message one voter, door-bell, telephone or street corner at a time. If we want the "people to speak"...theDemocratic party has to go out there and reach them.

Cheers...