Wordcruncher

How To Bang A Drum

I find it interesting that much of the feedback I get from my posts – intentional or otherwise – bolsters a primary thematic argument I have been attempting to advance on this site.

One of the most commonly heard responses is that I am tinkering with cosmetics, while the Democrats need a whole idea overhaul. The argument here is certainly not that the Party should move further left to find new ideas (although I am certain many on the far left would argue they should).

The clear implication is that because Republicans hold the majority, their ideas have been successful. Democrats, therefore, must acknowledge that their own ideas are failures and then develop ideas more like the Republicans’.

To some degree, Democrats do need to effectively articulate ideas that address current political reality; for example, the Republicans have become an institutionally corrupt machine and Democrats are the reformers (to steal a Republican idea from the 80s).

Having said that, I do believe Democrats’ core ideas are sound. But Republicans have worked long and hard to pull the debate onto their own ground, and in so doing, have effectively neutralized an already disorganized Democratic message.

As RBMan has written in the comments:

...the problem is related to Wordcruncher's theme of message discipline. As far as I can see there is no real message to exercise discipline around as opposed to the conservative side which consistently bangs the drum over and over again about "faith", "taxes", "regulatory burden", "defense", "abortion", and "family values".

What drum do the Democrats bang?

This may be a semantic argument, but I do believe it is significant: Rather than banging the ideas we already have, we are responding to Republican drum-banging, which puts Democrats consistently one beat behind the Republicans.

The first step in seizing the idea offensive is to evaluate the debate and understand how it is being conducted before developing a strategy. Following are some of the methods the Republicans successfully deploy to neutralize the Democratic ideas (which are not effectively articulated).

Everybody Does It: I will use as an example a comment I’ve heard and received more than once. It goes like this: One cannot denounce the rhetoric of the right without also condemning the left. In other words, this argument goes, my point is ineffective because Everybody Does It.

However, please note that I am pointing out specific rhetoric emanating from the right. I do not wish to censor, but a reasonable person would acknowledge the difference between calling the president a deserter or saying he betrayed his country, versus stating that an entire group of Americans are traitors or must be eliminated (except for one, which apparently would be placed in a museum).

These very clear differences in rhetoric turn the Everybody Does It dismissal into an excuse – and a justification – for further extremist attacks. As noted in my "This Is War, Dammit" post, Democrats need to recognize and counter this attitude on a national level.

The Republicans have used this strategy to neutralize the Democratic message by neutering the media. At one time the public watchdog with investigative powers that threatened any crooked politician, the press has been defanged. Instead of true reportage and journalism, we now have stenography, as I described in an earlier post:

The current method of reporting goes something like this: "The Republicans say this. The Democrats say that. We don’t know who’s right, but one thing’s certain: It sure is complicated."

Here’s an example of how Republicans have used this tactic. Sen. Kerry’s war hero status and Mr. Bush’s spotty National Guard duty had to be neutralized. So they trotted out the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth, who demonstrably and profusely lied and misrepresented Sen. Kerry’s war record.

With the waters muddied, the mainstream press offered little in the way of investigative journalism into either sides’ charges. They simply resigned themselves to the stenography described above: "Everybody Does It, and we can’t sort it out."

Gotcha!: The Gotcha! strategy goes like this: "You say A now. But sometime in the past, you said B. Gotcha!" Note that either A or B could be taken entirely out of context.

Both sides are certainly guilty of applying this tiresome strategy. While it doesn’t seem particularly effective at advancing a point, it is effective at muddying the waters. Consider these two examples, one from each side:

"Sen. Kerry says the U.S. should always defend itself. But in the 70s, he made the statement that we should not go to war without U.N. authority. Gotcha!"

"Mr. Bush says the objective of going into Iraq is to remove a brutal government and build democracy in its place. But during the 2000 campaign, Gov. Bush said he was against nation-building. Gotcha!"

A tactic used media-wide, Gotcha! is the life force of the cable talking head holler-thons. Their very omnipresence has distracted the public from more substantial discourse. Republicans understood this, and it became a primary strategy when they began promoting "character" as a crucial issue.

The ultimate game of Gotcha! was Mr. Clinton’s oval office peccadilloes. I am not justifying Mr. Clinton’s actions, but clearly the special prosecutor was assigned with a well-financed fishing expedition for a Gotcha!

And how better to explain Republican success with Gotcha! than the example of Rep. Bob Barr, the House Manager in the impeachment trial, who had peccadilloes of his own that received relatively little attention? Granted, Rep. Barr’s peccadilloes are not as significant as the president’s, but wouldn’t that have been a good story? Both the House prosecutor and the accused president are adulterers! Think of the ratings!

Perhaps the Democratic response should have been to sigh, shrug, and say, "Everybody does it."