George Lakoff on Democrats

[BEZERKO]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/08">Disaster Messaging
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/08">by George Lakoff

Democrats are constantly resorting to disaster messaging. Here’s a description the typical situation.

• The Republicans outmessage the Democrats. The Democrats, having no effective response, face disaster: They lose politically, either in electoral support or failure on crucial legislation.

• The Democrats then take polls and do focus groups. The pollsters discover that extremist Republicans control the most common (“mainstream”) way of thinking and talking about the given issue.

• The pollsters recommend that Democrats move to the right: adopt conservative Republican language and a less extreme version of conservative policy, along with weakened versions of some Democratic ideas.

• The Democrats believe that, if they follow this advice, they can gain enough independent and Republican support to pass legislation that, at least, will be some improvement on the extreme Republican position.

• Otherwise, the pollsters warn, Democrats will lose popular support — and elections — to the Republicans, because “mainstream” thought and language resides with the Republicans.

• Believing the pollsters, the Democrats change their policy and their messaging, and move to the right. • The Republicans demand even more and refuse to support the Democrats.

We have seen this on issues like health care, immigration, global warming, finance reform, and so on. We are seeing it again on the Death Gusher in the Gulf. It happens even with a Democratic president and a Democratic majority in both houses of Congress.

Why? Is there anything the Democrats can do about it? First, it has to be understood. It doesn’t just happen.


http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/08

[RKP5637]

1. The dems compromise but can't seem to wrap their heads around the fact that

the R's want no compromising. Hence, the dems go off to see if they can do a better job of compromising. If we can just get it right the R's will come around. This is a scenario for perpetual loses and plays right into the R's strategy.

The dems need to drive a stake into the ground and rally around it, but the dems have been bought off with lots of cash, so that's unattainable.

So, we are left with this perpetual quicksand we call progress.

Until the bribery and extreme money are out of politics this will continue, but SCOTUS has said it's just perfectly fine.

One day a corporation will just announce they have fully acquired the US gov.

[bvar22]

3. What you are describing is "Capitulation", not "compromise".

Over the last 18 months, the Democratic Leadership has moved ever to The Right, conceding issue after issue, under the cover of "seeking bi-partisan consensus"....from which they have gotten exactly NOTHING.


"If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for,
at some point we have to recognize that we don't really stand for them."
--- Paul Wellstone

[RKP5637]

4. Thank you, yes, capitulation is far more accurate than compromise! n/t

[BEZERKO]

5. This is more about how

Democratic party operatives, especially the media consultants, typically go about their daily jobs. It's about how they use polling data to craft a message instead of the other way around, using their message to change public opinion. It's about how Democrats are anchored to the 18th century idea of reason. According to enlightenment reason, reason was literal, unemotional, universal, dissembodied, and serves self interest, but recent work in cognitive and brain sciences shows this to be false. Reason is now understood to be embodied, mostly unconscious, to require emotion, and works within the logic of frames, metaphors, narratives, and prototypes. The Democrats Lakoff are talking about are wedded to this notion of Enlightenment Reason, so they do an mentally disembodied unemotional analysis of polling data to find their message. Money is part of the story, but Democratic operatives and their missunderstanding of how brains really work is the target of this piece.

[RKP5637]

6. Thanks for having posted this. It's given to me a lot of insight into what is occurring. Your

followup was helpful. Thanks!

[Nite Owl]

2. Nail meets hammer

the dems just don't get it. They need to lead not just follow. People continue to vote R because they see a party who they may not agree with but they have principles. The dems always appear weak on their message because they are acting for the most part like watered down R's.

[mzmolly]

7. I'll never understand why he's not a hired consultant for the White House.

He was a consultant to Dean when we took the House/Senate and the White House. Note to White House - HIRE LAKEOFF!

[RubyDuby in GA]

8. Oops, wife signed on, sorry. ignore this comment.

[BEZERKO]

9. Thank you!

I wish they would hire him.