Framing the debate: It's all GOPHow do Republicans continually frustrate Democrats, keeping them on the defensive? It's not just their media control (Fox News, Clear Channel, etc.), it's not just the $2 billion they've put into think tanks over the past 30 years, and it's not just lies and dirty tricks. It's their skill at "framing."
Take the term "tax relief," for example. The phrase started appearing in White House press releases on the day President Bush took office, and it has been repeated over and over ever since. But it's what is behind the words -- the mental structure known as a "frame" -- that matters as much as the words themselves. For there to be "relief" there must be an affliction, an afflicted party harmed by the affliction, and a reliever who takes the affliction away and is therefore a hero. And if anybody tries to stop the reliever, he's a villain wanting the suffering to go on. Add "tax" to the mix and you have a metaphorical frame: Taxation as an affliction, the taxpayer as the afflicted party, the president as the hero, and the Democrats as the villains. Every time you hear the term, those subliminal meanings resonate. Once the campaign repeats the words day after day, they end up in every newspaper and on every TV and radio station, and the term becomes the way TV commentators and journalists talk about taxes. And pretty soon the Democrats are forced to talk about their own brand of "tax relief," for the middle class. But by adopting the Republicans' language, they have adopted one of the GOP's central ideas. Every time they use the words, they reinforce the idea. That's because once phrases become part of everyday language, their frames become physically fixed in people's brains. When this happens, mere facts don't matter. If the facts don't fit the frames, the frames stay and the facts are ignored. Once the Republicans see their frames accepted, they have an overwhelming advantage in every debate. Their frames become the new common sense, because frames define what common sense is. When Democrats are outframed, they tend to go on the defensive, to deny the frame: "No, the Republicans have only given tax relief to the rich, who don't need it. We'll give tax relief to the middle class instead." Negating a frame just reinforces it, as when Richard Nixon said on TV during Watergate, "I am not a crook!" Thereafter, everybody thought of him as a crook. The Democrats this year, by accepting the words and frames that go with them, are just helping the Republicans. Instead, the Democrats need to play offense, not defense, and Kerry needs to frame himself. Two words -- strong progressive -- would work well. He needs to frame Bush as weak, and as weakening the country. He needs 10 words that say what he stands for: a Strong America, Mutual Responsibility, Broad Prosperity, a Better Future, and Valuing Families. Continued... |
