Framing the debate

[flamin lib]

Dr. Jeffery Feldman is a treasure for us on the left. His website is http://www.frameshopisopen.com/ and contains a lot of good stuff.

One thing he teaches is how to frame the debate. All too often we Dems get carried away in the nuance of our platform. Don’t do it!! The RNC has spent $ millions on think tanks to distill their message into simple phrases. They become part of every day vocabulary. Once a Dem uses one of those phrases, the debate is lost. Just saying “War on Terror” acknowledges that such a thing exists and must be won.

He suggests polishing our message into a single easily repeatable sentence. Pretend you are on an elevator and the fellow next to you asks what the Democratic Party stands for. You’ve only got a few seconds to say something he will remember.

Feldman suggests this formula, “We believe in (value) and (value), (principle), (principle), (principle) and (principle).” If the ride lasts longer you can elaborate, if not you’ve delivered an easily remembered message.

Values are big picture ideas and principles are more “how to” make the values happen.

My elevator sentence came out this way, “Democrats believe in a strong secure country and healthy stable families, guarding the gates at our ports and borders, caring for the sick and the poor and giving the opportunity for prosperity to every American.”

I really like “guarding the gates”! Three words, calls up the Dubai debacle and the border issue and sounds “strong”.