Negating a frame activates that frame

September 12, 2008 5:46 PM

Don't Think of a Maverick! George Lakoff offers some tips on framing to the Obama campaign.
posted by homunculus (57 comments total)

The Winning Frame has Emerged
posted by homunculus at 5:52 PM on September 12, 2008 [1 favorite]

I'll believe Obama is winning the framing when the nausea-inducing poll numbers go back to pre-Palin numbers.
posted by DU at 6:04 PM on September 12, 2008

Ahh, framing. What a way to miss the point.

Why the GOP wins -- they cater to their base, which means they come out and vote in large numbers, and then convince the Democrats that you cannot cater to your base and win.

So, the Democrats try to find the middle ground, reach out to moderates, hold bipartisan discussions -- and ignore the base. Which becomes depressed, and doesn't turn out. 95% of the GOP base votes, which outnumbers, barely, 75% of the Dem base, and Clinton/Gore/Kerry/Obama loses.

(Wait, what? Clinton didn't win -- the GOP and Perot split the vote and lost. You can win with 40%, if there are two opponents, who each get 30%)

John McCain isn't trying to convince you to vote for him. He's just trying to make sure those that are *already* going to vote for him actually go vote, while trying to sucker Obama into fighting over the "middle ground" and *not* convincing the Democratic base to get out and vote.

And the reason Obama's number are collapsing? Because he's fallen for it.

Fuck framing. This election is about what every election is about. Getting out *YOUR* voters, and convincing the other side's voters to stay home.
posted by eriko at 6:20 PM on September 12, 2008 [7 favorites]

Oh, and forcing the other side's voter to stay home, but that's another post.
posted by eriko at 6:20 PM on September 12, 2008 [1 favorite]

fwiw, e-v.com is showing McCain at 270 EVs.

NV, NM, OH, ND, and VA flipped since the convention.
posted by troy at 6:25 PM on September 12, 2008

As a former colleague told me years ago, when we were talking about a Democratic who was positioning himself as a centrist in a race:

"In an election between a 'Republican' and a Republican, people are going to vote for the Republican."
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 6:30 PM on September 12, 2008 [1 favorite]

Lakoff's book is a thrown-together DC Think Tank rehash of a truly terrific book: White Bears and Other Unwanted Thoughts: Suppression, Obesession, and the Psychology of Mental Control by Daniel Wegner, which takes its name from a vignette in Tolstoy's autobiography.

I JUST LOST THE GAME
posted by blasdelf at 6:33 PM on September 12, 2008 [3 favorites]

"He's old and doesn't know how to use email" doesn't seem to be a winning message.
posted by Class Goat at 6:34 PM on September 12, 2008

This election is about what every election is about. Getting out *YOUR* voters, and convincing the other side's voters to stay home.

Or the ongoing winning strategy of a Republican Party with a shrinking base... making sure your opponent's votes don't get counted.
posted by wendell at 6:36 PM on September 12, 2008 [2 favorites]

If it were a matter of framing, I'd say the phrase "Straight Talk" is ripe to be taken away from McCain. I was considering getting the domain names "VotersForStraightTalk.com/org/us" (which ARE AVAILABLE) and filling the site with nothing but appeals to McCain to "please, talk straight with us like you used to". I have made ZERO contributions to Senator Obama and would've insisted on anyone getting involved with it doing the same. But I'm a very small-time webmaster (a webster, I like to call it) and couldn't do what it would take to make it minimally influencial. Anybody else who'd like to do it, let me know and I'll help...
posted by wendell at 6:44 PM on September 12, 2008

The Winning Frame has Emerged
posted by homunculus at 8:52 PM on September 12

That is the most thought-provoking writing I've read on any of this to date. Thanks very mcuh for sharing. I've been wondering lately how the psychology of this all works, and it's been especially confusing since I've seen things like a photo of a woman crying during McCain's acceptance speech. Not that I don't understand that what leaves me cold can bring other people to tears-- it was just such a bad speech. I think if I'd agreed with him on a lot of stuff and liked him, I would have found it very disappointing, not inspiring. He seemed unconvinced by his own words. And so I can only conclude that it's not just my perspective that's different, but that there's all these messages I'm just not getting that other people are. I'm not his base, although I think I understand his base, but they're getting a different message entirely than me.

