Makechessnotwar is back. With another election season upon us, I return as one of the Kosmos’s political linguists to lay down the law on framing and vocabulary. I will try to drop in whenever I see members of our team committing violations of campaign linguistic technique
Today I wish to introduce my campaign meme for 2014. In so doing I will run counter to conventional wisdom, specifically the bit about making positive and not negative statements. My proposal for this election is that the democrats should declare, in capital letters, that WE ARE NOT COLD-HEARTED BASTARDS.
All of our candidates should make this declaration as frequently as possible. Of course we beg the question of the media about whether our candidate is specifically calling our opponents as cold hearted bastards. We will be ready for this question with the simple reply “check the voting record”. At which point of course list all of the enemy support for the inhuman policies of the cold-hearted bastards also known as the republican party.
We are for health care: WE ARE NOT COLD-HEARTED BASTARDS.
We are for lowering cost of education: WE ARE NOT COLD-HEARTED BASTARDS.
We are opposed to sending back kids to be slaughtered by drug gangs: WE ARE NOT COLD-HEARTED BASTARDS.
We see the need for a plea bargain (sic!!) for 11 million undocumented residents. WE ARE NOT COLD-HEARTED BASTARDS.
We support efforts to help oppressed minorities at home and abroad: WE ARE NOT COLD-HEARTED BASTARDS.
We believe in full equality for all minority communities: WE ARE NOT COLD-HEARTED BASTARDS.
We support food stamps: WE ARE NOT COLD-HEARTED BASTARDS.
We oppose militarization of our police forces: WE ARE NOT COLD-HEARTED BASTARDS.
We want to leave a habitable planet for future generations: WE ARE NOT COLD-HEARTED BASTARDS.
We demand a living wage for all workers: WE ARE NOT COLD-HEARTED BASTARDS.
(edit list as desired)
We need to create a mindset in independent and reluctant voters that our candidates represent the only alternative to the cold-hearted policies that have been put into place by the republican party. We want voters to view our enemies as cold-hearted bastards, not as respectable opponents will simply happen to have a different point of view on some policies.
Each of our candidates should remember that we are deliberately painting with a broad brush, and not talking about any candidate in particular (unless you want to), but rather about the policies of the republican party that our opponents will be certain to support if we do not succeed in our attempts to prevent them from being elected.
Our candidates should not shy away from the strong language. Cold-hearted bastards is not an obscenity, it is a simple and accurate description of what we’re up against. Let the term fly when on television and see what the reaction is and remember to be ready for the challenge by following up with “look at the voting record.”
In my only previous diary on the 2014 elections I suggested that our campaign must be utterly relentless. We must pound the rock just like our opponents do, saying over and over that they are cold-hearted bastards. We should not try to make nice with the people who are destroying our country and shredding our civil rights and killing people all over the world. Progressives are sometimes viewed as wimps and we must demonstrate some backbone. So tell it like it is: cold-hearted bastards!
Usual disclaimer: I am a triple-amputee using voice recognition that does make errors and I don’t catch all of them. Sorry! I post on Facebook under my real name Eric Schiller.