Look at what they SAY, not at what they DO.

[flamin lib]

Because that is what gets Republicans elected. If anyone seriously looked at the results of Republican policies there would never be another Republican elected to anything.

The stock market performs better under Democratic leadership, employment is better under Democratic leadership, deficits are smaller under Democratic leadership, poverty is lower under Democratic leadership and if none of that is enough in the last 50 years 99% of all Administration investigations, convictions and imprisonment has been of Republicans!

What is the message that makes people vote against their own interests and elect Republicans?

I get that a serious policy discussion is nuanced, I mean, how do you explain to someone that raising taxes to pay of health care will SAVE the taxpayer money? And do it in THREE WORDS?

Three words? Yeah, that's al they have and have ever had. Go back 50 years and what slogans do you remember? I LIKE IKE! NO NEW TAXES! WHIP INFLATION NOW! JUST SO NO! LOCK HER UP! STOP THE STEAL! BUILD THE WALL! STOP THE VOTE! COUNT THE VOTE! (the last two at the same time)

Think about this and tell me what we need to do.

[LakeArenal]

1. Sound bites rule the world.

Context is boring. Policy is wonky.

Sound bites.

[flamin lib]

3. So how to adopt or combat? nt

[LakeArenal]

10. Find a Democratic Frank Luntz

[ananda]

2. Well, it helps to have all that propaganda media on your side too.

..

[flamin lib]

5. Ok, so look at it from the other side;

Reinstate the fairness doctrine and promote it by saying what the conservatives have been saying all along: conservative voices are muffled so lets get both sides out! The media uses YOUR airways, the OWE you a fair and balanced view!

[ananda]

12. I see..

.. a little reverse psychology.

[JohnnyRingo]

4. Bumper sticker politics.

I agree that unless a policy can be explained in one sentence, Americans lose interest. No New Taxes! is easier to convey than graphs and charts showing how the wealthy have shifted the burden down to us.

All the GOP has to do is say "No To Socialism" to get people on board to cutting their own throats.

[flamin lib]

6. Ross Perot used charts and graphs to good effect

but he had a cult following.

The question remains, how do we USE that bumper sticker mentality?

[JohnnyRingo]

7. He also used three word soundbites.

I'll never forget that "giant sucking sound" as jobs went south.

[stillcool]

8. if you can't get people to agree on what's real...

no three words are going to help. My god, there is no more room to dumb-down. We're at the bottom. But then, there's a reason why Republicans win, and it isn't from counting all the votes. Being stuck on stupid is not the way out. People need to be smartened up, which is hard to do when reality is highly questionable.

[handmade34]

9. "Yes We Can"

Sí, se puede,

we need a Democratic Frank Luntz

[flamin lib]

11. Yes, and Joe has Build back better. Right direction! nt

[PatSeg]

13. Awhile back

I saw a YouTube video from the 1960s of Senator Chuck Percy appealing to his constituents for their vote. I was amazed that the speech was almost identical to what republican politicians say today. Democrat's message changes as the times and needs change, though certain elements of fairness and inclusiveness remain.

There is an excellent political drama from 1964 with Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson called The Best Man. It was about two men vying for the presidential nomination of their party, one principled and honest, the other willing to do or say anything to win. The speeches by the latter were much like what republicans make today, except the fear he was selling was the commies, not Islamic terrorists or leftist radicals. Though the party was unnamed, the characters were meant to resemble Adlai Stevenson and Richard Nixon.

The times change, but republicans don't it seems.

[flamin lib]

14. Ya know you may be onto somethin. They sell 'Us Against Them" and we sell solutions.

Our message changes to meet the times, theirs is constant. Say the same thing loud enough and long enough and it becomes a truthism, an accepted thing right or wrong.

Their message is a constant: socialism, raise taxes, big government, liberal is bad, take your personal freedom. Anything a Democrat says gets re-framed to fit that message.

We say clean air, they say liberals will take your pickup truck. We say health care, they say socialized medicine. We say say renewable energy, they say give up all your comforts.

No matter what the issue they couch it as Dems bad, We save you.

[PatSeg]

15. Exactly

In the end, republicans are sales people, selling the same old fear mongering and status quo. Whereas Democrats, though certainly not perfect, tend to believe in governing and public service. Republicans are always running for office, but don't have the ability or will to actually govern. Too busy selling and soliciting donations I suppose.

As a rule, republicans are better at selling, but that's because they've been using the same old playbook for decades, so they have it down pat. Very little innovation or imagination involved. Doesn't speak well for a big portion of the population though. The same people who buy a brand of detergent because they saw an ad on TV are an easy mark for republican politicians. Sadly, too many people don't think, they react, a huge failure of our education system.

[flamin lib]

16. How do we defeat them without becoming them? nt

[PatSeg]

19. Yeah, it is a delicate balancing act

If we have to become them, then what's the point?

[SoonerPride]

17. We need to just come up with slogans and do the opposite?

That's all I got

[octoberlib]

18. The Guardian had an article on this very thing . They were talking about the differences between

Tory and Labour electioneering and the Tories motto is Keep It Simple. Come up with a catchy , simple slogan and push one or two policies and leave it at that.


Labour had like a 200 page policy binder; people didn't read it, if they did it confused them and most of them didn't care.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

20. Drop the GOP