Democrats Starting to Learn Republican Methods of Framing Debate

New York Times Magazine ^ | July 17, 2005 | Matthew Bai

[JBGUSA]

The Framing Wars

By MATT BAI Published: July 17, 2005 After last November's defeat, Democrats were like aviation investigators sifting through twisted metal in a cornfield, struggling to posit theories about the disaster all around them.

*snip*

*snip*

Democrats thought they knew the answer. Even before the election, a new political word had begun to take hold of the party, beginning on the West Coast and spreading like a virus all the way to the inner offices of the Capitol. That word was ''framing.''

Republicans, of course, were the ones who had always excelled at framing controversial issues, having invented and popularized loaded phrases like ''tax relief'' and ''partial-birth abortion''... But now Democrats said that they had learned to fight back. ''

*snip*

The father of framing is a man named George Lakoff, and his spectacular ascent over the last eight months in many ways tells the story of where Democrats have been since the election.

*snip*

When he, like many liberals, became exasperated over the drift of the Kerry campaign last summer -- ''I went to bed angry every night,'' he told me -- Lakoff decided to bang out a short book about politics and language, based on theories he had already published with academic presses, that could serve as a kind of handbook for Democratic activists.

That book, ''Don't Think of an Elephant!'' is now in its eighth printing, having sold nearly 200,000 copies, first through liberal word of mouth and the blogosphere and then through reviews and the lecture circuit.

*snip*

But they never managed to tie them all into a single, unifying image that voters could associate with the president. As a result, none of them stuck. Bush was attacked. Kerry was framed.

*snip*

[freebilly]

"pro-choice," "gay," "gay marriage," "welfare," "social security," "reproductive rights,"... Yeah, it's conservatives framing the debates. (/sarcasm)

How about "Multi-cultural" , "diversity", "hate speech"....

[still_learning]

We need a HILLARY WARNING before someone just posts her picture.

My eyes are burning and my teeth are clenched.

[still_learning]

All these terms are good for the liberal dictionary.

Hate Speech - any idea put forth that is inconsistent with the world view of socialism.

[goldstategop]

ROFL! You don't need slick marketing to get people to support you. What you need are good ideas. Any one can explain them. You don't need an Ivory Tower egg-head to do that for you. The Democrats have to explain what they want to about the economy, national security, and cultural values issues. We're waiting to hear something positive from them in those fields. So far the Democrats haven't inspired people to vote for them as opposed to voting against the other party. No amount of "framing" will help them if they're not honest with the American people about who they are and what set of beliefs motivate them to seek public office.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[leprechaun9]

This is similar with their reasoning on education! No one has to learn anything, you merely have to FEEL good about yourself and get along with your neighbor.

Since the election of President Bush in 1999, the Democraps FRAMING has been to JUST SAY NO to every proposal, policy and most nominees that satisfy the criteria that President Bush stated when he ran for the presidency. I believe they have had the Dare gene implanted!

[Just mythoughts]

That word "FRAMING" has more than one meaning.

Appears we know which meaning these liberals have selected to use, anybody heard of Joe Wilson and his woman?????

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

"Liberals lie at the premise, accept their premise and you can only lose the argument" -- unknown

[kabar]

Exactly. The Dems still believe that the public is not rejecting their message, just the way it is presented.

[Ditter]

How can you expect people who truly believe that the main stream media is conservative to be able to see anything clearly? They are delusional.

[Fruit of the Spirit]

When liberals start their "framing" using propaganda, making accusations and pointing their fingers, it's time to start investigating them because it usually turns out that they are the ones doing the very thing they're accusing someone else of doing.

Is it possible that the Clintons are behind the ACLU to get rid of the Ten Commandments because they've broken all the commandments?

[Salvation]

Makes sense

---

can't get to Bush ------ then frame Rove.

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

All they need do-in order to attain victory-is keep Howard Dean as their party chairman.

The truth is, any nominee will look relatively sane when juxtaposed against Mr. Dean.

Short of nominating the Unabomber, they can't go wrong!

:7)

[freebilly]

The truth is, any nominee will look relatively sane when juxtaposed against Mr. Dean.

Well..., seen aLgOrE lately...?

