"In the meat" and why the Republicans are in for a historic loss.

[grantcart]

Bill Maher. Undercover Snob

Half of the time he is the biggest ass and half of the time he is the smartest guy on TV.

But I am glad that he doesn't live next door to me because I don't think he likes people very much and I don't think the nation misses a lot of funny stories about this 'fat dude with a beautiful wife'.

On his last show he dissed "Undercover Boss".

Undercover boss is a cheezy shmaltzy show that takes the boss 'undercover' and have him do regular jobs. Boss fails. Boss meets a few real workers and loves them. Boss reevaluates his life choices. Boss calls workers together and makes a promise to be a better boss. And everybody with a brain wonders about the other thousands of the boss's workers who he didn't meet, how about those sick kids and so on.

Maher hates the show for its predictability and because it is so 'anecdotal' that it doesn't attack the problem on a systemic level.



Maher is 100% correct. Maher is 100% wrong.

After having decades of movies and TV shows that denigrate workers and lift up CEOs this one lifts up workers and tears down CEOs as being out of touch with the reality of their own companies.

What is astonishing about Maher's critique is that he gets millions of dollars for communicating with people and doesn't understand the basic rule of communication - "put it into meat".

Millions of people know Aesop's Fables but couldn't tell you what Socrates taught. Aesop taught a principle in wrapped in a human incarnation (literally 'in the meat' think Chili con carne)and Socrates taught a principle.

This is why Christianity has such an effective record of spreading its message. First Jesus taught in parables and then his death captures the principle of reconciliation and forgiveness that Jesus the Rabbi was trying to teach. Christian lives are transformed by a personal reaction to a principle that is incarnated and not an abstract lesson.


Why the Republicans are like the Man who grabbed the Tiger by the tail (more effective than 'Why the Republicans will have strategic obstacle in the fall campaign' isn't it)


In the Fall campaign the Republicans will be running on abstract (and mostly untrue) points.

'Deficit'
'Government Run Health Care'
'Government doing to much too fast'.

Democrats are going to be running 'in the meat' with points incarnation.

Jim the hard working small business owner will get up and explain that his health care costs were cut in half.

Bill and Mary will explain how they got insurance for their whole family because they couldn't be denied because of their sick child.

and so on.

It will be cliched abstract nonsense on the one hand and real people communicating real stories on the other and there is no comparison on what gets to people just ask a regular person what Aesop's fables were about and then ask them to explain what they remember of Socrates, or if they are younger the values of Harry Potter.

Bill Maher is right of course. Undercover Boss raises more questions than it answers but it does raise questions and it is a step for the mass media to embrace the idea that the regular guy works just as hard and is just as valuable as the CEO. It should be encouraged and expanded on.

Now POTUS Undercover would be something wouldn't it.



And now the President is making my point as I type

I am signing this bill it for:

"for my mother battled with insurance while she died of Cancer"

"For Ryan Smith who runs a company with 5 workers"

"For 11 year old Marcelus who lost his mom to an illness because she didn't have insurance"

"Natoma Cantfield who is in the hospital and gave up her insurance afraid that she will lose her house"

"for all of the leaders who took this up from Teddy Roosevelt . . . . "

"for Senator Ted Kennedy . . ."

Republicans have no idea what they have done. They want to run for Congress by taking health care away from real people.

This is a PR nightmare for the Republicans and somehow I don't think that the overwhelming cold feeling that you get from watching these mean little cretins is going to help much.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Well said...

[grantcart]

3. Thks

[apnu]

5. Indeed well said, lets hope the Dem leadership hears you

My fear is the Democrats falling for their classic, line up and shoot in the foot election cycle. You're right, they need to go for broke on this and own the bill top to bottom, left to right. They should proudly stand up with middle America on this thing.

The big question is: will they do that?

[goclark]

9. They made a huge start today

I've watched President Obama very closely.

I was a Teacher.

He was a Teacher.

He always models the behavior that he wants US to follow.

He provided real people as examples of what this can mean to American Families.

He was gracious and did not stomp on his "enemies."

I could go on and on but let's just say... we need to follow the blue print that he displayed at this historic event today.

