Just Win, Baby!
Use that phrase and even casual NFL fans will know exactly what you're talking about. The Raiders - as personified by the late Jack Tatum and the late Lyle Alzado - were a tough, borderline dirty, team who often led the league in penalties.
What does this have to do with the GOP?
Well, let us look to what is going on concurrently Nebraska and Pennsylvania.
It is probably not commonly known that while John McCain won the state of Nebraska by 15 points in 2008, Barack Obama actually won 1 electoral vote by taking the state congressional district which encompasses the city of Omaha. The GOP obviously didn't like this and are using their large majorities in the 2011 state legislature to change this anomaly.
At the same time, about 1000 miles to the east in Pennsylvania, the GOP are reportedly looking to change their rules to go to the 2008 rules of Nebraska. This would be a huge shift in dampening democracy. A review of the 2008 results show Barack Obama with a 10+ pt win over John McCain; yet, under the proposed rule changes, it is likely that John McCain would have taken more electoral votes from Pennsylvania because he won relatively close margins in huge swaths (geographically) of the state - while Barack Obama won huge margins in the densely populated city of Philadelphia and it's surrounding suburbs.
Clearly there is no underlying principle for the GOP beyond the Al Davis Motto. Whatever it takes. The ends justify the means.
It would be one thing to have President Obama fail to be re-elected in 2012 because of a stalled economy, but it is quite another thing to see the Republicans changing the rules of the game to stack the deck against the Democratic base. This is what has already been going on with the campaign finance laws, voter ID laws, voter registration laws, etc. (That's right... I even linked the "etc"!)
Honestly, it pisses me off. Keep in mind though: the Raiders have not won a Super Bowl since 1984.
We can only hope karma will win in 2012.
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