People Don't Make Stupid Voters, the Media Does

[davidswanson]

George Lakoff has one of the louder voices in the chorus arguing that elections must be won on personality and fluff rather than policy positions. One problem with this advice is that if, at the end of it, you win an election, you won't know what you've won. You won't know whether the people you elected will do anything you want done unless they've told you their policy positions as well as making all the right moves in the area of visual dramatic superficial BS.

A second problem is that the lack of an appealing personality is not a major reason why half the country has no interest in voting at all. Only credible commitment to substantive change could motivate new registration and turnout, and that could win an election, albeit in a non-traditional way.

A third problem is that the weakness of policy positions is not as clear in countries where the candidates have radically different policy positions. Where one candidate wants to move troops to Afghanistan after waiting a couple fo years, and the other guy wants to wait a couple of years before moving troops to Afghanistan, voters have no choice but to vote on the basis of haircuts, posture, and bible-thumping.

A fourth problem is that, what differences do exist between the policy positions of American candidates are rarely reported in the media. Far more media coverage goes to TV ads, polling, financial reports, and personality nonsense. Voters pay attention to that crap because it's the only thing they're shown, unless they really seek out the rare reporting of substance on the internet or radio.

So, yes, Lakoff is right that it's dumb PR to say "McCain's not a maverick." But the solution is not to say "McCain is dishonest" or "McCain is irresponsible." The solution is to go to the heart of what the next president will do to the nation and the world: "McCain opposed torture before he supported it," "McCain wants our money and our children for more war," "McCain: He'll Let the Corporations Run Our Country."

And the solution of any sort of dumbed down sound byte at all is a solution imposed by the current and alterable state of our communications system, not one imposed by the intellectual abilities of we the people.

[melody]

1. A well-informed populace is vital to the operation of a Democracy ...

The first thing tyrants do is attack the free press and control information channels.

We can't blame the people if they never receive the information in the first place.

[OneGrassRoot]

9. Yes. n/t

[geek tragedy]

2. Either you win the wrong way or you lose the right way.

I know which option I'm for.

[stillcool]

3. You either spread the solution..

or you spread the disease.

[geek tragedy]

4. The disease is the Republican party. n/t

[stillcool]

6. it's more than that...

the disease is what is happening in the minds of Americans. We are willing hostages to an alternate reality.

[depakid]

5. Show them that McCain isn't a "Maverick" and that he and Palin ARE dishonest

and do it in no uncertain terms.

Also, it would have been easy enough to have highlighted all McCain & Co.'s gaffes over the summer- but, like other Democratic campaigns, they chose not to define the candidates- even praising them and reinforcing their narratives!

Lakoff and other researchers are exactly right- these are scientists who've made extensive studies of voter behaviors and how average Americans process information and form opinions.

Posts like yours, on the other hand- while idealistic- represent losing strategies. They're based essentially on CREATIONISM rather than the extensive social science literature. Literature which, by the way PREDICTED the turnaround for the McCain campaign, based on our own campaign's negligence and failure to act in accordance with well settled principles.

[billorights1776]

7. Lies

Call them what they are.

Stop saying they're "untruthful" "Misspeaks" whatever.

They're lies. The people who say them are LIARS.

[intheflow]

8. Kick. n/t

[KoKo]

10. We had heard here on DU after '04 Selection Dems hired Lakoff to do "training sessions."

Harry Reid was supposedly a fan of Lakoff. If our Dems haven't learned from the "Push Back" since 2000's Stolen Election and all the "Revealing Secrets Books" of "former Bush Admin. Insiders...plus Lakoff and others telling them how to FRAME...then there's no hop for this.

Lakoff is "spitting in the wind." If it's true he trained our Dem Legilators then he did a very bad job...and if all our pumping him over the "Liberal Internets" didn't work then it says no one knew what the hell he was talking about. So who cares what he thinks, now?

[DinahMoeHum]

12. I don't recall Lakoff actually running anybody's campaign.

Until he actually gets off that fucking ivory tower of his and gets down and dirty running a political campaign, he's a fraud, as far as I'm concerned.

Screw him.

:kick:

[ailsagirl]

11. I love Lakoff-- heard him speak and was quite impressed

He knows what he's talking about!!!

[punkin87]

13. Yes.

[glinda]

14. Media Coverage

There are tons of relevant stories out there and the Media needs to pick up on some of these but the big issue is they need to be on mainstream TV and newspapers, not just cable. They need to be top or secondary stories also and not buried. I think the American people would and should know if lies are being touted continually by McCain-Palin. This is a big issue. This goes to the heart of governing. Lie lie lie lie. Let the people decide if they want to vote for a lier. Let them decide if they want someone who not only promotes cruel anti-animal and anti-environment in favor of unfair hunting and oil subsidies. The Media owes it to the American people to not be complicit in what is already looking like unfair playing field and rigged election. The Media will be complicit if they do not wake up.

[CounterPropagandist]

15. Fairness Doctrine and Media Neutrality

We live in the San Francisco Bay area, and the cultural oasis we find here is something we often take for granted. I am constantly reminded of this fact whenever we go across the second tier of coast ranges to the Central Valley. Everything changes when we get across Altamonte Pass. Our car radio changes from KQED and KPFA, to Talk Radio 57, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mexican and Spanish language music, evangelical stations, and if we look hard enough we might be able to find one public radio station, but the general political intelligence of the area cannot be anything but impoverished.

When did the public's airwaves become hijacked by the corporations to promulgate propaganda? It would be different if there were one commentator that did not hew to the right wing party line. That would make it a matter of choice. The marketplace of ideas requires a full service emporium. But of course that is not the case. No onder the Republicans have a strong chance lof winning no matter how ludicrous their positions are shown to be against the people's own best interests. The people have no choice of what they can hear.

The first thing that an Obama administration must do is to restore the Fairness Doctrine, in order to protect us from unrestrained partisanship in the media