I did notice the shift to culture warrior during the GOP convention, although I wasn't thinking of it in those exact terms. And then the incorporation of change and challenging the status quo getting mixed in there, which of course seems hypocritical and untrue to me, but I can see how someone wanting to hear that from a conservative would be excited about it. What bugged me the most was how to shift to a war theme means you need a clear enemy. From early on in that convention's coverage, it was made pretty clear that that enemy is still me.
posted by Tehanu at 6:56 PM on September 12, 2008 [1 favorite]

I think both Lakoff and the Winning Frame guy are right.

I do think that McCain has just outsmarted himself.

McCain as a personality when he is relaxed is very attractive. However the election campaign has brought out the worst of the worst of the worst of his worst side. Going with the Rovian lying tactics worked for a while, but the narrative is turning on him. The McCain brand is entirely based on the Maverick/Straight Talk meme. That Meme is about to roll over and die. Palin will have her fundie afficionados but she is busted as of the Gibson interview. She'll go on Hannity but that's it. They won't let her out in the wild again.

The dominant meme in the press over the weekend is going to be the words "McCain" and "Lie" in various combinations.
posted by unSane at 7:04 PM on September 12, 2008

and it's been especially confusing since I've seen things like a photo of a woman crying during McCain's acceptance speech

there are around 1.2M abortions performed each year, an average of one 9/11 deathtoll per day.

it wouldn't surprise me to learn that that woman was pro-life.
posted by troy at 7:15 PM on September 12, 2008

"He's old and doesn't know how to use email" doesn't seem to be a winning message.

Agreed. It's such a dumb ad. It's not as nasty as McCain's ad about Obama and sex education, but it's petty and McCain is going to nail him for it.
posted by homunculus at 7:33 PM on September 12, 2008

The dominant meme in the press over the weekend is going to be the words "McCain" and "Lie" in various combinations.

The emerging meme of this campaign is that the voters no longer care what the press says, because the majority believe the press is biased.

The press has been pushing negative coverage of Palin for a week and a half, and the result has been a rise in the polls for McCain and Palin, and a serious decline in credibility for the press.
posted by Class Goat at 7:42 PM on September 12, 2008 [1 favorite]

I thought the Lakoff article was particularly good. Feldman also seems to have an excellent point, because I think that this election may hinge on the center, unlike the last two.

This election is about what every election is about. Getting out *YOUR* voters, and convincing the other side's voters to stay home.

See, I think that was definitely true for Bush, because he was a polarizing figure from the start. But McCain and Obama have so far both played to the center, so I think Feldman may be correct in that McCain has made himself vulnerable. We'll see. If you're right, then McCain has actually made the right move, and Obama may be screwed.

I'm a big fan of The Daily Howler, and today's post had a link to an excellent article about problems that democrats have that go more than skin deep. I think Gerson discusses something to be careful about while going after Palin as a radical conservative.
posted by Edgewise at 7:42 PM on September 12, 2008

I'm off to see a movie. Enjoy the hand-wringing whinefest!
posted by raysmj at 7:50 PM on September 12, 2008

A movie, huh? You must be cool.
posted by Edgewise at 7:58 PM on September 12, 2008 [1 favorite]

The emerging meme of this campaign is that the voters no longer care what the press says, because the majority believe the press is biased.

They care. It's just that they want to see negative things happening to their celebrities. There's been no difference between the coverage of Palin and coverage of Britney or any other celeb. People still love Britney, possibly even more now that there's cause to pity her...Palin's reveal has worked out the same way.
posted by voltairemodern at 8:00 PM on September 12, 2008 [2 favorites]

This place just isn't the same without raysmj.
posted by homunculus at 8:04 PM on September 12, 2008 [1 favorite]

The frame that elects Democrats is "this guy is one of us." Just that simple. Chuck Schumer and Rahm Emanuel sure as hell knew it, too, and that drove their candidate selection efforts and won them majorities in the House and Senate in 2006. Bill Clinton had it in his bones. Being a centrist certainly helps, but it isn't essential -- Sherrod Brown surely is not centrist, and most of the House members newly elected from Republican-leaning districts are voting with Pelosi down the line, and most will nevertheless still be re-elected.

