Didn't know this was a democrat constituent group. But hey since the dead and felons vote why not "the greys".
Posted on 07/31/2005 2:46:34 PM PDT by wagglebee
The Democratic think tank Third Way -- run by the same strategists who moved the party to the center on the gun issue -- is crafting new message and policy ideas to help Democrats appeal to Red State voters on abortion, Newsweek reports in the current issue.
And the pro-choice groups themselves have begun tinkering with their approach, even considering whether to abandon the framework of "choice" itself. Last week Democrats signaled that abortion -- or at least the general topic of "privacy" -- will be a major issue at Supreme Court nominee John Roberts' confirmation hearings.
"We've gotten a little far away from talking with people very much from the heart," admits Karen Pearl, interim president of Planned Parenthood. The Roberts hearings could give the movement a first chance to publicly test the new strategy, reports Newsweek Deputy Washington Bureau Chief Debra Rosenberg in the August 8 issue (on newsstands Monday, August 1).
After issuing a series of memos and a major poll on the issue this fall, Third Way will roll out a new strategy to help Democrats broaden their support without sacrificing the party's core values. In one forthcoming brief obtained by Newsweek, Third Way divides voters into abortion "polars" -- those at each extreme, who believe it should always be legal or always illegal -- and abortion "grays," those who believe abortion should be mostly legal or mostly illegal.
Surprisingly, Third Way found that Democrats were losing among abortion grays, even though more of them leaned pro-choice.
The pro-choice groups themselves have also been heatedly debating what to do. This spring, activists in New York and Seattle invited Berkeley linguist George Lakoff to speak about how to reframe the abortion issue.
"They found that choice wasn't playing very well," says Lakoff, who's become an unofficial guru to beleaguered Democrats. He told the groups it was no wonder: "choice" came from a "consumerist" vocabulary, while "life" came from a moral one.
In one of his more controversial suggestions, he advised the activists to reclaim the "life" issue by blaming Republicans for high U.S. infant-mortality rates and mercury pollution that can cause birth defects. "Basically what I'm saying is that conservatives are killing babies," he says.
Lakoff advised focusing on reducing unwanted pregnancies and suggested that the groups talk about "personal freedom," a phrase intended to evoke unpopular government intrusion into matters like the Schiavo case.
Deathocrats
Interesting poll results on the abortion issue here. About 14% of FReepers agreed with you that killing babies is cool. But when you factor in all the DU lurkers who added their two cents to the poll, the numbers went up several percentage points. If we could get the Democrats to give us their pro-lifers, I would gladly part company with our libertine libertarians.
A fat bloated ivory tower professor to go with the lies of a fat an bloated political party.
A liar's liar.
"The Democratic think tank Third Way -- run by the same strategists who moved the party to the center on the gun issue..."
I missed this "shift". Is this just more media nonsense or did any such shift occur at all?
Amen to that!
I think they are referring to John sKerry's photo ops last summer and fall.
I don't believe that the Rats will be able to appear more centrist by dropping the prochoice lingo. It has been used too long to suddenly drop it as there trademark for abortion. There is such a thing as overthinking an issue.
They will not succeed. They are pro-abortion, and they will not be allowed to get out from under this.
Reporters who use the "language" promoted by Lakoff are instantly identifiable as biased.
Thus anyone, MSM or otherwise, who go with the "winning with words" promoted by Lakoff are exposing their leftward bias.
With the new media we should hold the feet to the fire of any reporter or reporterette that DARES to use Lakoff's Goeble-esqe tactics.
What about the personal freedom of the child being killed?
don't count them out.
Liberals are now trying to hide by usurping the word "progressive".
Even O'Reily has been suckered hook line and sinker by that.
But this intrusion into the language of freedom now gives me the willies. It's always creepier when they try to obfuscate by semi-pretending they are us, with the goal of winning over those on the medium-sized school bus.
Further translation:
I'm so damn selfish, I would rather murder a child than take responsibility for my behavioral choices.
ALL Lakoff's Goebles style wordplay requires assumptions.
His biggest and most erroneous assumption is that he is in the majority. Essentially that the majority of the USA belives communism is good.
In this case his assumption is based on a scientific conclusion that a fetus is not a living organism. (and not open to debate)
As Planned Parenthood's take for killing babies continues to dwindle, I'm sure they'll be talking "from the heart" more and more often. The Left is taking Lakoff's advice and developing the new double-speak terms just in time for Hillery's run for office. George Orwell just missed the date by 21 years.
I don't believe that O'Reilly has been "suckered" by anybody, I think he is a die-hard leftist who occasionally acts conservative to keep his ratings up.
But let's not get in the way of the Left's attempt to "frame" the issue.
I think they are moving to "privacy" because it is seeming inevitable that Roe is going to be dropped and pushed back to the states.
Many states have passed constitutional privacy amendments with this in mind.
Thus (if we follow their prediction) when Roe is overturned, they will have their language in place for the 50 state battles.
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