Politics: A rhetorical reframing

[womzilla]

I realized about a week ago that there's a pretty simple rhetorical tool that progressives, liberals, and just plain sane people can use to help assure the defeat of the lickspittles in Congress who are not Democrats or Socialists.

From now until January 20, 2009, there is no more Republican party in my language. Instead, there is "Bush's party". If I need an abbreviation, they are the BOP (Bush's Own Party).

That's all.

This idea came to me when I was listening to Harry Reid on Morning Edition, talking about the "moderate" members of the opposition party--specifically Arlen Specter, but also people like Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, and sometimes Chuck Hegel. What Reid said was that Specter was "always on our side, except when we need him and he votes with the Republicans." What's really going on is Specter votes with Bush, on every crucial vote. Hence, Bush's party.

There used to be honest, decent members of Lincoln's party in Washington; when there were, they deserved the name of the party he lead. But for the past fourteen years, those officials have all been high on Gingrichism and drunk with Bush. Bush couldn't have driven this country into the abyss without the gleeful, consistent, and unwavering support of his Congressional lackeys. Let them all wear his name. Maybe after a generation of self-examination, chastisement, humiliation, purges, reconsiderations, and repentance, they might again be worth of the letter R. But not now.

Comments

[avram]

It's probably worth trying, but we both know what the outcome would be: Democrats who refer to the Republicans as "Bush's party" in their election campaigns will get tagged by the echo chamber as clueless for not realizing that Bush will be out of office next year.

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

There is nothing the progressives can say that can't get attacked in the echo chamber. As we've seen, if the Democrats run a war hero, the echo chamber will claim that his wounds were self-inflicted. That doesn't mean it's not worth saying things.

Arnold Schwartzenegger was trailing in the polls against Bustamante during the leadup to the original recall election. His team managed to reframe the two-step process--recall Davis and choose a successor, which Arnold would have lost--into a single election--Schwartzenegger vs. Davis--and won handily. Bush is the least popular man in America (except Cheney), and we need to make it constantly clear that this year's elections are a referendum on his despised career.

[shelleybear.livejournal.com]

Bush is the least popular man in America (except Cheney), and we need to make it constantly clear that this year's elections are a referendum on his despised career.

The Dems need to run on the slogan:
"We won't get fooled again!"

But we both know we still will.

[doctorpsycho60.livejournal.com]

I'm convinced that there is value in a meme I thought of recently: "conservative" is an djective, not a noun. You can be a conservative Catholic and adhere closely to church doctrine, r you can be a conservative barber and give the same kind of haircut you learned in schoo without variations, but you can't just e "a conservative".

When USAns speak of a political conservative, what they mean is a conservative liberal, as opposed to a progressive liberal such as you find in the Democratic party.

Unfortunately, there aren't many conservative liberals left in the Republican party. They all eem to have signed up for the Bush-McCain post-democracy movement (a that is what I recommend we start calling their part, btw).

GOP Means Grand Old Party

[(Anonymous)]

By that logic, we should think of "Bush's Own Party" as the BOP, or as the Boppers.

But not the Big Boppers, because unlike the woman with Chantilly Lace and a pretty face, they don't know what we like.

Hel-lo, ba-by!

With a wiggle in the walk and a giggle in the talk, the Anonymous Sparrow move on.

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

That's "led", not "lead". (End obligatory nitpick.)

Otherwise... Yup. I know decent (albeit mistaken and often misled) Republicans and C/conservatives, but they are only nominally (in a literal sense) connected with the current Republican Party and its seriously Radical Leaders. Unfortunately few of them seem to realize that.