Listen to the the GOP apologists
Folks,
If you have time, listen to the right wing rants and read the right wing rags. Exile captures the rats and sinking ships wonderfully but listen closely to the excuses. It is those arguments and frames we will be fighting the next election cycles. Think of them as trial balloons. Off the top of my head..
“The war is right, it was only Rummy’s fault.”
“Conservative Dems were elected including a few Democratic abortion opponents so the nation is really conservative.”
“The Dems didn’t take more than 30 seats, normally after 6 years of a President the opposition party does so they didn’t do all that well (i.e people still agree with Republicans).”
“The election was more anti Bush than the Democratic message because the Democrats don’t have a message.”
“The Democrats don’t have a plan for Iraq.”
I heard these in various forms yesterday and today from people or news accounts. Let the framing wars begin.
This stuff matters significantly because it is the people who choose not to vote Republican this time or voted Democrat the first time that need a reason to stay in this camp and not return to old voting habits.
Framing the election as anything less than an absolute national repudation of the right wing agenda and the Republican party’s inability to govern will cost us in 2008. We need to control the conversation now and it starts with talking to your friends.
Great post. I agree 100%.
I had a conservative coworker tell me that she heard congress is going to be more conservative than it was since some of the new dems are slightly to the right.
We’ll see… I sure hope John Bolton invested wisely, since he’s about to be out of a job.
What’s interesting to me is the choice the right makes to frame in a way that both abdicates the framer of any responsibility for the changes we just saw, and also casts them as liars - both indirectly, and by their own acknowledgement. For example, Bush essentially claiming that he wasn’t forthright with the American people last week when he said Rummy was staying, because he claims he didn’t want to inject politics into the elections when a) the only reason he made that announcement the week before the elections had to be to pander to the conservative base (injecting politics) and b) he therefore is admitting that he lied. Or watching Limbaugh claim that he was relieved he no longer had to carry the water (or watever the phrase was that he used) for the Republicans, and he really was sick and tired of them himself. So he too admits he lied publicly all those times he played Jill to their Jack. Or Lonsberry today - same type of thing. It’s amazing that they think it’s okay to lie - they must think that if they’re admitting it all over the place saying they did it for a higher purpose, which wasn’t really such a high purpose in their own minds. It’s as we know - no moral compass, no objective right and wrong.
Happy New Year, everybody!
Yep,
Remember this isn’t about right or wrong, truth or fiction. It is about Framing.
We need to challenge the right wing frame attempts at each and every turn.
Welcome back, jillles! Finally you can come up for air!
Thanks btp - These last few months have been a great experience, and I’ve been so lucky to meet so many people through it. In fact, some of us are talking about the kinds of things we can do with this wonderful progressive community in the future. I read the top entry a few minutes ago after I had just finished e-mailing with some folks I’d met over the last few months about what those of us who volunteered for campaigns can do next with what we’ve learned and the community that’s developed. Maybe that’s worth a thread or two - kind of a “where do we go from here?” series. See you soon!
We’ll do a “where do we go from here” thread soon.
Disney World?