INCOMPETENCE=The Wrong Meme!

I was looking through the comments over at Atrios after his post about the Rethugs making their spending cuts look better by "incompetently" confusing millions with billions, and I noticed Big John Mayberry's astute observation that may seem too simple and obvious to many of us, but has to be said again and again,

They are NOT INCOMPETENT. Venal, greedy, dishonest, corrupt, yes, but they are doing exactly what they mean to do.

more below fold...

And here's what I'm thinking: we progressives and Democrats are content to let the media chalk it up to incompetence, which is an interesting thing, because typically, you can fire someone for that, but we, the employers of these ass-hats, cannot fire them due to procedural difficulties, so being labeled incompetent DOESN'T HURT THEM AT ALL.

At least, not the way being labeled "Venal, greedy, dishonest, [and] corrupt" would.

I think we need to demand the kind of accountability from the media and our elected "Democratic" leaders that will do the right thing and put these criminals in jail, not for criminal incompetence, because that's a hard sell, but for THE GODAMN ACTUAL FULLY INTENTIONAL CRIMES THEY'VE BEEN COMMITTING. I long for the day I hear a Democrat politician say, "You know, here are a few examples of my non-distinguished shame of a colleague being venal, greedy, dishonest and corrupt."

</end of rant>

•  Agree very much

  It's not about incompetence.

  They didn't care about poor people -- they still don't -- they only stood up and took notice when they saw their poll numbers falling.

  by GregP on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 12:49:52 PM PDT

•  Embrace the power of "and".

  Embrace the power of "and".  

  "They're not just venal, greedy, dishonest, corrupt ... and they're incompetent, too."

  No-one's going to believe that Dems are squeeky-clean.  (Nor should they, even though Dems aren't nearly as baldly corrupt as these Repubs are.)  But it's becoming more and more obvious that Repubs are corrupt and incompetent.  In retrospect, Clinton's troubled reign looks like a friggin' Golden Age.
  

  by Bearpaw on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 12:56:53 PM PDT

  •  dems aren't squeaky clean, no...

    but dems care. we do know the value of good government, and we're willing to spend good american tax dollars on helping people, rather than creating the corporate welfare state that we have today. bush is certainly incompetent.
    what if these hurricanes had been terrorist attacks? has the bush administration been doing their job in planning for a disaster? Hell No. Appointing political friends -- unqualified cronies -- to responsible positions within the government is criminal. Especially when people die.  
     

    by titotitotito on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 01:15:06 PM PDT

  •  corruption, cronyism, & INCOMPTENCE

    embrace the ampersan my friend

    bush's faults are corruption, cronyism & incompetence

    this isn't an "either-or" situation. One little symbol allows you to accuratly expand your argument against bush

    corruption and incompetence are not mutually exclusive

    if the repuglicans were good at being corrupt, we wouldn't have caught them with their hand in so many cookie jars

    have you hugged your meta diarist today ???

    social democrat and jotter need your support

    by knowthings on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 01:25:17 PM PDT

•  NOOOOOOOOOOO

  that word again (meme)...

  katrina was incompetence or genocide.  iraq was not.  economic policy was greed.  social policy is incompetence and ignorance.  

  their evil has many shades of grey.

  by The Gnostic on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 12:58:30 PM PDT

  •  Meme myself and I

    The word 'meme' smells of empty buzzword, just like 'paradigm'.  But, it isn't as disrespectable as it sounds.  And let me be the first (in the expected clamor) to say that you don't have to commit to accepting Dawkins in order to deploy the notion of memes.

    A meme is an entity that admits of a biological explanation in the broad sense.  It has, in a very real sense, a life of its own.  In a branch of modern philosophy known as teleofunctionalism (and variants thereof), the world is populated by and large by things that have a biological explanation other than carbon based life forms.  A range of things from concepts, linguistic customs, pencils, and the like, are given a teleological explanation, which explains (i) why something is here, and (ii) what it is for as well as -- in varying degrees -- (iii) how it works. It is one of the best tools that we have to explain the proliferation and nurturing of various customs and habits, including those deployed by political organizations.  Used in Dawkins sense, it is an impoverished theory however.  I'd recommend Ruth Garrett Millikan as a primary source in Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories (MIT Press) or in her more accessible volume intended for non-philosophers White Queens Psychology (MIT Press).

    by qphilo on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 02:51:22 PM PDT

•  Competence

  is solid ground on which to attack.

