Reading this article in the Columbus Dispatch (link via Pam's House Blend) made me think about how Democrats need to come up with better ways to communicate their alternate vision of America. Here are some nuggets from Paul Hackett:

• Your Right To Liberty: "I’m pro-choice, I’m pro-gayrights, I’m pro-gun-rights. Call me nuts, but I think they’re all based on the same principle and that is we don’t need government dictating to us how we live our private lives."
• Homophobia = Fearmongering: "If what [Republicans] believe is that we’re going to have a scale on judging which Americans have equal rights, yeah, that’s un-American. They’ve got to accept that. It’s absolutely un-American."
• Our Message is Positive, and Theirs is Negative: "Since the Republican Party has been utterly unable to stand for something positive, they have created an atmosphere of fear and intimidation, and have pandered to religious fanatics not to vote for something they believe in, but to vote against their fellow Americans with whom they disagree. Those among us who would use religion and politics to divide rather than unite Americans should be ashamed." [I'm not sure what Pam's source on this one is.]

What do you think: are these rhetorical diamonds in the rough? Sure, the left has to get the mileage it can out of Republican scandals, but how do we package the things that make us great?