I don't usually nitpick weak media coverage of electoral politics, but I take it personally when it's about the place where I grew up. Yesterday Renee Montagne interviewed Brad Lichtenstein, who recently shot a documentary about Janesville, WI. The film isn't specifically about congressman and vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, but lucky for Lichtenstein, the city's most famous son is all over the news this week.
Jamelle Bouie recently lamented that liberals continually fall into the trap of focusing on crafting good policy arguments, while what wins debates (and even elections) are appeals to ideals and principles. This common refrain among progressives echoes sociologist George Lakoff’s work on Democrats’ seeming failure to grasp the difference between messaging and framing.
The hidden message in many politicians' campaign speeches and ads is this: “Be afraid. Be very afraid.”
The Republicans want us to fear that we don’t have an adequate defense budget, that the country is going bankrupt, that the government is going to take guns away from law-abiding citizens. The Democrats want us to fear that the Republicans will gut Social Security and Medicare if they win the White House and gain enough seats in Congress, that given the chance they’ll stack the Supreme Court even more in favor of conservatives.