RL, you should know me better by now. I never say something unless I have a reason to. But the tone in your response nearly proves what I'm talking about. You said:

I'd be a lot more inclined to believe your protestations if you weren't writing stuff like "Bushies... watch your back... these people say they believe in diversity, as long as you agree with them. Diversity in their eyes does not extend to you." That's nice. Why don't you make a few more dismissive and nasty generalizations? And I cannot **believe** you just compared yourself to Jews in Berlin in 1942! Are you the group that has been called treasonous, unAmerican, unpatriotic, and all the other bile that people like Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh et. al. spew?

Are liberal bloggers writing stuff about "curb-stomping" people like you? Frickin' please.

First a clarification... WHEN HAVE I EVER SAID ANYTHING LIKE THAT??? Have I EVER called you or anyone else treasonous, unAmerican, or unpatriotic???

Ann Coulter annoys me. I've never cited her, nor do I care for her approach to conservatism. I've never actually heard Sean or Rush specifically call anyone any of those things.

Secondly, I wasn't making generalizations. There are things that have happened to me that I've not written about. When I say "I feel like a Jew in Berlin", there are reasons.  When I say, "Bushies, watch your backs, there are reasons. There are things that have happened nationally that concern me:

• My car has been keyed through my BUSH bumper sticker.
• My wife has her job threatened because she's Pro-Life
• I'm called a HATER because of my religious beliefs. (I don't HATE anyone, I simply disagree with them in the arena of ideas)
• I walked into my office one day after having a political disagreement with a democrat to find a small effigy hanging from a noose, with a post-it note attached saying, "YOU".
• Cars that were rented by the GOP in Milwaukee to help people get to the polls had their tires slashed the night before the election
• Protestors ransacked a Bush/Cheney headquarters in Orlando, and 2 people receive minor injuries during protest
• Shots were fired at a GOP headquarters
• GOP headquarters in Madison hit with bricks, paint bombs
• and for the sake of time, I'm going to drop the links, (the lunch hour thing, ya know) but...
• In Gainesville, Fla., a mob entered Bush-Cheney headquarters where one Democrat battered a GOP official.
• Democrats rushed the Miami, Fla., Bush-Cheney headquarters, attacking and intimidating GOP workers.
• In Orlando, Fla., a Kerry supporter onslaught sacked and vandalized GOP headquarters.
• In Tampa, Fla., more Kerry supporters raided Bush-Cheney headquarters, vandalizing it and intimidating the GOP workers.
• In Huntington, W.V., shots were fired into the Bush-Cheney GOP headquarters.
• In Greensburgh, Pa., more Democrats invaded GOP headquarters and harassed GOP workers.
• GOP headquarters, Gettysburg, Pa., has been attacked twice by Kerry supporters, once with rocks and once with shots fired into the windows.
• In Bellevue, Wash., Bush-Cheney headquarters was vandalized using a large rock to break the window and steal three laptop computers containing campaign strategy.
• In Oxford, Miss., Bush-Cheney headquarters experienced felony vandalism with broken windows and doors.
• Wisconsin and Minnesota are battleground states where Democrat vandalism rages. In Duluth, swastikas were used to deface Bush-Cheney signs, In Madison, the swastikas were burned into the grass of yards displaying Bush-Cheney signs.
• In West Allis, Minn., 50 pro-Kerry people literally invaded Bush-Cheney headquarters, creating havoc. Others attacked in St. Paul, Minn., Independence, Mo., Kansas City, Mo., and Oregon.
• Twice in one week, Gallatin County, Mont., Republican headquarters reported acts of vandalism; destroyed windows, egging the building and sign, and tagging the building with spray paint.
• In Howard County, Md., Bush-Cheney signs in homeowner yards were burned, one spreading to the property. On major highways, large Bush-Cheney signs were burned. One Democrat was jailed for sawing down 4-foot by 8-foot Bush signs with a chain saw.

I could go on and on, and I could provide link after link after link. And you ACCUSE ME of  making dismissive and nasty generalizations? Come on...

Was it hinted darkly several times by the vice president that if your party won, we'd have a nuclear attack on an American city?

Yes, and I thought it was unnecessary. That disappointed me.

Secondly, it's true that Dems have been losing ground for a host of reasons, but the reasons are not the ones you seem to think. You'll be finding that out in the next couple of years. Third, Tom Daschle's constituency was largely conservative, which is what made him such an ineffective minotiry leader. His seat finally reflects the constituency. This example is NOT "proof" that the Dems can't appeal to anyone, it just shows that he lost a seat it was incredible that he had in the first place. 

Perhaps that was a generalization. But I stand by it. Daschle lost a seat he held for 24 years. Typically that is given up by retirement, not by being voted out. 

Third, how is it that what almost exactly HALF of the people in this country believe strongly in "isn't popular? "That's kind of delusional, don't you think?

HALF? Look at how they voted on particular issues. Presidentially, maybe. but the country is voting more conservatively than I think you'd like to admit. But we'll never agree on that... or much of anything... but anyway...

Lastly, you want bipartisanship? Then maybe you should stop making the implication that liberals are acting like Nazis and scaring poor, poor, powerless little conservatives to death. That's incredibly offensive, and disingenuous, and I actually would find it kind of humourous if it didn't seem like you were being absolutely serious about it.

I find it (as you said) equally 'offensive and disingenuous' when:

• Al Gore screams at the top of his lungs, "[Bush] betrayed our country, he played on our fears"
• Dennis Kucinich accuses Bush of targeting civilians for assassination in Iraq
• Ted Kennedy saying Bush "concocted a war for political gain" and told us "lie after lie after lie",
• A day after the death of Ronald Reagan, Ted Rall says on his blog, "I'm sure he's turning a nice crispy brown now"
• Other liberal bloggers cry out, "John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr., where are you when we need you?"
• A play off Broadway is called, ' I'm Going to Kill the President'

And you implicate me to be delusional? You think I'm making this stuff up? This is why I think the GOP is making gains. The rhetoric, the message, and the actions I see & hear from factions of your party scare me to death! And while I know there are factions of my party that equally bother you, I know of no conservative Republican who would ever think of doing these kinds of things. I've not seen any news reports of Republican activists assaulting, storming and vandalizing, and firing shots at Democrats. I don't hate John Kerry, Hillary, Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden, or anyone on the other side of the isle as much as I disagree with them. But I would never intimidate anyone like that.

Finally, I read what that idiot wrote about curb stomping liberals. I thought it was a terrible metaphor, and I'm ashamed to be associated with that guy. I like to discuss things in the arena of ideas with civility and magnanimity. Are you associating me with that???

Maria... I like you. I always have. I respect your opinion, though we philosophically disagree. I only offer mine so you'll at least have an understanding of why I believe as I do, and I always offer the same opportunity to you.. Whether you agree or not is up to you. BUT... I have never acted in such a way toward liberals because I disagree with them as they acted toward me. In the future, please ask me for a clarification before dropping a scud like that in my notes again. I know that you may thinking of what I wrote recently over at nEo's site, and I've apologized for that. It was wrong.

Rick