The Dems have hit on a strategy
 

That was the beginning, Spank. I believe that the GOP was founded in 1856, and that Lincoln was their second Presidential candidate.

The Deomcratic party evolved from a party founded in or around 1832, IIRC.

S_A_M

The Dems have hit on a strategy
 

Show us your tits!

There's only you and me, and we just disagree (whoa-oh-oh).
 

She doesn't strike me as bitter at all. I agree that she is probably more knowledgable about people and their motivations than she is about foreign affairs, but then again she's attacking the administration because of what she sees as its hubris and arrogance. I don't think that she's ever pretended to be the female Tom Friedman (who annoys me, but whatever) without the cheesey moustache.

If I didn't know better, I might think that you thought she was "sharp and on-point" when she was bashing Bill then and "spouting nonsense" now when she bashes Dubya simply because you are (and it still pains me to think of it, btw) a [sigh] Republican.

The Dems have hit on a strategy
 

Ideal Patriarcal family? What does that mean. I guess I should I should have said before that this is way to general. Be Specific. And what is the narrow perspective I see the world.

Government is not the solution it is the problem.
 

If you notice before I said that government steps in when either the individual can't buy the product because they are poor or for some other reason (food stamps, healthcare, education) or the collective needs to purchase the product becasuse the product can only be purchased and used by the collective (infrastructure, National Defense, court system, state department, police etc.). But something that can be bought by the individual for individual consumption should always be left to the market (food, clothing, baseball equipment, TVs. The only exception to that rule is when there is a natural monopoly situation so the government has to step and control pricing (water, electicity, Gas).

Media is a product consumed by an individual and paid for by an individual so intervention is not necessary. Of course you need regulations on the invidual business like no slander etc. but the government should not manipulate the market like messing with production, consumption pricing etc. Of all consumer products, Media is actually the one consumer product where I fear government intervention above all others.

Where do you disagree with this statement?

The Dems have hit on a strategy
 

1856 - John Fremont? Dems - Andrew Jackson or Thomas Jefferson - opinoins vary. But people have been sacrificing policy for political gain since the beginning of the Republic.

The Dems have hit on a strategy
 

There was a nice history in the NYT Mag a couple of weeks ago, apparently cribed from wikipedia. Anyway, depends on whether you mean founded by name or practice, as the GOP grew out of the whigs, whicch were founded earlier.

The Dems have hit on a strategy
 

The point is that your conservatism stems not from the specific but from the generalities. As does my liberalism.

The narrow perspective is that you view the world as one in which things must be judged morally, black and white, right and wrong, which, in combination with a need to recognize authority, makes it difficult for you to accept alternate perspectives and viewpoints.

It is not much a retort to call me a moral relativist, by the way.

What I'm saying is that a lot of the things you attempt to throw in the face of liberals are things that provoke the response "so what" from us, and vice versa, because we simply look at the world differently.

I really think you should read Lakoff's book. It weighs in at almost 500 pages; I'm not going to be able to adequately capture it in more than general terms here.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226467716

The Dems have hit on a strategy
 

Spanky can't read that right now. He is reading Collapse or he is getting left out of the museum tour.

The Dems have hit on a strategy
 

Paint on WPA buildings dried!

. . . but I didn't attack him or call him "unpatriotic."
 

• On the playground, discussion turned to war critics in America. "I've always respected John Murtha as a patriot and a friend of the military," said first-grader Abdul Zeki. "So I was somewhat surprised that he has taken the Jane Fonda position on the war."

Grade-School Children Invite Marines to Reunion (from The Baghdad Post).

(Slate's take on the fake news stuff)

What to do
 

You have some interesting ideas. However, I don't know that Balkanization of Iraq will work in the long run, for two reasons. First, Iran and Turkey will definitely not back an independent Kurdistan for fear of infecting the Kurds in their own countries. Second, divvying up Iraq will be complicated by the fact that oil isn't equally distributed, nor is arable land. There will be too much argument over compensating the regions tha lack resources.

I agree that the need for political support is great right now, but I don't think that strong institutions can be built without the muscle to back them up. The Iraqi military and police force is making some progress. However, I don't think they are ready to shoulder the burden of maintaining order without US military support. Add to that some evidence that certain elements within the Iraqi police force seem to be using their power to oppress the Sunni majority in some towns and it becomes pretty clear to me that we can't back out yet.

I would like to see some use of international Arab forces to supplement US military. I don't know that this is going to be achievable without increasing at least the perception of Balkanization, though. I don't know that the sects will be able to or willing to cooperate, no matter how much it's necessary to stabilize the country.

But you do have some interesting ideas.

What to do
 

Eugene McCarthy essentially campaigned on the "Get out of Vietnam, it's a millstone around our neck" strategy in 1968. McGovern's campaign had similar elements to it.

What to do
 

Well, among other things, the Congress can withdraw the authorization to engage militarily. Without a formal declaration of war, Bush's ability to lawfully remain in Iraq is limited. In addition, Congress can decide not to appropriate funds for any military action in Iraq.

You are generally familiar with the way our government works, aren't you?

The Dems have hit on a strategy
 

Not necessarily. The Republicans have been lying about tax "reform" and the estate tax for decades now and they seem to be gaining a great deal of ground from the fact that the majority of Americans don't understand their manipulation of the truth.