The Republican blueprint for the next two years explained

We have to get ready. The Republicans are very, very good at being out of power. Their message machine is works well when they're on the offensive. They've successfully tunneled into the heads of traditional media opinion-makers, and made them frightened to challenge the lies and slanders they dole out for fear of being tarred with the "liberal bias" brush. They're going to be merciless, mocking, and downright mean.

And their tactic, explained on this Washington Whispers blog (h/t Carpetbagger Report), is a classic decapitation strategy:

Looks like the Republicans in the House aren't planning to play nice-nice with th Democrats after all. The emerging House Republican plan on how to address th new Democratic majority is turning toward an aggressive effort to portray Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi and her team as out of touch and liberal.

"Come January, we'll take her head off every day," said a top GOP aide involved n the planning. "It will be a pure war of ideas over the next two years.

Leading the battle with be incoming House Minority Leader John Boehner and his conservative team. Insiders say that the goal is to pick at Democratic initiatives as pro-tax, pro-spending, or unworkable.

"We are going to re-establish that we are the party of ideas, that they got elected in a fluke, and we're going to make that known every day, every way," said the official. What's more, said another Republican aide, the GOP also plans to highlight what they see as Democratic hypocrisy or backtracking on previous promises. That started today when Boehner's office slammed the Democratic plan to abandon support for instituting the recommendations of the 9/11 commission. "There will be certain elements of 'I told you so' to the campaign," said the Republican aide.

By the way, we could all see that critique coming about not implementing the 9-11 Commission reforms, couldn't we? Some of us made it ourselves. It's 100% hypocritical for Republicans to lambast Democrats for that, considering they had 2 years to put the recommendations in place and demurred. But there is no such thing as internal logic in the Republican Party. They act like a shark, only ever moving forward, neglecting to see how their rhetoric matches reality.

The question is whether or not Democrats will shrink from these daily attacks, and demur at passing their agenda in the Congress, or whether they'll stand strong. Early signs, not only with the 9-11 Commission reforms but with Medicare Part D, are not promising, and this is a separate challenge we face, other than the coming Republican war:

The only thing that might stop the new Congress from going through with this sensible plan is huge bargaining power of a different kind. I'm talking now about politics. Because when it comes to campaign contributions and Washington lobbyists, Big Pharma has more bargaining clout than almost anyone. It has already lined up former Democratic congressmen and officeholders to lobby their old colleagues. And it's showering the Hill with money. Already Max Baucus, the upcoming head of the Senate Finance Committee, is expressing doubts about the new Democratic plan.

I think it's fair to say that Democrats were given an opportunity to govern rather than a full mandate. That opportunity will go right out the window if they give in to big money lobbyists and the Republican attack machine. The way to counteract this rests with the progressive movement. We have to get extremely loud right now and make sure that the incoming Democratic Congress lives up to their promises. I know that within MoveOn, this message is being internalized, and there are several events next week dedicated to letting Congress know that we are watching and we will support those that push forward an agenda for change.

The attack dogs will be out every single day. We have to not only fight back, but empower the party leadership to stand their ground and fight back as well. There's no reason to suggest that Republicans think of this as anything but a speed bump on their road to power. They're deeply wrong, but if we bungle this opportunity, we give them the chance to pull the wool over the eyes of the public again.

Here's the good news. If the Republicans overreach with their attacks on Pelosi, they threaten to only widen an increasing gender gap. Plus, there's a Republican President still in the White House who will still get a lot of blame for the country's problems, which will push the Congressional debate off to the side. And, our vast left-wing conspiracy is far more in place than the last time they tried this slash-and-burn approach in the late 1990s.

What we can do for now is make sure that our Democratic Congresscritters recognize that business as usual will not work, and that the only way to make these temporary majorities permanent is by following through on an agenda which benefits all people rather than narrow interests.