Be Nice, as tmi3rd sagely advises. If you give the signals that you'll vote for their opponents no matter what they do, well, they're not going to take you very seriously, are they? If you're a determined vote against them, they can't lose or win your vote.
On that point: Be wary of rhetoric and cant, which gives away a partisan. Words like "socialized," "tyranny," etc., mark you as ideologically opposed to them and ergo not even a possible vote for them. Put your objections in terms of the tangible, not the abstract.
Stuff that independents talk about: Higher taxes, rationed care, being forced into the equivalent of a government-run HMO, "co-ops" specifically intended to drive private insurers out of business, etc. Update: And, yeah, deficits forever. Why the hell are we taking on huge new spending obligations when we're already hemorrhaging money and in the midst of a great recession? Not sure if it's worth mentioning, but at least LBJ's Great Society spending was passed when the nation was prosperous and flush.
Remind them that 85% of the country is content with their health insurance and that it's unfair to ask you to do with less so that others might (maybe) have more.
Pressure and public displeasure can do more to stall this bill. And the longer it stalls the less damage it can do. Which of course is why Obama wanted to rush it through now.
And why he wants people to stop talking about the consequences of it.
Also Glen Reynolds notes that the Tea Party people keep trumping the pro-Obama protesters.
GRASSROOTS VERSUS ASTROTURF: Tea Party Overwhelms Obamacare Advocates in Fort Collins. This kind of thing just keeps happening . . . .
And that's good advice. Get involved, get organized. Obama's poll numbers are droping, the Stimulus has failed.
UPDATE:
More information on the polls.
I am beginning to realize it is no accident that these polls -- which always previously told us the disapproval number as well -- keep hiding it.
They're doing it deliberately. To them, it doesn't matter how many people disapprove of Obama. The only thing that matters are the people who matter, and those are the 53%.
I cannot remember ever having to search for Bush's disapproval figure. But this is like the third poll in three weeks where I have to go to the crosstabs for the stat.
It's 40%, as if we care about those 40% of the public, in case you're curious. Which is certainly an all-time high for Obama in the NBC poll, and maybe something they should have mentioned. (Higher than Gallup's number by a point.)
Interesting.
And is the deal off?
House liberals have quickly rejected a healthcare compromise their leaders forged with centrist Blue Dogs, putting the deal on shaky ground only hours after it was announced.
"It's unacceptable," said Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. "We're not going to vote for anything that doesn't have a robust public plan."
Hmmmm
And here's another post on the polls.
Remember. You are not alone. The media is doing its hardest to prop the President up and downplay every mistake he makes and marginalize anyone that quesitons him, but... the truth is getting out.
In the end, reality wins.