  It can be objectively measured.  Did the job get done.  Yes or no?

  You can prove that someone is incompetent.  

  Proving other more nuanced character flaws is more difficult.  How can you prove someone is greedy?  It enters a philosophical realm fairly quickly.  One man's greed is another's free market.

  But any reasonable person can assess incompetence.

  I agree with you that there incompetence is no accident- all due to and explained by their greed, venality, dishonesty.

  Attacking their failings (protecting America) is boilerplate Rove, because they think it is their strength, so they don't know how to defend properly, because they mistakenly believe the premise (that they are incompetent) is flawed.

  I agree with you, though, it would be nice if the other stuff (criminal, lying, vernal) would stick.  

  by cdodd on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 01:00:07 PM PDT

  •  Meme me a River

    Incompetence is the proper meme for attack. Telling people that the results from Katrina and Iraq are exactly what they intended leads to cognitive dissonance, and is thus dismissed. Telling them that they tried but F'ed up royally, globally, is good politics because it allows people to not have to change their personal opinion of Bush (they like him! they really like him!) but still learn that he is not doing a good enough job for them. No cognitive dissonance = poll numbers bottoming.

    a modest experiment

    by Bob D on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 01:10:56 PM PDT

  •  Plus calling them incompetent

    leaves them little wiggle room.

    What can they say?

    "We're not incompetent, we used those miscalculations so that we could cover our corrupti....oops, never mind."

    by NYC Sophia on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 01:28:59 PM PDT

    •  Exactly.

      It's good to see them hopelessly boxed in for a change.

      by cdodd on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 01:31:11 PM PDT

•  If they were incompetent....

  ...then even the Democrats would have no trouble winning elections.

  by metal prophet on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 01:11:22 PM PDT

•  Though as a strategy....

  ....Democrats should keep in mind that Dukakis' slogan was "Competence, not ideology" and see where that got him. We need to offer more than merely competence.

  by metal prophet on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 01:14:21 PM PDT

•  It's intentional alright...

  Check out this story on Dennis Hastert...

  Dennis the Menace

  "It makes no sense to spend billions of dollars to rebuild a city that's seven feet under sea level....It looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed."
  -House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), Aug. 31, 2005

  In August 2004, a group of 7000 local, state and federal professionals focused on flood management, prevention and mitigation called the Association of State Flood Plain Managers (ASFPM) passed a resolution expressing their concern about the dissolution and deterioration of FEMA within DHS. In January 2005, they wrote to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert with this warning.

  Since FEMA has become a part of the Department of Homeland Security, it has been a struggle. Funds have been raided, staff have been transferred into other DHS functions without being replaced, slowdowns because of added layers of bureaucracy for nearly all functions have dramatically increased, and there is the constant threat of reprogramming appropriated funds.

  Read more here...

  http://www.democracycellproject.net/blog/archives/2005/09/dennis_the_mena.html
  

  by dwahzon on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 01:34:59 PM PDT

•  suggestions ..

  .. drop greedy.  Agree drop incompetent in certain cases, but keep in others.  Reasoning, greedy is an opinion (some people think it's a good thing), venal, dishonest, corrupt, and incompetent are all more or less measurable (and frowned on).

  Another suggestion I hesitate to mention, maybe visit somewhere like dictionary.com before you commit a post.  Reason ..

  in·ten·sion n.

     1. The state or quality of being intense; intensity.
     ...

  in·tension·al adj.

  .. versus what I think you meant ..

  in·ten·tion·al adj.

     1. Done deliberately; intended: an intentional slight. See Synonyms at voluntary.
     ...

  in·tention·al·ly adv.
  

  by SuthernAhia on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 01:45:01 PM PDT

  •  fixed my intense intent

    thanks

    by A Ball of Lint on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 01:57:49 PM PDT

•  Not Incompetence

  But not Venality, greed, corruption, etc. either.  Those are all faults of individuals.  Katrina was a failure of Conservative Ideas.  Their attempts to create a neocon wonderland of flat-tax zone, suspended estate tax, etc, is an attempt to Extend the Failed Conservative Ideas That Caused So Many Deaths.  

  If it's corruption or venality or greed, or incompetance, well then, you replace those people with a better sort of person.  Those accusations leave too much room for a "reform republican".  Always ALWAYS go for the broad brush.  Poison the well that the republicans draw from with the dead of New Orleans.  Tie these failures to the ideas that underlie the republican party.  That's what the NOLA / Norquist / Bathtub billboard is about, and it's DEAD ON.

  by Austin in PA on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 01:49:49 PM PDT

  •  Yes it is their philosophy that applies here and

    you know what - we need to get on the stick with this one because now they are planning budget cuts.

