Which has gotten more air time, the missing Malaysian airline are or lies contained in Republican ads? The answer is pretty clear and we have been hammered into some elections by the Koch money flowing into the coffers of our opponents. We have got to get our act together when it comes to communication. Some serious advice can be found below the fold.
If there is one area in which credit is due to the Republican Party it is their single mindedness, which works exceptionally well in this Fox News brain-dead society. They use their money to create ads which are presented to the TV viewer over and over again until their basic message Is hammered into our skulls. We are progressives have been for the most part a failure in communicating our ideas to the public.
That’s why our word for the 2014 elections and in the future must be “relentless”. We need to stop trying to think of all sorts of ways of getting our message out and concentrate on a few basic themes articulated in simple language and repeated ad nauseam.
In addition, every ad should include the words “republican liars” at least three times. That phase is our “Benghazi”. Every one of our ads must make clear if the danger that the GOP are to our well being. Yes, we must make it clear that our opponents are not decent people, but are serving Satan (or whatever your personification of evil is). We must also pay heed to the advice of my great colleague and friend George Lakoff and make sure that we are training our arguments correctly.
I suggest that we start our ads with the words “Republican liars claim X. That is a lie. The facts as reported by [source] show that [actual facts].” We should try, in every ad, to present our opponents as disreputable greedy liars, showing no mercy and giving no quarter. The modern electorate really doesn’t care whether a candidate has a nice guy. They have elected plenty of complete assholes.
We must carry out our campaign relentlessly without caring about what people think about our candidate's personality. It isn’t important that people like us, only that they agree with our positions which must be stated clearly and supported by demonstrable facts.
This article was prepared using a voice recognition software as a disability prevents me from typing properly. I’m also a lousy proofreader, so please forgive any typical always recognition errors.
The author holds a Ph.D in linguistics from the University of Chicago. He is available to any progressive campaign to advise on linguistic matters. Contact fmeric64@gmail.com if your campaign needs some help, at no charge.