Who will turn out this fall?

Over on Krusty's blog there is a story about the Democratic Party not being prepared for the upcoming election. Krusty makes some points largley based on the Right's obsession with Howard Dean. I won't tackle those issues here. There isn't much hope, just like there isn't much hope getting a teenage girl to take down her poster of Lindsay Lohan.

In the comments section someone posted this that pretty much sums up the Republicans election strategy for the past 10+ years.

Trust me on this one, Pardner: This race will hinge on "social issues," and we're way better at that kind of demagoguery where it counts than you are.

Now since I, as a Liberal, am not a demagogue, I decided I better look up the meaning to make sure it means what I think it does. Thanks to Wikipedia here is what I found.

Demagogy (from Greek demos, "people", and agogos, "leading") refers to a political strategy for obtaining and gaining political power by appealing to the popular prejudices, fears, and expectations of the public — typically via impassioned rhetoric and propaganda, and often using nationalistic or populist themes.

Appealing to the popular prejudices, fears, and expectations of the public - typically via impassioned rhetoric and propaganda, and often using nationalistic or populist themes.

Sounds about right. The next time James Dobson says Gays are going to ruin your marriage, Condi refers to 9/11, Steve King calls immigrants cattle, or someone says freedon fries you are witnessing the Republicans GOTV strategy.

**Update**
Here is an aricle written by EJ Dionne of the Washington Post called "The End of the Right?" that counters what Krusty wrote in his post.