It would never be easy for a southside Chicago dwelling Harvard Law grad of Nigerian descent to tick that box, but the surprising thing is how obviously Obama refuses even to try. There's a fine line between principle and vanity...
posted by MattD at 8:15 PM on September 12, 2008

the surprising thing is how obviously Obama refuses even to try

What's the point? In this election, it's not like he can realistically compete for the "I don't want to vote for anyone smarter than me" demographic.
posted by Combustible Edison Lighthouse at 8:36 PM on September 12, 2008 [3 favorites]

Yeah, what's that dude who lived by CITY and graduated from WELL-REGARDED SCHOOL and is descended from NATION OF BLACK PEOPLE?

Why isn't he trying harder to be a normal person like me, who lives in SIMILAR CITY with people from WELL-REGARDED SCHOOL and is descended from NATION OF WHITE PEOPLE? I mean, sheesh, he's not even trying. How vain.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 8:39 PM on September 12, 2008 [3 favorites]

Dear god, I wish framing didn't work.

I think if everyone in the world was aware of framing it'd stop working. I'll do my part!

Goes out to find random people to tell. But something makes me think this isn't going to work too well.
posted by JHarris at 8:40 PM on September 12, 2008

What small-town America is saying about Obama
posted by homunculus at 8:41 PM on September 12, 2008

The emerging meme of this campaign is that the voters no longer care what the press says, because the majority believe the press is biased.

WTH? As a furiner, all I hear is that the press is praising the Republicans and doing it's best to misrepresent the democrats. The press that I've been exposed to has been really harsh (and typically untruthful) against Obama/whovever is on the 'left.' It has been this way for as long as I've followed US politics.

Would a rich philantrophilic "lefty" buying/sponsoring/building a mainstream media outlet help or hurt by bringing so much more fuel on the hypocritical mass implosion?

As someone who values fair play, when the US media rallies around Republican smear campaigns against the Democrats and lambast, shrilly, Democrat "in-turn" plays (which are usually a lot less vitriolic)... how many voting Americans have heard of Pravda or Soviet Propoganda?

Ugh.
posted by porpoise at 8:43 PM on September 12, 2008 [1 favorite]

I donno, I like Obama lots, and I'd like the U.S. to do well, but I'm kinda looking forward to Putin destroying Palin. I mean, it's not the end of the world when Putin starts trading Iran nukes for oil while laughing at Palin.
posted by jeffburdges at 9:04 PM on September 12, 2008

The frame that elects Democrats is "this guy is one of us." Just that simple. ... It would never be easy for a southside Chicago dwelling Harvard Law grad of Nigerian descent to tick that box, but the surprising thing is how obviously Obama refuses even to try.

MattD has it, and that's the problem with Democrats for the past several elections -- not one of them besides Bill Clinton could actually get down and persuade people.

The best off-the-cuff moment Obama ever had was when he admitted to smoking pot. "I inhaled frequently ... that was the point." Where'd that guy go?

Anybody remember the photos of Al Gore the night he finally conceded the 2000 election? Dude, where the fuck was that guy during the campaign?

Message to Democrats: Fucking relax. Take a swig. Come out and fight. Jackass.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:11 PM on September 12, 2008 [2 favorites]

Stuck In The Muck: What Obama should do to defeat McCain's lowly tactics.
posted by homunculus at 9:21 PM on September 12, 2008 [1 favorite]

What small-town America is saying about Obama

i lol'ed, i col'ed.
posted by radiosig at 9:28 PM on September 12, 2008

Everyone Chill the Fuck Out.
posted by dhartung at 9:53 PM on September 12, 2008 [6 favorites]

I've never read any of Lakoff's books, but I'm aware of his ideas. And when I saw Obama's "He's no Maverick" ad, I thought of Lakoff and I thought "oh no, that's not gonna work at all." I mean you just can't keep saying "McCain is no maverick" because most people will take away from that: "McCain...Maverick. Hey! McCain is a maverick!"

Anyways, I really like Lakoff's idea of re-framing taxes. He suggested that Democrats tie taxes to patriotism. You like America's freedoms? You pay your dues. You see those rich people who are trying their damndest to get out of paying their dues? They're not real Americans.

But really, this just makes me want to read Lakoff's books.
posted by Kronoss at 9:54 PM on September 12, 2008

The emerging meme of this campaign is that the voters no longer care what the press says, because the majority believe the press is biased.

The press has been pushing negative coverage of Palin for a week and a half, and the result has been a rise in the polls for McCain and Palin, and a serious decline in credibility for the press.
posted by Class Goat

If by "pushing negative coverage" you mean "fawning over and treating with kid gloves" I guess I would agree.

