LAT op-ed: Dem structural, strategic deficits make U.S one-party country

The GOP knows you don't like anchovies
Unpopular Republicans still own the art of politicking.
By Peter Wallsten and Tom Hamburger, Peter Wallsten and Tom Hamburger cover national politics for The Times. Their book, "One Party Country: The Republican Plan for Dominance in the 21st Century," will be published in July
June 25, 2006


....The fact is that over two or three decades, the GOP has painstakingly built up a series of structural advantages that make the party increasingly difficult to beat. And in the last five years, it has strengthened its hold under President Bush and his political guru, Karl Rove....

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The Republican fortress has many underpinnings, such as gerrymandered congressional districts that favor the GOP, an intellectual infrastructure that churns ideas through conservative think tanks and media, an ever-stronger political and policy-based alliance with corporate America, and the most sophisticated vote-tracking technology around.

Some of the GOP advantages are recent developments, such as the database called Voter Vault, which was used to precision in the San Diego County special election. The program allows ground-level party activists to track voters by personal hobbies, professional interests, geography — even by their favorite brands of toothpaste and soda and which gym they belong to....

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Perhaps more than any other administration, the White House of George W. Bush has mastered the art of mixing politics and policy and keeping track of how federal government decisions can affect even obscure local elections. Rove, with a broad portfolio and extraordinary influence, introduced a new political doctrine, effectively putting the federal bureaucracy and the bully pulpit of the White House in the service of GOP political ends....Rove told Interior Department officials of the importance of helping farmers in Oregon whose political support was crucial to Gordon Smith, a vulnerable Republican senator. Within months, perhaps because of Rove's exhortations, the agency did just that, supporting the diversion of water from the environmentally important Klamath River for the sake of irrigating farmland. Thousands of salmon eventually died in the newly shallow waters. But the senator secured his reelection....

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Other pieces of the plan preceded Bush and Rove. The legendary political genius Lee Atwater masterminded a long-term campaign to redraw congressional district lines, which has given Republicans a long-term edge in House elections that is difficult to reverse....Unless Democrats eliminate these structural and strategic deficits, the GOP will continue to govern what has become, in effect, a one-party country.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-hamburger25jun25,0,906381.story?coll=la-home-commentary

That's my personal opinion, though.

They do have the upper hand in every area except for right and wrong.

All we need os for the "Big Dog" to toss his hat in the race (the HELL
with Constitutional Provisions against 3rd terms), and we'd take this
country back in 2008 in a cakewalk!

n/t

that woman in san diego who recently lost has not even protested or demanded a recount and the voting machines spent the night in
peoples' houses and garages the night before the election for crap sake.

I would have had all those machines invalidated and their results tossed out if I could.

or SOMETHING besides nothing.

all evil requires is that good people do nothing (paraphrase of a famous quote by someone who was evidently NOT a quitter).

Msongs

listen to our song demos!
www.msongs.com/msongsdemos.htm

And we don't have bogus "think tanks" or a full partnership with corporate America.

Those are just some of our good points. ;)

The DNC is doing everything it can to strengthen party infrastructure without binging exclusively at the corporate trough. The deficiency, afaic, is more on the part of the press, education, and strong, unaffected leadership.

is just about complete.

Time to string up a few DINOs, IMHO, for treason. They have helped engineer the loss of our nation to fascism. Oh, and more than a few Repukes need to be strung up right along with them.