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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SiouxPal who wrote (23544)	6/22/2005 8:06:57 PM
From: bentway	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 362347

When did embryos become sacred? It used to be the fetus. How long before sperm is elevated, and mastrubating male teenagers are breaking the law?

To: SiouxPal who wrote (23544)	6/22/2005 8:07:50 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 362347

Democrats must learn to frame the debate By JOEL CONNELLY SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST Wednesday, June 22, 2005 seattlepi.nwsource.com The high point of the Democrats' annual shrimp feed on Capitol Hill used to be a stemwinder speech by Rep. (later Gov.) Mike Lowry forecasting that liberals would eventually win the day because, in Lowry's words, "We're right and they're wrong." George Lakoff, linguistics professor at the University of California-Berkeley, rejects such reasoning. "The truth will NOT set you free," argues Lakoff, author of the book "Don't Think Like an Elephant: Know Your Values, Frame the Debate." Lakoff is a new star in the Democrats' constellation. He was here last week doing a non-stop series of lectures, meetings and interviews on how the liberal-left can catch up to conservatives in the art of defining public issues. Here's one listener who didn't entirely buy into his theories. Not only do liberals need help with packaging, but the quality of the product also requires work. Lakoff is, however, provocative and on the mark in assessing why President Bush won re-election last year. In the 41 years since Barry Goldwater's landslide defeat, conservatives have learned to stir -- and manipulate -- Americans' emotions. The Democrats originated modern scorched earth campaigning. Nuclear mushroom clouds and hands tearing up Social Security cards were deployed in TV spots against Goldwater. But the political right has since taken over the defining game. How, for instance, do you "sell" an unpopular war? "Frank Luntz (a GOP pollster) sent a memo last year telling Republicans to identify the war in Iraq as part of the war on terror," Lakoff said in an interview. "Whenever Fox News shows footage of Iraq, it is labeled 'War on Terror.' They tell troops that they're protecting the homeland. They justify the war in Iraq as self-defense. They evoke fear of further attacks here. Fear evokes a strict-father understanding of the world, which favors the conservative way of thinking." Boos and hisses have greeted such justifications of the Iraq war at public forums in Seattle. The Emerald City voted 75 percent for John Kerry in November. On a quick trip back to a battleground state wedding last fall, however, I heard the Bush position resonate among fellow guests. Several, while disagreeing with the president on social issues, identified him as the man who would keep terrorism away from America's shores. Pollsters labeled them "security moms." They helped decide the election. Lakoff says the Democrats could have countered the Republicans' war-sales strategy. "What was necessary was to point out Bush's weaknesses, to have made fun of him," he said. "Remember the 'mission accomplished!' sign on the aircraft carrier. The president hasn't accomplished what he says." The conservative right has shown a genius at using words to frame issues and evoke emotions. "Partial birth abortion" is an example. Stem cell research has become "embryonic stem cell research" -- evoking the image of an unborn baby. "Frivolous lawsuits" and "tort reform" define efforts to limit damage awards that tell corporate America that it will pay for marketing dangerous or defective products. "They are very, very good at what they do," Lakoff said. He noted that the right has even turned "do-gooder" into a derogatory term. But in public appearances here, he did not seem willing to prick the self-satisfaction of Seattle liberals. Lakoff spoke twice to sold-out audiences at Town Hall, with Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., serving as master of ceremonies on the second night. As is frequently the case, the Town Hall audience on Friday a) was 99 percent white; b) welcomed McDermott onstage with a standing ovation; c) gave speeches in lieu of asking questions; an d) fastened on to left conspiracy theories, lately the Downing Street Memo. Lakoff sounded like an updated Lowry at times. "The folks controlling our country right now are not true conservatives," he declared. "They're radicals." He blamed conservatives' opposition to sex education for causing unwanted pregnancies and decried "vigilante pharmacists" who refuse to dispense the pill. He attributed conservatives' power to "a huge empire of think tanks" and the fact that "they bought up the media." He did caution against doing an exclusively "gay protest" against an upcoming Bothell appearance by Focus on the Family founder James Dobson. "People should not be shouting, 'No, no, no. ... They should be saying positive things that contradict his agenda." More such talk is needed. The Town Hall crowd ought to take a critical look at folks lining up on the other side of the fence. Our cumbersome state government minted a lot of the "Dinocrats" who almost captured the governorship. A tendency to blame America -- a Vietnam-era virus embedded in the Seattle left -- has infuriated old-line "Scoop Jackson" Democrats. It sure didn't help the Democrats' case in the 2002 elections when McDermott traveled to Baghdad and beamed back a TV interview saying President Bush would lie to get us into war. What manner of "framing" was that? Not the kind on which you build a foundation to recapture red states. The right knows the game, but the left too often plays into its hands. P-I columnist Joel Connelly can be reached at 206-448-8160 or joelconnelly@seattlepi.com © 1998-2005 Seattle Post-Intelligencer