Professor Lakoff has posted a critique of the Democratic leaderships recent performance in the face of the latest regressive-Republican attack
on
The Huffington Post.
A taste:
For a while last week, the Democrats were doing better at framing the issues. The poll numbers showed that Bush's approval rating was down, that around 60% of the voters had turned against the Iraq War, that support for Bush on his handling of 911 and terrorism was lower, but still pretty high. They correctly recognized in the numbers that the public had begun to separate Iraq from 911, and they recognized the relevance of the Downing Street memo in showing that Bush had betrayed the trust of the American people in sending troops into Iraq on false pretenses. They had begun to form an anti-Iraq-War caucus and to hammer home the consequences of these development. And even staunch Republicans were listening to their arguments and coming to Bush to suggest withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
Then they lost it. Karl Rove outsmarted the Democrats again. And he used the most basic trick in the book to do it.
See the link for the full text; here's the primer for what they're/we're
supposed to be doing:
What should liberals have learned from reading the Rockridge Institute website and Don't Think of an Elephant?
- Start with resisting Rove's juicy bait.
- Spell out the progressive philosophy of Total Security - keeping a strong military while also supporting job security, pension security, and security in the form of health and education. Attack Bush for giving up on homeland security, failing to protect cargo shipments, nuclear and chemical plants, and so on.
- Point out Rove's attempt to cover up Bush's disaster in Iraq, and dwell on the public's repudiation of the Bush policy for good reasons.
- Keep pounding on the Downing Street memo, pointing out how Bush doctored intelligence and sent troops to war on false pretenses. Goad him about there being no WMD's in Iraq, but plenty in North Korea.
- Attack Bush for weakening our military and our economy, while strengthening al Qaeda, Point out that Bush is al Qaeda's best friend, since he is their best recruiter.
- Raise the stakes. Point out how the administration has been using 911 for their own political ends; of using the war in Iraq as a pretext to carry out a radical political agenda at home, and to get re-elected. Point out the immorality of using American and Iraqi lives for political ends.
- Use the opportunity to brand the right wing as political fundamentalists, showing the intimate connections between Christian fundamentalism and Islamic fundamentalism.
- Raise the question of whether the brutality arising from the US occupation of Iraq led to an anti-US reaction in Iran and the squelching of democratic forces there - exactly the opposite of Bush's predicted result.
In short, be pro-active, not reactive.