There was this cartoon my mother really loved, and she quoted from it often. I don't know if the caption was already a well-worn exclamation, but here it is: "you mean to sit there and say!" The cartoon using this depicted a middle-aged couple in the bathroom together. As I remember it from about age six, she's at the sink and he's on the throne reading the newspaper while he's "working". And she's turning to him and saying something.

So bartlett - "you mean to sit there and say?" Get up off your ass, show your Insanity Party what REAL courage and patriotism is, and CALL THEM OUT. File a libel suit or otherwise make trouble for them. Call them out on EXACTLY who they've become and make a public spectacle of them. If someone like you, with your credentials, were to take a public stand, go on offense, start circulating on radio and broadcast and cable TV. Do full-on internet. For Heaven's sake, there are people you can hire to help you do that shrewdly and more effectively if you don't know how, yourself. A good publicist would be glad to help you and some of them aren't terribly expensive. OR you must have friends who are adept at this kind of strategic thinking and tactical planning whom you could consult or ask their advice or pick their brain for directions or ideas here. They wouldn't charge you and just a few suggestions from them would give you MORE than enough to keep you busy on this pro-active on-the-offensive campaign. So it doesn't have to be about the money. It'd be your time, your name, and your face. Heck, I just gave you a bunch of ideas for free, and MULTIPLE other people here on DU are BRILLIANT thinkers and strategizers and their posts would be beneficial to read and heed.

And all the yahoos would descend upon you for sure. Never mind. You'd start gaining momentum as more reasonable minds began to take notice, issue public statements of gratitude and agreement, and your profile in this regard begins to grow. bartlett, do it for your own enlightened self-interest. There'll be a book deal in this eventually, and you'll do so much television that you'll shape an even more burnished and higher-octane reputation, the kind that images you securely in viewers' and decision-makers' minds as a widely-acknowledged prominent expert. Soon enough, nowadays, that's apt to lead to a radio talk show or an hour on MSNBC, and then you're in a different game. One that pays very nicely. Your future would have been given a shot in the arm, especially as you age. That becomes a lot more important as you age, dude. Don't just stop at the "Daily Show."

Don't just "sit there and say." Do NOT. If you care about your country - hell, if you care about your own party and people who you THOUGHT shared your views and saw the world the way you did. If they once did, as you've now recognized publicly, they don't anymore. You don't even know who or what these folks are anymore. It's THEY who are "other." It's THEY who are foreign and "not one of us." The whole I-am-rubber-you-are-glue thing, where the most heinous and treasonous condemnations your side rains down on ours actually bounce back and land squarely on you. That has to be a horrifically jolting realization to have to face, especially if it's a political party and political ideals that you've grown up with. Ideals that you've had faith in. But you've realized that these people are turning those ideals inside-out and upside-down and backwards.

bartlett, you need to step up. It's for your own good, in the short run AND long run. It's awfully good for your conscience. And you won't be standing there alone. You'll be surprised who'll be standing with you, and how many there'll be.

Don't just "sit there and say." Get up off yer ass and get to work!!! ACTION. The whole actions-speak-louder-than-words thing. You could rescue this country, or at least be the start of that rescue.

Don't just "sit there and say." Get up off yer ass and do something.