Here's an example of Rovian/GOP Mousetrapping of Democrats

I saw a clip of Rove's speech last week, in which he said Democrats are with you when a fight starts, but they'll desert you once the going gets tough.

That is a classic example of the Catch 22 that Democrats have to learn to better deal with.

Once, in the earlier days of the Iraq debacle, the GOP mantra was that Democrats didn't support the war, and were therefore unpatriotic and weak on defense.

But now Rove is putting out a revisionist view of history. Contrary to the earlier arguments, now he claaims that the Demnocrats DID support the war at the beginning, but are now turning into chickenshits who will cut and run.

There's a little bit of truth and a lot of bullshit in both bits of spin. A number of Democrats did support the war, but are now changing positions. The majority opinion of the public has done the same thing.

But the real point is that the GOP/ROVE spin machine will turn WHATEVER Democrats do against them. When Democrats go against the president, it will be used against them. When Democrats support the president it will be used against them.

What it boils down to, IMO, is this: The Democrats have to totally disregard what they think the GOP "spin" and the public reaction will be. Stop playing by the GOP frame.

If the Democrats had stood up against Bush's war on a partisan basis from the beginning, they would now be in a clear position to reflect the public majority concensus that has emerged against this war. The attempt to "support the president" back in 02-03 is now being used against the Democrats.

Good analysis. The Repugs are masters at spinning things both ways. The Democrats, so far, are masters at getting spun.

Britain, Australia, and Japan are moving to "support roles".

Dang libruls! All of them!

I thought they were the last bastion of the "global coalition"

Dang cut-and-running Aussies.

the "neutrality" of the Corporate Media openly.

But, they lack a megaphone.

It's like the book says, "If we're going to win we must do it without the media."

Should it happen... I would strongly support any changes the government might see
fit to impose on the so-called media.

Despite the media, Democrats can do a much better of acting and speaking out.

Democrats do get the microphone already. The problem is how it's used, and what is or isn't done in other spheres.

one of his favorites . . .

A spoiled brat wakes up Christmas morning to find a room full of manure.

Ecstatic, the kid starts digging through the manure. The parents are confused, and ask why.

The brat says, "With all this manure, there has to be a pony!"

- - - -

Truth is the pony of the Republicans . . . and the die-hard supporters are the spoiled kid . . .

So we will continue to be mousetrapped, swiftboated, and slimed in every other conceivable fashion
for the forseeable future, and there isn't a damn thing we can do about it.

Yes, to use one example, the media did give a megaphone to the SwiftBoaters.

But don't forget all those weeks of silence in response from Kerry. If he had come out immediately and called them out and taken them on, they would have had much less impact.

In a bigger sense, if more Democratic politicians had been more attuned to their gut instincts about Bush during the many crunch points -- instead of trying to calibrate the fickle winds of public opinion -- they'd be in a lot stronger position today.

Democrats do have opportunities to be heard. There are also opportunities to counter the GOP spin.

For one thing, the media feeds on drama and conflict. That's their primary bias. I guearntee, if Kerry had held a press conference and blasted the Swift Boaters in no uncertain terms, it would have been covered.

Where? CSPAN? While I think CSPAN's ratings have gone up quite a bit over
Bush**'s term of office their audience is still miniscule.

Other than that, there's preaching to the choir on DU and other progressive sites.

What "opportunities to be heard" am I missing here?



Those would seem to require one to be heard first.


If that were true, he scandals in this administration should have been an endless source of news fodder,
and they just keep getting juicier and juicer.
Trading prostitutes for legislative favors in the WATERGATE Hotel? What more could any muck-raker ask for?



That guarantee expired some time during the Reagan administration.
Now all network news organizations function seamlessly as part of the Republican machine,
and that is their primary mission.
Boosting Nielsen ratings is secondary to boosting the pResident's poll numbers.



It would have gotten about 10 seconds of coverage, followed by a lengthly rebuttal by pundits as proxy for the swift liars themselves.

often as antidote to Rovian spin. :evilgrin:

We can play their game even better than they can. "Tax and squander Repiglicans."

they "cut" programs "and run" with the money.

Then they "project" their own wrongdoings on others.

Reported.

Karl Rove calls us traitors and it dominates the news cycle and all the Democrats unwittingly reinforce his frames by denying the accusations.

What we need is a Democrat to take the gloves off and start calling Bush a war criminal, a traitor, War profiteer....and let the Republicans go into over drive condeming him for his statements.

The Democrats I know want us to DRAW BLOOD. Our base needs red meat too!

I get it. They have their scapegoat (us) and can change the reason for hating us every chance and turn they get.

The Lizard King stated this war on a lie. That's what's Dem's should be countering.