No doubt that even the most wacky social movements attract well-meaning supporters. I recall a book written in 1938 (if memory serves) title _The revolution of nihilism_ by Hermann Rauschning, the nazi president of the Danzig senate, who defected to the West and joined the anti-fascist forces - allegedly after becoming disillusioned by the brutality of the Nazi regime.
This humble writer was a willing supporter of Solidarnosc in 1980 but shortly thereafter he realized that this was yet another power grab that had very little to do with democratic governance. The breaking point came when he was asked to support a campaign to subvert democratic representation principles in one of the regions and support an elector regime that guaranteed the supremacy of the center.
I also agree with your statement about organizing genius of the Republicans. But having said all that, even the most brilliant organizers cannot ignore the structural and environmental constraints in which a movement must operate. The US business is extremely well organized and arch-reactionary, and will fiercely oppose any social movement it perceives as a threat to its interest. The majority of the US public is complacent, naïve, and easily manipulated by propaganda. Large segments of the US population are, moreover, rabidly racist, sexist, xenophobic, and self-righteous. Finally, the US capitalism delivers comfortable (if not high) standards of living to a fairly large segment of the population and provides limited venues for addressing individual grievances (cf. litigation).
This creates an environment that not only stacks the deck for the status quo and conservative policies and movements, but that is probably _the_ most poisonous for anything progressive among all developed countries. The fact that there is any labor or progressive movement at all in this land of the rabid reaction is a testimony to the organizational genius of progressive forces, including the Democrats. But do not expect a patient that has been barely resuscitated from this poisonous atmosphere will be able to run and fight the reactionary juggernaut.
Wojtek