We're losing the war of words

[NightWatcher]

"we cant survive a tax hike on the job creators" Is what I keep hearing as soundbytes on the news.

Why is it not "the mega rich tax dodgers need to pay a small portion of the gifts the've been blessed with"


A question for the framers of the argument from the Democratic side of the aisle. If you were looking for a quick buck, would you sooner rob a bank or a homeless shelter? There's no more blood left in the lower class, you're going to have to check under the sofa cushions on the yachts, corporate jets, and palacial estates.

[treestar]

1. That is always the case

But not everyone lets the TV pundits and their echo chamber determine how they vote.

[tekisui]

2. The media can't tell us how to think, but it does tell us what to

think about. That is why the Dems should learn to own the frame. They are horrible at messaging.

[EstimatedProphet]

10. How can they message when no one will air their message?

This is the part that I think no one has fully grasped yet - the media is owned almost fully by the rightwing. We can scream our message at the tops of our lungs, and no one will hear it because the media buries it intentionally.

[tekisui]

11. I don't think it has been clearly articulated in the short sound bites.

IMO, I don't think the necessary effort has been made to own the frame. The media has a short attention span and will follow the stories that create short controversial sound bites, especially with compelling images for teevee.

Giving a speech or lengthy press conference aren't enough. We need images and sound bites that raise a controversy. One reason the right so often wins the framing wars is that they will say outlandish things that generate people talking and often force the Dems to either respond or work within that frame.

We need to throw first punches, get ahead of them and force them into the position of responding. Obama did this well during the campaign, but seems to have forgotten the importance of it from the WH.

[CrispyQ]

13. I agree completely!

Why the dems have not hired George Lakoff or someone like him is beyond me. While I agree with the poster above, that the media prefers the corporate message, what they really want are viewers & if the dems had some snappy bites, it could get some media attention. How do we know if we never try it?

The bigger question is, why don't we try it? Hmmmm.

[Blecht]

12. It's frustrating, isn't it?

There could be dozens of Democrats screaming that exact message already, but we would have no way of knowing it unless we were in earshot -- the media are not going to tell us unless the message is somehow demonized first.

The media are the problem!

[spanone]

3. well, obviously there are NO job creators.....

[meegbear]

4. The problem, to me anyways, is the media's not stepping up ...

They ask questions like "The Democrats are proposing cuts in this, this and this. What are the republicans offering?" and they reply with the "The American people ..." non-response answer.

Instead of calling them on it, saying that's not an answer, they go to the next question.

[zbdent]

5. how about pointing out that quite a number of these "tax increases"

the Republicans talk about are closing loopholes that the wealthy use?

How about the "tax hike" of removing the breaks for companies whose entire foreign footprint is an offshore P.O. box?

[msongs]

6. there is no war on words. dems have totally adopted repub framing nt

[QC]

8. Bingo. n/t

[gkhouston]

9. +1. n/t

[WinkyDink]

7. A billion is sought for the 2012 re-election. THERE'S your clue.