Republicans have found another new way to reach out to women voters without actually changing their positions to appeal to women voters. Instead, they're
changing the tone of their campaign ads:
"Women process information differently than men," [Republican ad maker Ashley] O'Connor says. "So much of political advertising focuses on conflict, and facts and figures, and I think that we're already starting to see, when reaching women voters, there's just new techniques that need to be used, and a different tone, and more storytelling."
Forget the facts and figures, just use some soft focus and tell a
story. Just let people know you're nice and that's all you need. Take an ad in which a mother tells the emotional story of pediatric neurosurgeon and, now, Republican House candidate, Monica Wehby operating on her daughter:
"This is a 60-second ad and it's not particularly issue-driven," O'Connor says of the spot. "It sort of goes to this point that when talking to women, I don't think you necessarily have to be delivering factual information to move them. I think connecting with their heart and really trying to build emotion is more effective."
So it's the equivalent of the old "which candidate would you rather have a beer with" question from every election George W. Bush was in. Only for girls, so ... cosmos and bonbons? My fluttery, conflict-averse lady-brain is
blown. Except am I allowed to talk about my mind being blown, or is that too violent a metaphor for me as a woman to use, especially if I want to reach a female audience? Should I tell the story of how I sank to my pink satin chaise lounge and fanned myself delicately as I tried to comprehend how very insulting this all is to women? The suggestion here is that because women don't really care for pounding bass and sneering voice-overs pushing Benghazi or whatever else the Republican base is worked up about this week, we don't care about any serious issues at all.
Then again, when your preferred "facts and figures" tend to be less than factual, it must be nice to have an excuse to just ditch them altogether. If Republicans had more of a sense of shame about telling lies, they'd probably have done this long ago.