I have pointed fellow Kossians to articles by George Lakoff, linguistics professor at the University of California, Berkeley, re: the language of political discussion. He discusses how conservatives, by and large, have the upper hand with rhetoric, phrases and concepts which are communicated to the masses by studying the very language they use. For example, a term such as "tax relief" is coherent system of concepts - a frame - with the underlying metaphor of TAX=BURDEN. Progessives, Lakoff argues, need to start reframing the debate rather than arguing within these conservative constructs.
Now, Don Hazen of Alternet has launched a regular column called appropriately "The Frame" in which he will discuss these very issues with George Lakoff.
In the first installment, Hazen askd Lakoff about how Kerry should define himself and redefine Bush.
Kerry should be saying "Let's make America stronger again." The message should be: The Bush guys and the conservatives in general have weakened the country. I would say the same thing over and over again, emphasizing all the different reasons: In Iraq, our soldiers are being shot at in impossible situations. They have stretched the armed forces so thin that there is serious talk of reinstituting the draft. Overall the conservatives have weakened health and environmental protections, they have weakened the Medicare system, and they have weakened the country fundamentally by pushing a culture war that is vicious and separates people. That is a big part. They have also made us hated around the world, which doesn't make us stronger. They have made the dollar weak. People aren't focused on it right now, but if go abroad you find out how weak the dollar is.
If the Democrats want to succeed, it is necessary to pin this weakness on Bush. People have to say this really loudly. And Bush himself is a weak president. When he testified to the 9/11 commission, he needed Cheney to be there to hold his hand, like a little kid going with his mommy. Is he a president or isn't he? What kind of president can't talk for himself? This weakness should be a national issue.
He says that Kerry needs more "agents" calling up talk shows and getting the message out and that they ought to continue to bring up the salient points of the Clarke and O'Niel books. This sounds like a call to arms. Let's keep the phone lines busy and the letters streaming into the papers.
On Iraq, Lakoff articulates something that many of us have stated here at dKos:
It is my sense that it is really wrong for Kerry to stay so close to Bush. The whole Iraq thing is going to have to be moved to the UN. It is a disaster at every turn - Kerry should get more out in front. He should be saying "we don't want to reinstate the draft." Raise this issue now. He should say: "It would take hundreds of thousands of troops for an indefinite period to secure Iraq - it would be like Viet Nam. I was in Viet Nam. We got out. It was a mistake. We got out for a good reason, and it was important for us to get out. We don't want to repeat that mistake again. We don't want to put 500,000 of our troops there. We don't want to have constant escalation."
Bookmark Alternet and look for this new feature. It is a way for all of us to get on message.