Dems Need to Heed Lakoff Now...Here's what Lakoff Says"

[amborin]

<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-lakoff/the-palin-choice-and-the_b_123012.html>


"...Conservative theorists won them over in two ways: inventing and promulgating the idea of "liberal elite" and focusing campaigns on social and family issues. They have been doing this for many years and have changed a lot of brains through repetition. Palin will appeal strongly to conservative populists, attacking Obama and Biden as pointy-headed, tax-and-spend, latte liberals. The tactic is to divert attention from difficult realities to powerful symbolism.

What Democrats have shied away from is a frontal attack on radical conservatism itself as an un-American and harmful ideology. I think Obama is right when he says that America is based on people caring about each other and working together for a better future -- empathy, responsibility (both personal and social), and aspiration. These lead to a concept of government based on protection (environmental, consumer, worker, health care, and retirement protection) and empowerment (through infrastructure, public education, the banking system, the stock market, and the courts). Nobody can achieve the American Dream or live an American lifestyle without protection and empowerment by the government. The alternative, as Obama said in his nomination speech, is being on your own, with no one caring for anybody else, with force as a first resort in foreign affairs, with threatened civil liberties and a right-wing government making your most important decisions for you. That is not what American democracy has ever been about.

What is at stake in this election are our ideals and our view of the future, as well as current realities. The Palin choice brings both front and center. Democrats, being Democrats, will mostly talk about the realities nonstop without paying attention to the dimensions of values and symbolism. Democrats, in addition, need to call an extremist an extremist: to shine a light on the shared anti-democratic ideology of McCain and Palin, the same ideology shared by Bush and Cheney. They share values antithetical to our democracy. That needs to be said loud and clear, if not by the Obama campaign itself, then by the rest of us who share democratic American values.

Our job is to bring external realities together... "

[quiet.american]

1. I'm glad to see someone besides myself mentioning Lakoff's name. He's excellent. nt

[amborin]

2. me, too

Lakoff *is* excellent

someone already posted this the other day but it seemed to be largely ignored

[Jackpine Radical]

4. That might have been me...

or somebody else.

[chill_wind]

21. We were just talking about him here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6973717

[mzmolly]

22. Obama should employ Mr. Lakoff, he's brilliant.

:hi:

[BrklynLiberal]

14. I have also made a couple of posts about Lakoff in recent days.

I think his ideas are part of the key to winning.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=6905646&mesg_id=6906525

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=6869001&mesg_id=6869524

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3880766&mesg_id=3880892

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=6821196&mesg_id=6821399

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=6859130&mesg_id=6859137

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=6859130&mesg_id=6859137

[amborin]

18. yes

agreed

[central scrutinizer]

38. Agreed,"Don't think of an elephant" should be required reading for all DU

[Jackpine Radical]

3. You're singin' my song.

I will say, however, that I'm pretty sure either Obama or some f his advisers are fully tuned in to Lakoff. Just analyze how Obama responds to things, how often he evokes nurturant-parent themes, and how he generalizes them into a single vision.

[TheKentuckian]

5. It may be time to

play into the culture wars. They roused the rabble, it may be time to point out they are rabble and peel off the sane and the people that think they are.

[FogerRox]

13. Exactly

[jwirr]

6. Anyone who wants to help in this election needs to read the whole

book. He has hit the nail on the head.

[Jackpine Radical]

7. Yeah, I know.

I'm a psychologist. It's the kind of book that makes me keep hitting myself on the forehead and going "D'Oh. Of course."

[Jim Sagle]

8. Too bad Obama won't agree.

His whole MO is blurring differences, ignoring issues, and touting cooperation.

Strange tactics in a year when the Republican and conservative brands are in the toilet.

[msongs]

10. kerry 2.0 - label the repubs as extremist because they ARE; the truth is fair game nt

[BeyondGeography]

9. We need to paint them as extremists

Boxer has used that term about Palin; our ticket needs to follow suit.

K&R

[amborin]

12. yes, the rethugs are extremists, anti-democratic, and unpatriotic n/t

[lxlxlxl]

11. to a point george, but when "progressive" = someones post on kos

then this whole idea of being pre-prepared with proper concepts and focus goes out the window. "We" have no collective identity in the American Mind. "We" are still hippies and whatever convenient memory the republicans feel like telling the news.

We have a CONSERVATIVE media. Face it.

The republicans took a couple of posts on kos and speculation about those posts as OUTRAGE. they did not share the same opinion when the tabloids were running gay sex and drug stories about obama for 12 mos., or when they trashed Hillary (WHERE IS HILLARY?) since 1992. That is the same for all of their "frames" -- the now clearly phony outrage over wright, michelle, and whatever dreamworld fantasy they have been putting out there for the year.

lakoff's stuff works if the other side is rational, and if you are running a long race.

this is a short sprint with one rational person, and completely batshit phony republicans on the other who will say anything, and has bullied the press into their favor.

[tblue]

15. The only people we need to reach are the sane ones and the independents. Screw the batshit ones.

There is nothing you can do about the truly whacked.

