Quote of the Day
Here’s some damn good advice :
“The…party needs to shake itself loose from top-down management, undergo a grassroots renewal and adopt a vigorous, positive agenda that flows from the priorities, views and values of citizens who involve themselves in that process … Our party needs to frame its priorities more in terms of what we’re for rather than what we are against.”- John Ashcroft, immediately following Republican loss in 1992
As to how we can accomplish over the next two years what the GOP did from 1992-1994, the flood of contradictory advice from every corner of the political world has given me a month-long migraine. At the risk of adding even more unrequested advice to the kindling pile, here’s my five points of advice :
Fire every pollster and political consultant. If they worked, we’d be winning. Never use ten words when five will do. Find the core message that ties together every thread of your platform and beat people over the head with it (something like “Democrats stand for expanding freedom and making our community larger and more diverse”) You’ll go a long way with religious voters if you talk more about what Jesus actually said than what their ministers insist Jesus meant. There’s a reason people say Jesus was a hippy. Don’t forget, Republicans don’t understand terrorism.
Notice I didn’t say anything about going to the left or right. I’m still not entirely sure what the problem is or how to fix it, but I’m sure it’s got a lot less to do with where we/they stand on given issues and a lot more to do with how they actually communicate this information to the voters.
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Ding!
Greg is on the money:
Trackback by Oliver Willis — December 2, 2004 @ 6:35 pm
There’s one thing that would make me a Democrat in a minute, and that would be for them to become the party of education. I don’t mean the party that voted for some education bill or another or the party that has the support of the NEA. Remember during the debate when the President responded to a question about job creation by talking about his education initiatives? That’s what I mean. I know that every problem our country faces can’t be fixed by education alone, but that’s what their focus should be. I would like to be able to say “As a democrat, I believe that education is the key to fixing (HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy, our economy, drug problems, ETC…)”
Comment by E-Rock — December 2, 2004 @ 6:55 pm
Remember during the debate when the President responded to a question about job creation by talking about his education initiatives? That’s what I mean.
In other words, when confronted with a question about the results of failed policies (such as Dubya’s economics policies), you want Democrats to change the subject???
Comment by "Fair and Balanced" Dave — December 3, 2004 @ 12:27 pm
The right is focus grouping to appeal to the lizard brain. The left is still appealing to the intellect. The right has been very successful with an us vs. them, outside threat framing. The left is for things, the right is against. It is much easier to create strong group adhesion by trumpeting a common (yet imaginary) threat than promoting higher virtues. The modern religions which promote Christ’s love and forgiveness as a template to live our lives are recedeing while those who preach fear of damnation are growing. The left needs to run all of their messages past subjects hooked up to a PET scan and only air the ones which light up the lizard regions of the brain.
Comment by Bob — December 4, 2004 @ 5:24 pm
Bob is right.
The success of the right wing has more to do with ongoing advertising campaigns than any clash of ideas during an election.
Find any accurate portrayal of psychological manipulation and you’ll be able to discover it’s practice in american politics.
Comment by kamachanda — December 5, 2004 @ 9:05 am
Sieze the language manipulation game.
For example, re Social Security “reform”, our slogan could be a cop right out of Bush’s playbook: “It’s your money! Don’t let them take it away from you.”
Another example would be to start calling the “insurgents” in Iraq “Iraqi nationals” or “Iraqi rebels”.
Comment by bebimbob — December 5, 2004 @ 9:05 am
yes, the key is communicating with the voters. this means a few things – 1. focus on language, analyze GOP’s use of language and seek to create new language ex: progressive instead on liberal. 2. educate instead of pander, voters learn a lot by watching debates and news coverage of campaigns – a presidential candidate should be a good teacher, to educate the public of the problem then offer a solution. ex: terrorism – more a result of economic conditions in middle east, economic oppression as a result of world trade (oil), than religious fundamentalism. 3. vision – provide a comprehensive vision for future – education, environment, health care. connect these issues to crime, economics, and values. Deciding to move more to the right or left is not the answer. providing the american people with a vision that connects with american culture and can solve real problems is the way to go. if we can educate the american public and get them to think, then we win.
Comment by michael — December 6, 2004 @ 3:02 pm