Its late, but here's just one wee bit of balloon deflater for the O-bots like yourself who against all reason wish to believe things to be other than they are:

“How do you make sure a crowd likes you? Screen out anybody who didn’t vote for you. Even if they’re serving their country under your watch.”

G'Nite.

Given the Bush economic meltdown last fall I find it amazing the GOP was able to get nearly half the vote. They got most of the middle class white vote too. THAT is proof of the Corporate media's immense power. They were able to spread toxic rightwing propaganda like the big banks were spreading toxic assets around the world.

Thom Hartmann, Progressive radio talk jock,   would agree with you partially. He says he beats Rush in many big cities.
BUT his total audience is very small compared to Rush's because most cities dont have  a Progressive radio station at all.   Boston and NYC for instance. Neither has ONE left wing radio station!  Thom says that often progressive stations are very weak signal stations too. 

Oik! I have to disagree. The masses aren't controlled by the GOP or proxies, if they were we'd have McCain as president, right? As for controlling the airwaves...all the left has to do is capture the populations attention and imagination, much like Rush has to date.

Never underestimate the GOP. Remember they control the corporate media in most ways.  The owners are very rich and so are mostly Republican.  They get most of their revenue from giant corporations like Big Pharma, Big Oil and Coal, Health insurance corporations and Banks etc. 95% of talk  radio shows  are extremely right wing for the same reasons. Limbothas by ar the biggest audience every day. As long as they control the airwaves they will be in control of the masses. 

Yup... you are so correct again...  what they lack in majority, they make up for in money...

edit— it is so ironic that it was Lincoln who said, "You can't fool all the people all the time..."

Yeah, you are completely correct...  Lincoln represented the north, the Democrats represented the Confederacy...  now, it is completely reversed... the Republican stronghold is in the South... they don't carry any of the northern states that Lincoln did...  the Republicans use absurd wedge issues about social subjects that don't have anything to do with money to divide people these days... things like abortion, gay marriage, stem cell research, etc...  then they loot the national treasury...  just look at Halliburton—  Cheney took 72 of the headquarters to the Bahamas while he was CEO in the 1990s to avoid paying U.S. taxes, and now Halliburton has gotten filthy rich in Iraq...  so Halliburton is paid with U.S. taxes, and they don't pay U.S. taxes... it is pure genius...  but now the middle class cannot afford the luxury of voting on social issues like Clinton's infidelity...  the middle class is broke, and now they are voting about the money, and the Republicans are doomed to be a minor party for a very long time, just like they were for a long time after the Great Depression...  but they are very entertaining on TV these days, now that they are harmless...

More like some stuff rolls downhill.

Well, sure, but, see, we make them even richer and richer and richer, and then it, uh, you know—trickles down.   Haven't you been paying attention?  

I would say that the Republicans have blinded their middle class contingency. My parents were hard right wingers and I used to be a Republican but then I (slowly) woke up and realized I had been duped by the right wing Republican Corporatocracy. And through various means like the Corporate Media  they have become VERY good at that.  

For instance, since Lincoln, name ONE thing the Republicans have done for the middle class? You cant!

They do NOT want you to know this but they have been AGAINST every social advance of the middle class, like Social security, minimum wages (they were actually for a MAXIMUM wage for workers), 40 hour work week, paid vacation,  Medicare, Medicaid, GI Bill for education, Civil Rights, womens vote and right to choose, and much, much more.  Their only true loyalty is and always has been the very rich and giant corporations. 

The problem with overt partisanship is that one tends to be blinded by one's identification. This is true of liberals as well as conservatives.

The problem with overt partisanship is that one tends to be blinded by one's identification. This is true of liberals as well as conservatives.

I'm not sure that the huge declaration/link is helpful. Just as I'm not sure fuh2's post mentioning straitjackets was helpful.

While I'd love some civil political talk here, I guess it's not possible. And HC, I'm not blaming you. Or fuh2. Or Beaker. Or whoever.

For anyone interested, here's an article that appeared in Salon today. It discusses right-wing hand-wringing over the DHS communications to local police about "growing right-wing extremist activity." (And HC, I'm sure it touches on some of the same points your link does. But really, the huge red letters were a total turnoff.)

I guess the point raised in the article is my point about the whole Tea Party thing: where was the outrage before? If government spending is an issue, why weren't these people upset before now?

Don't answer. I'm pretty sure it can't be discussed without personal attacks and flaming.

Where did it come from?

Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to shout, it's the way it came and I was too lazy to fix it. I will do that now.

I'm not sure that the huge declaration/link is helpful. Just as I'm not sure fuh2's post mentioning straitjackets was helpful.

While I'd love some civil political talk here, I guess it's not possible. And HC, I'm not blaming you. Or fuh2. Or Beaker. Or whoever.

For anyone interested, here's an article that appeared in Salon today. It discusses right-wing hand-wringing over the DHS communications to local police about "growing right-wing extremist activity." (And HC, I'm sure it touches on some of the same points your link does. But really, the huge red letters were a total turnoff.)

I guess the point raised in the article is my point about the whole Tea Party thing: where was the outrage before? If government spending is an issue, why weren't these people upset before now?

Don't answer. I'm pretty sure it can't be discussed without personal attacks and flaming.

*big red letters*