[lxlxlxl]

30. quote from Steve Schmidt.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/07/america/schmidt.php?page=2

"This new environment, he has told friends, is easily manipulated because of round-the-clock thirst for news, increased competition, lowered standards created by the proliferation of outlets and hunger for the outrageous."

[amborin]

16. isn't Lakoff saying

and agreeing that the rethugs are not interested in facts, or the truth?

they're not being rational in that sense

only in the sense they are cunningly manipulating voters' emotions using their treacherous symbolism and lies

and we have to counter it effectively...

[BrklynLiberal]

23. EXACTLY! Since McSame's people thinkthis election is not about issues, how about we show

them that we can do them one better...use the language to get OUR issues across to the voters...
If any campaign was actually not about issues it was prez-shit-for-brains' campaign...both in 2000 and 2004. They used the language to convince people to vote against their own best interests. Why can't the Democrats use it to convince the people that they SHOULD vote in their own best interests..?

Lakoff is brilliant and needs to be listened to..

What Democrats have shied away from is a frontal attack on radical conservatism itself as an un-American and harmful ideology. I think Obama is right when he says that America is based on people caring about each other and working together for a better future -- empathy, responsibility (both personal and social), and aspiration. These lead to a concept of government based on protection (environmental, consumer, worker, health care, and retirement protection) and empowerment (through infrastructure, public education, the banking system, the stock market, and the courts). Nobody can achieve the American Dream or live an American lifestyle without protection and empowerment by the government. The alternative, as Obama said in his nomination speech, is being on your own, with no one caring for anybody else, with force as a first resort in foreign affairs, with threatened civil liberties and a right-wing government making your most important decisions for you. That is not what American democracy has ever been about.

What is at stake in this election are our ideals and our view of the future, as well as current realities. The Palin choice brings both front and center. Democrats, being Democrats, will mostly talk about the realities nonstop without paying attention to the dimensions of values and symbolism. Democrats, in addition, need to call an extremist an extremist: to shine a light on the shared anti-democratic ideology of McCain and Palin, the same ideology shared by Bush and Cheney. They share values antithetical to our democracy. That needs to be said loud and clear, if not by the Obama campaign itself, then by the rest of us who share democratic American values.

Our job is to bring external realities together with the reality of the political mind. Don't ignore the cognitive dimension. It is through cultural narratives, metaphors, and frames that we understand and express our ideals.

[Matariki]

17. Bravo. I hope the party leaders hear that LOUD and CLEAR.

[Triana]

19. Does Obama HQ have a fax? Hell. PRINT THIS and send it to Plouffe. Mark it

...'personal and confidential' so that it will be opened BY HIM.

Highlight the part that says they need to CALL AN EXTREMEIST AN EXTREMEIST and point out that McCain/Palin share the same bu$h ideology that is antithetical to our Democracy.

Hell. I'll do it.

[chill_wind]

24. It would be hard to imagine Obama's first rate team doesn't have this in front of them

along with a multitude of other think-tank output on Palin.

But Triana, I could swear I just finished reading a thread you started, castigating everyone for being off-message,
catagorizing Palin as a Distraction. Lakoff counters that argument rather strongly. Did you really read it?

[Triana]

26. This isn't about Palin. This is the same problem that existed in 2004...

...the Democrats timidness in calling Republicans what they ARE - and what the bu$h admin policies have been - EXTREMEIST.

They need to get over that.

EDIT: Furthermore, I think it's unwise to ASS-U-ME that the Obama campaign has this, or anything else "in front of them". This is a PEOPLE-powered campaign and I am part of it. Therefore if I see something that I think might be useful to them, I'm going to make sure they see it if I can, rather than assuming they already know. That type of assumptive, passive role is one that, IMO we can't afford to take.

As concerns your disagreement with me re: the obsession with Palin, you might do more good yourself if you get off your duff and do something YOURSELF to help the campaign rather than sitting here arguing with ME about something I wrote on DU that you disagree with - eh? You're not accomplishing anything constructive or helpful to Obama by doing that.

[amborin]

28. we can't assume

the Obama campaign has this in front of them

[AdHocSolver]

33. Triana, you are 100 percent correct.

Palin is a distraction, and the Democrats better show some aggressiveness against the Republicans or they will steal another election.

The campaign has entered a new phase. Obama better get over this "reach across the aisle" theme and start landing some blows.

He isn't wooing Democrats anymore, he is in a battle with the Republicans. He better start acting like it or we will lose.

Palin was chosen for one reason, and only one reason. She is an accomplished attack dog. She is the "pit bull with lipstick".

Being a woman, she is difficult to attack head on. But, attacked she must be, as well as McCain, and Republicans.

The theme must be Republicans enabled Bush and Cheney to devastate this country (jobs, deficits, health care, expensive gasoline, bank failures, rotting infrastructure, corruption) and McCain and Palin AS REPUBLICANS, will bring more of the same.

Republican "change", since 2000, was turning surplus into deficit, peace into war, jobs into joblessness, world leadership and moral standing into hostility and fear, alienated our allies, and infuriated much of the world. McCain and Palin were, and still are, the same Republicans that have done this to our country. They still spout the same rhetoric. How can they possibly bring you the change that this country wants and needs. Don't be fooled.