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

I'll admit, he is in a deplorable condition.

Or in Al Gore Crazyspeak...SHAMEFUL!!!!!!!!

:))

Seriously, I'm beginning to harbor some serious suspicions that he may have taken one of Ted Kascynzki's math courses during the course of his academic career.

It seems more like acquired than congenital insanity with Gore.

[50mm]

Liberal Doublespeak Word/Phrase	Proper Word/Phrase	Meaning	Comments
Diversity	Lower standards and a hodgepodge of perverse lifestyles	Even though the SCOTUS has ruled quotas illegal, your employer will recruit and promote, not based on ability, experience or work ethic, but on skin color, gender or sexual perversion until they satisfy outside liberals that the workforce has the “right” percentages of specially protected groups.	White males are considered unnecessary in  “diverse” environments.
Diversity Training	Brainwashing	You will be forced to sit and listen to some perverted, whacko speaker from some extreme agenda group as he/she/it explains to you the wonders of all of the most repugnant and vile perversions that even Sodom and Gomorrah residents would have found appalling.	It’s okay to be nasty to heterosexuals, white males, and Christians.
Gay	Homosexual	Liberals prefer the word “gay” because it sounds positive and happy. The truth is there is nothing gay about the lifestyle that invites deadly diseases, mental illness and early death.
Homophobe	Someone who speaks the truth about homosexual behavior	By assigning a negative name to those who tell the truth, liberals believe they can squelch opposition to the homosexual agenda.	For some reason the left has no label for homosexuals that push their agenda in militant and ostentatious ways so I’ll give them one – Homofascists.
Affirmative Action	Reverse Discrimination	Discriminate against unprotected classes by hiring and promoting the unqualified or under-qualified to “atone” for real or imagined wrongs that may have been committed against the great-great-grandparents of today’s member of a protected class.	White males are not eligible for “affirmative action.”
Religious Right	People with moral values	To liberals, anybody who doesn’t celebrate abortion, sodomy, homosexual marriage and embryonic stem cell research is on the “Religious Right.”	Liberals do not consider worshipping the environment or the state too religious.
Stem Cell Research	Embryonic Stem Cell Research	Liberals intentionally omit the embryonic word to fool the ill-informed and demonize those who oppose destroying potential life for pie-in-the sky, unproven research that is better accomplished with adult stem cells.
Multiculturalism	Balkanizationism	No need to assimilate into American society because we hate America anyway. No need to learn English, just press “2.” Wave the flag of the country you love so much that you deserted it rather than the flag of the country you entered illegally and now hate.
Tolerance	Acceptance of amorality, whacky and/or dangerous religions and weird behavior.	You must not only accept everything that everybody does, however morally or ethically repugnant, but you must be indoctrinated about those practices and you must celebrate them.	Tolerance does not need to be shown to white males and Christians.
Women’s Health Clinic	Abortion Mill	Deep down liberals know that abortion is murder, so they don’t use the abortion word.	Unborn babies don’t get very good health care at women’s health clinics.
Pro-choice	Pro-Abortion	See above	The unborn baby is never given a choice. Liberals don’t bat an eye when told that one or two million unborn American babies a year are murdered, yet become very agitated when talking about a few thousand brave, volunteer soldiers sacrificing their lives fighting terrorists.
Late term obstetric procedure	Partial Birth Abortion	This makes the liberals so queasy that they leave out both birth and abortion. If you start describing the procedure they’ll cover their ears and start whistling, singing or screaming, possibly even hitting you.	Liberals will use the “abortion” word when coat hangers are used again for the procedure.
Safe sex	Russian Roulette for Health; Lunacy	Liberals know that condoms have a high rate of failure for AIDS, STD’s and pregnancy, but their agenda to sexualize, and teach immorality to impressionable youth overrides sanity. The truth would also interfere with the glamorization of homosexual behavior and interfere with homosexual recruitment.	Putting condoms on cucumbers and encouraging homosexual experimentation during sexual indoctrination classes in the schools does not help impressionable youth stay safe.
Hate Speech	Speaking the Truth	Anybody who tells the truth about homosexual behavior is engaging in “hate speech.”	It’s okay to make disparaging remarks about Christians and their beliefs.