What I think we might be able to agree on is that no matter which side you endorse, you'll feel that the media is not fairly treating your candidate. In my mind, the biggest fault of the media is its tendency for meta-analysis instead of, um, reporting.
posted by beelzbubba at 10:04 PM on September 12, 2008

If by "pushing negative coverage" you mean "fawning over and treating with kid gloves" I guess I would agree.

If by "fawning over and treating with kid gloves" you're referring to all the attempts to slime Sarah Palin and her daughter and her eldest son and her youngest son, then you're nuts.
posted by Class Goat at 10:07 PM on September 12, 2008

The credibility of the press has not declined. You can't get lower than zero.

And 'taking on the press' is a classic winning framing device that makes every legitimate criticism look like 'attempt to slime' in the minds of some people and goats. It's great cover, but only works on a specific part of the population... a part McCain needed more of.
posted by wendell at 10:19 PM on September 12, 2008

And McCain has a long history of convincing people he's something he's not. His great bi-partisan campaign reform McCain/Feingold Act was built with holes you could drive busloads of lobbyists and truckloads of their money through. Which he has been doing ever since. But he accomplished some truly impressive framing with that to forget his membership in the Keating Five. And if Famous Astronaut Hero John Glenn weren't one of the Keaters, none of them would've survived politically long enough to 'redeem themselves', including Lesser Known POW Hero McCain.
posted by wendell at 10:28 PM on September 12, 2008

Well, Goat, your profile indicates that your worldview sees things in terms of personal attacks and I'm not going to play that game. It's not surprising then that you set up this false argument. The vast majority of the "mainstream" media has been deferential toward Palin--in fact, the McCain campaign has insisted on it. And indeed, why should she be treated in any different fashion than any other candidate.

Whine away about what you perceive as attacks on Palin. Anyone trying to "slime" Palin is not endorsed by Obama's campaign. In fact, an hour spent listening to the Stephanie Miller show today found the two guest hosts rejecting any notion that her fitness should be in any way tied to the size of her family or her parenting or her faith. Instead, she should be held to account for the bald-face flip flops--or inconsistencies, if you insist--on earmarks, on the pipeline or energy issues or her frankly inept responses to questions posed by Mr. Gibson.

When you say that the media has slimed her, you should not be counting the Daily Show or Colbert Report, or the blog machines. The first two are equal opportunity parodists. The last, whether on right or left are ends-justifies-the-means believers.

The Today Show, the CBS Morning News, the ABC Morning News have all been considerate of Palin. They are taken with the cult of celebrity that McCain himself decried just a few short weeks days ago.

She's been given a pass, by and large. And honestly, I really don't care too much about her, even if I do have concerns about McCain lasting through a 4 year term. For me, one day of a McCain presidency is 8 years too many. And Obama is not running against Palin, he's running against McCain. That's where my focus is and if Obama wants to win this, that's wher ehis focus will be and the Palin Phenomenon will fade, as it should.
posted by beelzbubba at 10:36 PM on September 12, 2008 [2 favorites]

I've read one of Lakoff's books. I think in general, he's right on.

I, too, used to think that many people would vote differently if they had more facts. But this is not necessarily true, sadly.
posted by 4midori at 11:10 PM on September 12, 2008

You can't "slime" someone by telling the truth about them. Part of the problem is that the republican party, for decades has been trashing the press. The result? Most conservatives don't actually trust the press at all, and also the press has been trying to earn back their trust by being "fair" You often see 'straight' journalists coupled with conservative ideologues on TV for example. This overreaction has soured the left on the media as well, although democrats are much more likely to trust the media then republicans are.

Nonetheless when all the info came out about Sarah Palin's history, and present continuous lying the right wingers had a 'truth' that they could use to ignore it: the old "Media bias" canard. But the right-wing base isn't the issue, the problem is the swing voters.

While both the right and left-leaning bases don't trust the media, swing voters actually do. And I think that McCain constantly being called out on all of his lies and bullshit can help there, which is what you're seeing in the media now.

And the reason Obama's number are collapsing? Because he's fallen for it.

Fuck framing. This election is about what every election is about. Getting out *YOUR* voters, and convincing the other side's voters to stay home.

I can't believe you're arguing that Obama isn't doing enough to "motivate his base". The democratic base has been turned to 11 for months and months. What exactly do you think he needs to do to motivate them any more?

