Right now, we WANT attention on the GOP.

Lets review the all time greats:

1. The L Word. Number one, because it simply removed a strong and wonderful word from the American political dictionary. Being called a liberal is in most cases now tantamount to being called a criminal (thank you michael dukakis!) .. but the real winner was before it...which is...

2. "Morning in America" . This one brings to mind a time frame and a simple realization of dawn. Huge. Two terms. Major reconfiguration of
   

3. "I like IKE". Catchy. Simple. Does the job. Lest we forget, the purpose of these phrases are to win elections not to impress some cunning linguists somewhere..kudos to the Augusta national golf club for this one.

4. "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too!". This one deserves some special thought. Not many people know that Harrison really had to slug it out to win. The three things in this phrase that work are - first, you have to go back to remember Harrison, was a hero in the battle of Tippecanoe, which was a close battle... get it ... second, it rhymes, its very easy to say and third... you can SHOUT it at the top of your lungs.

Together, America Can Do Better

Ok. Right off the bat, I am thinking that if slogans were a DTD, this would be the blink tag. This thing sucks on so many levels. First, you can't do anything with it. Its wordy. Second, it tries to explain to you that we're all divided. Shit, we know that. Its like that old joke by Groucho Marx .. "Can you join us." ... "I didn't know you were coming apart, miss.". And third the damn thing can't be shouted. The only vision is of a "hell no, we won't go" picket line from the unions. Which also suck, but don't get me started..

So what can we do. Lets think a minute. Well, first, its time to take a break from this post for a commercial.

cut to someone standing next to a warm fire..
"I was pissed off at my gas bill this year, and thinking I couldn't do anything to make it right. The gas companies were going to gouge me for sure."...

"Then I discovered FIRE. Thats right folks, all of your old mail and newspapers start off a fire nicely. Get all your old cord wood from out back and warm yourself right up. Put a big quilt on your bed and sleep like a king."

"Here's my simple formula. Get some cheap candles. Then, go out and grab a back of backyard charcoal briquettes. Next, get some old newspaper and sticks. - You take the old candles, and throw them in the newspaper over the briquettes. Then throw the sticks on top. Next stack your wood. on that. Light the newspaper. The cheap candles drip down and keep the fire going long and strong. The briquettes make it last longer and burn all the wood. Just throw about three logs on in the morning and you're good for the morning. At night, you're good to go with six logs all night."

"When you realize that , at 700.00 a month you're going to pay about 75.00 bucks to heat your home on a cold day, its going to make perfect sense. Plus it gives you a sense of warmth and home you've never felt before. Sure its a chore. But its fun!"

and now back to your regularly scheduled programming "word time with tbs"...

Now, there were slogans recently that caught fire.. ex. "Take Back America" - that slogan really meant something. It meant the crazies are in control. It meant cronies are in power and the government is much worse. It meant that the Iraq war was a boondoggle on the American people. In short, it meant that America has been hijacked. Not everyone agreed with it. So naturally the Democratic party couldn't adopt it but they did go with a "stronger" america. I would like to see:

"Defending Liberty, Strengthening Democracy"

For me, personally speaking, democracy is nearly gone in America. It is a crypto fascist state with socialist tendencies; there is little representation of the concerns of the people - mostly special interest groups sloshing around and  scewing up.

Here is an excerpt from a blogger that heavily supported George W. Bush in November... take a look at some of the words of this post, made just before voting day ...

"if you care about preventing the implementation of a widespread social experiment that denies the importance of both fathers and mothers, defies our own physiology, and sanctions sodomy...

If you care about the grave threat that judicial tyranny poses to this nation...

If you care about economic liberty and choice...

If you care about taking action in the face of a massive terrorist threat...

And if you care about advancing the cause of freedom and justice around the world..."

wow. So the democratic party doesn't stand for any of that, hm? Certainly taking action in the face of a threat is what this Katrina administration has done, isn't it. They've made sure arabian horse farmers control FEMA. And now of course, they're protecting us against judicial tyranny by proposing unqualified candidates.

See, this whole, my johnson is longer than your johnson thing can go on for years. All the opposition has to do is keep messing up the country so profoundly that it whips you into a frenzy to be upset about it, or to be aware of it, and then they'll just attack you for shouting
* see Howard Dean for more on this topic.

But in the end, you need something that really breaks through.. The best for last:

"For God. For Country. For Americans."

Also we could look into something like:

"From California to the New York Island"

It brings back "this land is your land". In fact, if anyone can rake over any Woody Guthrie song at all they'd be good to go. The first version of that song, the one he wrote in New York "God Blessed America" - was a pretty good song.

The Democratic party needs to be onto something more than yet another comparison. They need to throw a hail mary pass and let the American people pick it up. They have a huge ATM machine out there the people are running, and if they fail to connect with that constituency they might get the 4 million dollars the special interests have lined up for them but they sure as hell are not going to get any of the 40 million dollars we have lined up for them. And they'd better spend it on something that reinforces the public perception that the people are going to take control again. Otherwise,

I promise you.

A mob will arise.

At this rate how about:

'Every day, in every way I'm getting better and better...'

Seriously:

Proven leadership not empty rhetoric

Voters want a change, a different direction and they're listening right now.

I just think we should let them listen to the Republicans implode and we should beat the drum that we were lied to by them to convince us to go to war.

I'd be in favor of beating that drum and then assembling all senate and congressional Dems on the Capitol steps to apologize to the nation for voting for the war because it is now apparent we were lied to and we unfortunately thought we could believe in our Government again and that it was still accountable to its citizens.

Then unveil our platform which is all about accountability and solutions (Social Security, progressive taxation, medicare, medicaid, education, health care, welfare, full employment, pension reform -- all based on accountability.).

"Democrats, the Constitutional Party!"?

Or maybe,

"Republicans are extinct, all we have left are these religious nutcases, and Democrats!"?

Not, "Democrats, we'll tuck you in bed at night and give you a nice little blanky."

Christ, what a party I belong to.

Jeebus, could they make it a little more passive perhaps?  I'm sure they could, we have some talented people in the party, surely there's some wordsmiths that can make that slogan lay back and enjoy it even more!!!!