Why the National Debate is Still Conducted on the Right's Terms

[PeteNYC]

Conservative columnist and cable news pundit Amanda Carpenter posted a telling observation on Twitter: "It's remarkable all Palin had to do is say death panels in a Facebook statement to make the President on down start talking about them."

The Daily Show has a snarkier take: "You know a sales pitch is in trouble when it starts with 'look you've got to trust me, we're not going to kill your grandparents.'"

They're both making an important point: the debate over health reform is playing out on the right's terms. The national discourse (if you can call it that) could very well have been about the benefits of a single-payer system, but aside from a sham vote to appease progressives, single-payer is considered anathema in the media and political establishment and instead Democrats are scrambling to respond to a barrage of rightwing talking points.

This brings to mind a strategic concept favored by the right that has floated around progressive blogs but has never been put to use - or dealt with - by Democrats: the Overton Window.

<snip>

Now this approach is in full effect for the health reform battle. And once again, Democrats seem blind-sided and flummoxed by the right's extreme, game-changing rhetoric. HuffPost's Sam Stein reports that the White House is "frustrated and confused by Palin, Limbaugh and Hannity." But this has all been telegraphed for years, from Ann Coulter slandering 911 widows and being cheered by NBC and other media outlets, to John Kerry, a man who volunteered to sacrifice his life for his country, being swift-boated for his willingness to face bombs and bullets.

In the inchoate anti-Obama rage manifesting itself today, we're seeing the results of years of radical rhetoric on the part of talk show hosts and pundits like Limbaugh, Hannity, Savage, O'Reilly and Coulter. Driving across America, it's astounding to realize how much venom is spewed, how much fury is piped into the ears and minds of Americans who tune in by the millions to these rage-mongers. The right loves to point to people like Cindy Sheehan to suggest that the left is equally culpable for degrading the national dialogue, but seriously, there's hardly a comparison between a multi-millionaire like Limbaugh bashing 'libruls' day in day out and a woman who lost her son in a war, especially one we now discover was about Gog and Magog!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-daou/why-the-national-debate-i_b_257599.html

[BolivarianHero]

1. Why the Hell do you think?

What Americans call "commie pinko", most of the world calls centre-right.

The exception is in places like San Francisco and Burlington...And even then, Pelosi is no leftist.

[derby378]

2. Democrats, by far, have abandoned George Lakoff's strategies

Even Obama has apparently forgotten about Don't Think of an Elephant! And it's hurting us pretty bad.

[Amonester]

4. I'm not sure it's hurting us pretty bad.

This sheer madness of the minority of right-wing violent extremists doesn't do them any good.

I trust the majority of intelligent people will see them for what they are: a bunch of ignorant blowhards (and violent to the curb).

After all, the only way these nutjobs know how to dig themselves out of the deep hole they dug themselves is to dig deeper, and we've all seen that there's no low they won't go.

[blm]

3. and the simple answer to 'Why?' GOP allies bought control of most broadcast media in the 80s and 90s

and it certainly wasn't to give national policy issue debates an equal hearing.

[Orsino]

5. Because the Right owns the media, by and large...

...and has been permitted to consolidate control of the bandwidth in the hands of a very few, very rich men.

[Uncle Joe]

6. The national debate isn't conducted on the "Right's" terms, it's conducted on corporate terms

and the only reason those terms are easily given preeminence is because the corporate media; of which most Americans still get a substantial part of their information from, either directly or indirectly represent corporations.

If Gilligan of "Gilligan's Island" fame proposed any proposition or policy; no matter how outrageous or ludicrous which advanced the corporate agenda over that of the American People, it would be given instant and continuous airplay. This in turn would require a response or it would take off like a brush fire.

So if the author were seriously concerned about this disparity and warping of debate, he/she should correctly label what it is, corporate vs people not right vs left.

[Lorien]

7. It all started with Reagan and the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine

amazing that most can't see the obvious there, and that liberals-especially the ones fed on RW talk born after Reagan-will actually fight AGAINST the reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine with absurd notions that it "curbs free speech". No folks; they're curbing free speech now by only allowing the Right to use the Megaphone.

[HughMoran]

8. The right has jumped the shark and many I speak to are aghast at their idiocy

It's gotten so bad that when I tell people what the right is saying now, they say "what??" - as if they can't comprehend the utter stupidity of what I've just said.

No, this isn't bad for the left, it's good. Democrats are more motivated than ever and Republicans look more desperate than they ever have. This is going to backfire in historical fashion - naysayers notwithstanding.