[chill_wind]

35. You're over-reacting all over the place. Don't make so many assumptions

about what others here are doing or not doing on their parts for Obama, especially in their time away from here on DU.
Some of us actively give and do without preaching, grandstanding or making those same assumptions about others.

I guess I'm really REALLY weary, at this point, of the jillion net-nanny Palin threads scolding and counting up all
all the Palin threads. Talk about counter-productive. If you want to stop promoting something..... stop promoting it.

[Matariki]

20. Also the Dems don't seem to understand the simian poo flinging aspect

that appeals to so many. unfortunate, but true.

[gulliver]

25. You have to take every strength they have away.

You have to dominate. You can't expect reasonable behavior, either from the Republicans or the voters. You have to do what it takes to win. That means doing what Dems are afraid to do, defeating, dominating, and subordinating our rivals. It doesn't mean destroying them or negative politics. It means destroying the fantasy and rhythm of their "dance of domination." It means showing them for what they are: mere images projected on nothing.

While their ridiculous world remains securely self-justifying and even joy inspiring, we can't win. We have to show McCain and Palin as just more booze, just more self-lying, just more self-destruction for America all in the name of giggling delusion. Partying themselves and us and our planet to death...

But it can't be done without the emotions of dominance and willingness. Rationality is a distant secondary factor.

[amborin]

31. exactly

[AdHocSolver]

27. I read Lakoff. It disturbs me that people who praise him have missed the main point of what he says.

A main implication of Lakoff's insight is that you do NOT use the terminology of your opponent when discussing your opponent, yourself, or the issues.

An example of what not to do is, for example, use the word "liberal" in speeches or slogans. The word "liberal" has become tainted from years of negative rhetoric. By using it, you evoke images that short-circuit whatever else you are saying at the time. So, Democrats started using the word progressive to attach to values or policies we were promoting.

I vaguely remember some Democratic speaker (it may have been Obama) start a sentence with a phrase (and I paraphrase here), "We know that McCain was a war hero, but...". Bad, bad, bad. Even I can't remember what followed in the speech. The term "war hero" is a selling point by McCain that is only reinforced whenever it is used. If Lakoff's analysis doesn't get this point across, then remember Pavlov's experiment in which he trained dog's to salivate at the sound of a bell, even when there was no food present.

Another problem with the heretofore brilliant Obama campaign, is that it is now time already for the Obama team to display some carefully crafted aggressiveness against McCain-Palin. My suggestion is to attack Republicans broadside and lump McCain and Palin in with the Republicans who, as a party, enabled the Bush-Cheney disastrous presidency. Worst Presidency ever. And, McCain-Palin would be four more years of the same.

Besides Lakoff, the other important mechanism operative here is the pack mentality. In studying wolf packs, researchers discovered that the pack is led by one wolf they termed an alpha male. The major quality of the alpha male is not being the strongest wolf, or the smartest, but being the most aggressive. The alpha male does not give in. It represents the proverbial pit bull.

This last paragraph reminded me that Sarah Palin was described as a pit bull with lipstick. So there you have the reason they picked Palin to counteract the McCain image as a doddering old man past his prime. Her "success" was not as a competent or likeable individual. She got where she is by intimidating everyone. She is the quintessential junk yard dog, and the Democrats better come up with a plan fast to neutralize her.

**********
Obama-Biden have described the policies they plan on pursuing. Winning the primary indicates that the public is convinced of the correctness of the platform. Now Obama has to convince the people that he will aggressively fight to enact those policies. Forget reaching across the aisle. The Republicans have shown they will slap Obama's hand if he reaches across the aisle. Obama has to demonstrate he will fight to enact those policies.
**********

[amborin]

29. we need to attack

them by going after their strengths

we need to take their strongest cards and use them against them

and we need to heed lakoff's advice

agree: we should not use their terminology

we must use our own and paint them with our symbolic imagery

[lumberjack_jeff]

39. For purposes of discussion, what are those strengths?

err.... ?

Drawing a blank here.

paradoxically, they have no vulnerabilities because they have no core competencies save getting elected.

[lumberjack_jeff]

40. I think that "George Bush's third term" is a good meme.

it's clear, it's defensible and it's pejorative as hell.

[amborin]

42. that's a great one! n/t

[kwenu]

32. YES! THANK YOU!!!!!

[McCamy Taylor]

34. Actually, "it's the economy, stupid" is much easier to remember.

Bill Clinton can remind us how it is done. He kicked a Bush out of the WH in 1992, and that was after a popular Gulf War and it was a competent Bush.

[bvar22]

36. The Democratic response to the Republican Convention has been tepid and ineffective.

Ridicule, laughter, and derision is (was) the only appropriate response to the insane hate-fest in St Paul.

Jon Stewart got it right.

Jon Stewart (to Huckabee): "So you're saying that only the Republican Party can solve all the problems created by the Republican Party?"

I fear for November.

[amborin]

37. we need to go on the attack NOW

[uponit7771]

41. EXACTLY!! Failin is a wingnut of wingnuts