    AND Katrina gave them the perfect excuse to cut all of those "pesky" social programs they have been trying to kill for so long....

    Today in the House they are battling over the Headstart program - one of the most successful government programs ever.

    Incompetence doesn't address the cuts that the GOP will try to make to off-set spending on Katrina / Rita aftermath.  Talk about living in poverty before these storms!  If their cuts go through you'll think of the bad old days as the good old days.  Trust me.

    We must point to the huge disconnect between what people want from their government and what the Conservative agenda will seek to withhold.

    Really the time coming will offer the battle for the heart, soul and life of social programs.

    by inclusiveheart on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 02:00:39 PM PDT

•  both/and

  I want it all.

  Gross incompetence and the piratical neocon agenda. (As I said over on the Incompetence diary earlier today, it's not so much that the whole gang is incompetent at governing; it's that governing isn't this gang's priority. Incapacitating government is.)

  But if we keep the options to two bad ones, we're still okay: the president and his gang are either incompetent or they're crooks. Take your pick, and you'll still want them out now.

  by NWMethodist on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 01:51:38 PM PDT

•  not incompetent

  this is the result of the Republican platform.  These are ideological cuts; obviously they are not actually concerned with fiscal responsibility while the iraq occupation continues.

  The government bureaucracy being incompetent is an ideology favored by Republicans anyway.

  by Eric Novinson on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 01:58:10 PM PDT

•  Aren't they all corrupt? It's their ideology...

  I don't think there are many completely honest politicans in any party.  (I remember Ralph Nader saying, a few decades ago, that he knew of two honest politicans in DC).

  But even corrupt politicians can do some good things.  The old system system of "boss politics" was permeated with corruption and still delivered some services to their constitutents.  The Bush Administration does a lousy job of delivering services to citizens but is extremely competent at serving their constituents--that richest 1%-2% of Americans.

  The crux of the matter is neither corruption nor incompetence...it is their philosophy that the government is the problem rather than the solution for social problems.  If you don't think the government can or should help ordinary Americans through investments in infrastructure and social welfare your not even going to try to make it do so.  New Orleans, the energy crisis, the healthcare crisis, and countless other problems are the direct and logical consquence of this philosophy.  This was conservative government delivers in the longterm.

  by Blue Meany on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 02:11:18 PM PDT

•  Not necessarily

  Of course I agree that they are systematically corrupt, but I choose my message to match the audience.

  I've been working on some of my industry colleagues, trying to lever them a bit more into reality each day. Incompetence really resonates with these people because they are mostly program-level managers who fail (and get fired, and a bad industry rep) if they don't perform competently, and insist their staffs do as well.

  "Corrupt" doesn't resonate with someone who cynically assumes that most politicians are corrupt, or who bought into Newt's "Democrats are corrupt" meme ("just as bad" still doesn't give them an alternative, just "our crooks vs their crooks").

  But incompetence IS something they can understand. And they can also relate to being the ones who get held responsible for whatever stupid-ass idea their CEO announced to the shareholders when it turned out not to work. All I have to do is remind them of the "Six Stages of the Project" which they've recited so many times themselves:
  1 - Interest
  2 - Enthusiasm
  3 - Panic
  4 - Search for the guilty
  5 - Punishment of the innocent
  6 - Promotion and rewards for the non-participants

  by Ducktape on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 02:30:28 PM PDT

  •  I Agree 100%

    From a communications standpoint, the "incompetence" frame is a much more effective one to use than a "corrupt" frame.  It's much, much easier to prove incompetence than corruption.  And even though we all know that their actions are intentional, it is very hard to get the majority of the public to understand that, especially in the short soundbites that are the reality of today's communications.  But nearly everyone can agree that Bush and his administration and his Repug followers have been incompetent - or at least appear to be incompetent - on a wide range of issues.  And I think that "competence" is a strong suit for the Dems to push.

    Not only is it hard to prove corruption to the public, but I think that the majority of the public just doesn't want to admit to the reality that the Repugs really intended for things to go the way that they've been going in terms of Iraq, decimating FEMA, destroying the environment, etc. etc.  

    by davidkc on Thu Sep 22, 2005 at 03:09:22 PM PDT