Strategies: A bunch of thoughts in the order my mind thought of them on how we get our message out and the good messengers to support.

The President did SUCH a good job at his question period with Republicans. He is INFINITELY more capable than the cerebrally compromised Bush.

Does the American public see the OBVIOUS truth to that as Republicans and some Independents too think Fox News is the most trustworthy...OH SURE. That is infinite stupidity. No matter what the President does he will NEVER NEVER get Republican "bipartisan" help. They want to defeat him at all costs so they go with their tried and true as they insist Dems are tax and spend even though the deficit soared under the Bush because of his rotten tax cuts for the rich which curiously he was able to get Congress to agree using reconciliation and his totally horrendous, illegal, immoral and by many standards inhumane Iraq War. Wars cost HUGE amounts of money and the defense spending cannot be included in cost cutting. It's separate.

So what does anyone expect? A huge amount of the deficit could be eliminated if we curtailed our defense spending significantly. But the Republicans only want to cut so called "entitlement" programs that actually HELP PEOPLE and work. They want to privatize Social Security and Medicare .... in my posterior NO ONE will want that especially those who have paid into it. Can you imagine with the tanking of the economy brought on by another piece of work Reagan through policies of Bush even helped by Clinton (who I have great reservations about now) how seniors now would be affected if Social Sec. were gutted? Plus Bush took money to finance his war from Social Security and borrowed the rest from China. Their philosophy is really no government spending on anything but defense they really want to end all government spending on humans who need help that is what Republicans are REALLY about as an anti-tax "conservative" crusader Grover Norquist says.

Obama was handed a plate of you know what but the Republicans try to hang all the deficit on him with their tax and spend tired mantra. Salt and pepper in the OBVIOUS racism levied at the president and it's just a toxic situation. I have never seen such insulting and often racist disrespect for a president ... EVER.

STRATEGIES:

I think some GREAT strategies now are to call out Fox News and the Republicans for the liars they continuously are. That is the only way. Keep harping on it and harping on it. Call radio talk shows even conservative ones like XM Patriot and our liberal ones too like Sirius Talk Left or even Sirius Indy talk. I think A.M. radio has some rabid conservatives too although I don't know because I only listen to XM. Air America I think is going off ... not sure when. It's too bad as they have some good ones like Ron Reagan. Stephanie Miller is a very funny liberal commentator. I think The Young Turks with Cenk Yugar is on XM and online. Bill Press is wonderful as is Thom Hartman on XM, and there is PBS and PBS radio as of course is Bill Moyers a particular love of mine but it probably is playing to a selective audience. We want to reach the most people we can.

Blogs are another way to get your opinion out. Make it smart, not nasty if you can, and brevity is always good not that I personally follow those rules but they are good ones. Also try blogging or writing editorials (make them as well written and short as possible) as I have written many times on the Metro West News, the Globe, Times,Washington Post, McClatchy News, Newsweek and others. Metro West Daily News blog has a shortage of liberals. Many blog at the end of each article. I have done it so much that I stopped blogging in the MDN. It does get very tough to read comments against you so beware but the more of us out there the better, grow a thick skin if you can. Huffington Post too is great as is Salon.com ... another site I love is Democracy Now with Amy Goodman. Support for good liberal authors like Jane Mayer, Tom Ricks, Naomi Klein (The Shock Doctrine), JeremyScahill on Blackwater an expert, Michael Isikoff, NYT editorialists Paul Krugman, Frank Rich, Bob Herbert, Gene Robinson. Jeff Scharlet wrote "The Family" an expose on "C " Street religious fundamentalists and the Washington Congressmen. A Ugandan connection there too getting the kill/imprison the gays legislation in Uganda believe it or not. Support liberal publications like the Nation, Mother Jones, or internet Moveon.org. Glen Greenwald is BRILLIANT from Salon.com There are many others. Especially there are military guys out there who are wonderful. I can't think of their names at the moment but probably the Rachel Maddow site has them. Also some are involved in getting rid of the Don't Ask Don't Tell insanity like Dan Choi ... read them and support them if you can.

Some conservative stations if they screen calls and you are critical of them they won't let you on. So I say I just want to discuss such and such and don't sound angry and you might get on. Visibility is what the Democratic party and progressives need it for 2010 and 2012. I cannot BELIEVE that anyone with 1/2 a brain especially if they are middle class or blue collar would want to vote against their OWN economic interest and go back to a Republican party which is not about them, and fundamentalist religious wing nuts to boot and a party which nearly catapulted us into a severe Depression maybe worse than 1929 and possibly could have meant the end of this country as we have known it as a Depression that was avoided by the bailout could have been utterly disastrous. The potential for that was that huge. We do not realize how bad it really was and it was on Bush's watch. McCain sarcastically says BOB -- blame it on Bush .. well YES OF COURSE blame it on Bush who else? If the situation were reversed and it happened with Clinton can you imagine how they would play it and do?

Thank God for Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow and even Chris Matthews on MSNBC 7:00 p.m., 8:00 pm. and 9:00 pm. respectively. Try to watch them frequently if you can and write in supportive comments. See the Internet for their email. Rachel's is rachel@msnbc.com.....Be SUPPORTIVE they are the ONLY ones who point out night after night the hypocrisy and are supremely entertaining and BRILLIANT ... especially Rachel...she is a ph.d and it shows. She is just the best as she has on even those who disagree and holds their feet to the fire!

Support our PROGRESSIVE Journalists and media. OOPS almost forgot Ed Schultz on XM at 3:00 p.m. AND MSNBC at 6:00 pm. Onward.

Natalie

p.s. I am in mourning for my former professor, mentor and email correspondent Howard Zinn who recently died. I miss him every day! His book A People's History is excellent. He influenced my political philosophy like no other ever could. I just loved him. He was kind, inspiring and dedicated to a humane philosophy. I did not always agree with everything he said but his dedication to his basic principles of speaking truth, humanity and justice could not be doubted.