But motivating the base isn't the only issue getting out the vote is also key. And Obama is totally on that:

Like many Obama supporters, I’ve been in a poll-induced funk recently. So I went to the Obama HQ in downtown Orlando looking for a t-shirt, a bumper sticker, something, anything, to make myself not feel so damn worried. Here’s what I found:

1. A brisk campaign operation staffed mostly by 25-35 year olds, all at computers, all analyzing data on GOTV operations.

2. After speaking with my precinct captain who was present, she told me that since August 1, the downtown HQ has registered 80,000 new voters. Let that number sink in. In the last 40 days or so, they’ve registered an average of 2,000 voters per day.

The other problem, of course is that by picking Sarah Palin, McCain has activated the conservative base, not just to vote, but to man their Get out the vote operation. I do really think McCain has gone too far in terms of blatant dishonesty, he's embarrassed the press and they're calling him on his bullshit. If he doesn't suffer for it electorally, it really is a pretty big problem for our country going forward.
posted by delmoi at 11:52 PM on September 12, 2008

"...and to have them see realities through Obama's leadership capacities."

Uhh... they acknowledge his leadership abilities, that's exactly what lots of conservatives are afraid of, because they don't like the direction in which he's leading.
posted by Jahaza at 1:11 AM on September 13, 2008

I find myself agreeing with Cool Papa Bell, on wishing the Democrats would go back to being more laid-back at least. Alas, that kind of off-the-cuff strategy probably wouldn't fly in a nation as uptight as the U.S. has turned out to be.

I so hate what politics has become in this country. The only thing I hate more is how many people seem to be okay with it.
posted by JHarris at 1:45 AM on September 13, 2008

I like this article, but I have one disagreement, anyone who hasn't noticed just how much the Obama campaign has been studying The other side hasn't been paying close enough attention. He even used the same song (to much headscratching by the pundits) and the same theme for his acceptance night "Keeping America's Promise"

A lot of the armchair quarterbacking is really starting to bug me, only because it ignores the fact that he's not only made it this far, but done so in a commanding fashion. Want to talk about framing? Try this on for size. How many Americans 2 years ago thought they'd see a Black president within their lifetimes? How many would have put money on it happening within this decade?

We're witnessing one of the biggest reframings of public perception in the history of this country.

To suggest that the only campaign in this entire election that hasn't had any major shakeups, misfires, close calls, or setbacks should change their strategy this late in the game is ridiculous. So far every time his campaign has seemed in danger of going off track, he's brought it back so effortlessly that it almost seems like he's been planning his own setbacks all along.

Besides, if you really believe in the framing concept, then you have to admit the genius of the Black guy with the muslim name and the exotic background constantly uttering the phrase "More Of The Same"
posted by billyfleetwood at 1:50 AM on September 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

Most every Republican I know -- from frothing wingnut to rational agree-to-disagree types -- knows full well that the McCain camp is campaigning on clumsy lies, manufactured outrage and self-induced delusion. So I'm not sure how pointing it out is gonna help. They don't care. In a weird way, they're kinda proud of it. They rationalize it away, saying that a few white lies level the playing field, since the main stream media is in the DNC's pocket, and -- hey! -- didn't Clinton tell a lie once?
posted by RavinDave at 3:08 AM on September 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

But motivating the base isn't the only issue getting out the vote is also key.

Motivating the base is the key to getting out the vote. You see those buses rolling GOP votes in from the Churches? The bus and the bus driver aren't why they're getting the votes in. It the fact that those voters *want* to walk on that bus. Indeed, if you reached an impossible 100% motiviation -- every voter who would vote for you will vote -- you need *no* GOTV operation. None. Your motivated voters get their own votes out.

Indeed, you can argue that if you need a huge GOTV operation, you have a big problem. Worse, every dollar and person-hour you have to spend on GOTV is a dollar/hour you can't spend trying to convince the people who *aren't* in your camp to vote for you.

Or, to put it another way. Democrats try to get the base to vote, the GOP just helps the base vote.

Registered voters? Nice number, not voters yet.

Obama gets this -- it's why he won the nomination. The reason he's bleeding support is then he basically said "Okay, I'm it, I don't need to address your concerns anymore." All of the big flip-flops have come since he clinched the nomination. Each one notches that motivation down a bit. Each one means either that much more spent in GOTV to get this less motivate voter to the polls in November, or a lost vote.

