Paul Krugman's
yesterday and Josh Marshall
today both write columns filled with apprehension the power of GOP spin to determine the narrative through which the tomorrow's debate ultimately will be remembered. They fear that the winner won't be determined by the content of the debate but by the power of the GOP Wurlitzer.
According to Josh, "...if the Democrats don't hit the ground running with a plan in mind they'll be overwhelmed by the GOP spin machine -- no matter how many fibs the president tells or how many times he says up is down."
We all know how effective the GOP has been with the use (abuse) of language. Taking the same phrases and applying them over and over again, seeing an instance of talking head language not as an opportunity to communicate, but more along the lines of an advertiser, who looks for opportunities to imprint.
Well. I don't think it would too greatly insult the Good if Democrats were to choose a phrase or two preprepared to describe Thursday's debate. When I saw the title of Code99's diary below, the perfect phrase came to me:
Deer in the headlights
As in:
'One thing that struck me during the debate was how many times Bush looked like a deer in the headlights'
or
'When Bush was asked about the lack of WMD, he looked for all the world like a deer in the headlights'
or
'I think this debate is going to go down in history as the "deer in the headlights" debate'
If our pundits who may be reading this, and all of us agree to this simple discipline to push the spin back, you will find that even while you are watching the debate in real time, there Bush will be staring back at you like a deer in the headlights.