The fight against conservatives and their Republican puppets starts today.

Repeat this endlessly: Everything bad in America is the fault of Republicans and conservatives.

Be prepared for brutal, unfair, unfounded, vicious attacks from conservatives – it’s all they’ve got.  It’s going to get worse before it gets better. Don’t get psyched out – the R’s play a brutal, no holds bar, no prisoners taken game. They’re wounded this morning and more dangerous than ever. Expect a bloody, vicious attack on everything Democratic. Take the attack seriously and fight back, but don’t deal with the substance of their attacks – play offense, not defense. “Well, Chris Matthews, I’d say that the problem with Karl Rove’s statement is it’s complete divorce from reality. What’s real is that Americans support fair treatment of all citizens and Republicans are opposed to it. They have to attack us because they can’t defend their insane war in Iraq, their divisive tactics at home or their completely failed policies of extremism and pandering to the most ideologically extreme parts of the wingnut base.”

Don’t try to work with them. Any time you feel the urge for some sort of bi-partisan comity, remind yourself that Republicans impeached Bill Clinton for having sex and passed a law to make it legal for Dubya to declare anyone he wants an enemy combatant and then torture them. The people you are dea;ling with have no ethical or moral center. They would slice their own mother’s throats on live TV if they thought it’d win votes. Grover Norquist was right that bipartisanship is another name for date rape – he forget to mention the Republicans are the rapists. Ignore Holy Joe Lieberman when he advises you to work with the R’s. And never stop blaming the Republicans for being obstructionist.

Don’t change the rules. As Dems, we believe in fair play but resist the urge for a while. The Republicans have stacked the congressional deck to keep the minority party from having any power. Don’t change the rules. Make them live under the rules they formulated. When they (and Joe Lieberman) complain and cry and whine, and they will, just say “these are the rules we inherited from the Republicans.” Don’t explain or excuse or rationalize. These are the rules we inherited from the Republicans. If you must expand, say something like, “I don’t know why they’re complaining. They wrote the rules.”

Be proud of your stances on any all issues – We’re Right, They’re Wrong. Got it? Progressives, liberals, whatever label you want, we are right and conservatives are wrong. Don’t ever apologize for taking liberal positions on issues. Reproductive freedom? We’re right, they’re wrong. Gay rights? We’re right, they’re wrong. Iraq war? We’re right they’re wrong (the details can be worked out later!). Public education? We’re right they’re wrong. Family and children’s rights? We’re right, they’re wrong. Taxation? We’re right, they’re wrong. Federal budget? We’re right they’re wrong. There isn’t a single issue one which conservatives are right. They’ve had six years to enact conservative legislation to their heart’s content and the result was New Orleans drowning and the Iraqi quagmire and the Federal budget disaster. We don’t even owe conservative ideology lip service.

Maybe the two most important points . . .

Ignore the bobbleheads on the Sunday Shows. Seriously. Last night was a referendum on conservative governance and conservatives lost. The bobbleheads will tell you to marginalize the liberal wing of the party. They’re not just wrong, they’re dead f-ing wrong. Most Americans (see my post on Bill Scher’s book) agree with liberal positions on social and economic issues. When the bobbleheads yammer on about moving to the center, look them in the eye and tell them, in no uncertain terms, “Screw you, you mealy-mouthed, cowardly, self loving and self loathing Republican enablers. We’re right and you’re wrong.”