So, now the Democrats are trying, once again, to get people to vote *against* the GOP, not *for* the Democrats. This isn't a good motivation -- it basically says "Yeah, our guy is scum, but hey, he's less scummy than their guy."

People don't choose the less scummy restaurant. They stay home and eat.
posted by eriko at 7:16 AM on September 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

Pro-McCain Group Dumping 28 Million Terror Scare DVDs in Swing States
posted by homunculus at 10:07 AM on September 13, 2008

@homunculus

What's wrong with people that they'd look at that and say to themselves "By golly, we better elect the GOP again" instead of saying: "So ... why haven't you caught Osama Bin Laden yet?"
posted by RavinDave at 10:21 AM on September 13, 2008

for a southside Chicago dwelling Harvard Law grad of Nigerian descent to tick that box,

it's Kenyan, not Nigerian descent -- they all look alike, don't they?

but I concede that for an awful lot of Americans -- including you -- a black guy with a very humble background is clearly not "one of the guys" as much as a millionaire Senator's grandson, President's son, Harvard & Yale grad, oilman (with daddy's money for the startup and daddy's connections for day-to-day operations) is.

trouble is, you guys awarded George W. Bush the honorary title of everyman because of his bad syntax. had Obama spoken as unintelligbly as GWB, you would have simply dismissed him as "ghetto" -- Nigeria or Kenya or wherever notwithstanding
posted by matteo at 11:02 AM on September 13, 2008 [3 favorites]

If by "fawning over and treating with kid gloves" you're referring to all the attempts to slime Sarah Palin and her daughter and her eldest son and her youngest son, then you're nuts.

For the past two months, it turns out, the database LexisNexis people have been analyzing the massive number of articles it handles for election campaign coverage. It turns out that media coverage of Sarah Palin has actually been quite balanced, with 26% of some 6,000 articles and TV/radio reports last week deemed positive, 22% negative and 52% "neutral." Not to mention the McCain ticket getting 60% more coverage than the Obama team last week.
posted by krinklyfig at 12:00 PM on September 13, 2008

matteo, STFU. Your "you guys" vitriol and thinly veiled claim of racism is not warranted, and neither is it an accurate characterization of the post you quoted.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 1:06 PM on September 13, 2008

‘Obama Waffles’ featuring racist, stereotyped images sold at Values Voter Summit.

Stay classy, values voters.
posted by homunculus at 2:01 PM on September 13, 2008

I just watched Obama on O'Reilly and its pretty much the most hostile interview I've seen of a high-ranking public figure. Compare that to the recent Palin interview which was about as hostile as a walk in the park. For several news cycles the 'lipstick on a pig' comment is the leading story. How this ties into Pallin is beyond me.

I dont know if the media is truly this biased, but it sure seems that the democrats are unbelievably naive with the media. They need to notch up the hostility and boycott Fox News. More essays on frames isnt what they need. They really need to put pressure down on the media just like the GOP does like threatening to cut off access.

Lastly, why did I need the daily show to show me video of McCain being for abortion then later against it? Why isnt Obama airing this nationwide?

Too nice == lost election. I refuse to donate to Obama's inept campaign. Nice guys finish last in politics. Thanks for guaranteeing a McCain presidency you dumbasses.
posted by damn dirty ape at 11:21 PM on September 13, 2008

>Stay classy, values voters.

Indeed

"Obama, he's not our kind of people," said Middleton in a gruff, bitten-off speaking style, taking a break from canning green beans at the couple's double-wide mobile home. "He don't believe in the hereafter, and the Lord, the way I look at it ... he's Muslim."
posted by damn dirty ape at 11:21 PM on September 13, 2008

Group With Swift Boat Alumni Readies Ads Attacking Obama
posted by homunculus at 11:50 PM on September 13, 2008

We should eliminate all televised and radio ads for campaigns.
posted by pallen123 at 2:16 PM on September 14, 2008

pallen123, that is a herd of horses you will NEVER get back in the corral. The idiots who believe "the free $$$-based market" is the best way to do everything are still too powerful and are still led by the evil moneychangers in the temple. When the Supreme Court decided political contributions = free speech, they took the "Freedom of the Press only belongs to those who own one" principle and carved it in stone for everything in the 1st Amendment.
posted by wendell at 3:17 PM on September 14, 2008

The Power of Political Misinformation
posted by homunculus at 4:32 PM on September 15, 2008

Cognitive Dissonance and Politics
posted by homunculus at 5:53 PM on September 16, 2008