President Obama is a Master Teacher ~ simply a Master.

[grantcart]

20. good points

[grantcart]

14. Well today was a good start

[FrenchieCat]

19. The way that Dems can destroy themselves is if they start attacking each other.....

United talking about how people will and are benefitting with this landmark law
is how we win......

Talking about this health care bill as though we are Republicans, focusing on its
every perceived flaw, will be what might be the death of us. Dems that would
be helping us lose. It really is that simple.

A chink in the armor, an Achilles Heel,
will bear the face of those who say they are on our side.
Beware of the moles, as they understand this as well.

[Top Cat]

2. K&R

[grantcart]

8. thks

[LiberalFighter]

4. Republicans want to take away our health care.

They only want the rich to have health care.

[grantcart]

12. That is what the bumper sticker will say

[Betty Karlson]

30. Seen this yet?

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2010/03/23/are_independents_turning_from_republicans.html

(The independents are disenchanted with the GOP, again)

[goclark]

6. And the BOWinner Award goes to grantcart

Great post!

[grantcart]

13. Tks goclark

[Berry Cool]

7. K&R also.

And the irony of it all is: Who taught the Dems that "in the meat" mattered? That it was more effective than abstract facts and figures? Ronald Reagan. Yep, I hate him too, but one of the reasons I hate him is that he was so effective in telling stories about INDIVIDUAL PEOPLE that often if not all the time were outright lies, but they were EFFECTIVE because when he told those stories, people listened and believed them, even when they were false.

Look at the story about the "welfare queen" driving her Cadillac. Totally fabricated, totally fictional (though a composite of some actual reports from the field about what some very few outliers on the welfare rolls were doing). Fake as a three-dollar bill. But who has forgotten her? She is used to this day as a story by the Republicans who believe she's still out there collecting her scads of checks, popping out babies and driving her sweet ride on their dime. It doesn't matter what Clinton did to reform welfare in the '90s so that her act would've been shut down by now for more than a decade even if she did exist. They STILL believe in her. She whips up passion and anger that they find to be very useful in achieving their ends.

Well, Dems finally figured out, after eight years of listening to Reagan and his stories of memories of things that never happened in real life (half the anecdotes he told were based on movies he'd been in, and maybe he was so far gone by then that he didn't even realize they weren't true) but had some way of illustrating one of his talking points, that real-life examples and anecdotes may not equal data, but they are far more effective in moving people than sheer data alone. Thank goodness, because it was only appropriate that the party with a heart start trying to appeal to people's hearts and not just their intellects.

[grantcart]

11. Exactly right

[Cha]

10. Brilliant grant..

boner takes away the meat and puts in a "Hell No"(while smirking orange).

[grantcart]

15. tks

[grantcart]

16. afternoon kick

[Hutzpa]

17. Oh shit

someone has rubbed Grant the wrong way.

:evilgrin:


Excellent pointers as always.

:thumbsup:


Republicans believe in their own hype.

Like the President said at the Internal Affairs speech....

We will see what happens in November.

[grantcart]

18. lol

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

21. knocked another one out of the park, eh Grantcart?

well done!

[grantcart]

24. thank you

[Laura PourMeADrink]

22. That touched me GrantCart! but, as an analyst I have been

thinking more on the lines of preventative maintenance. Trying to think ahead about what will be said. And unfortunately,
I think it will be something bigger than...

'Deficit'
'Government Run Health Care'
'Government doing to much too fast'.

They will invent a negative slant much worse that will take on a life of it's own. They are very good at that. We were not savvy enough to counteract the negative opinion to date and it grew to critical mass.

I suppose the first step is to figure out exactly what effects will take place in the near term. If someone thought ahead and made the immediate changes all positive then they are brilliant.

[BumRushDaShow]

23. K&R

:kick:

[puebloknot]

25. "... they couldn't be denied because of their sick child." Please document this.

Starting right away, as I understand it, *children* cannot be denied insurance because of pre-existing conditions. I've seen nothing to indicate the adults in the child's life are therefore eligible for insurance.

I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it. One of the main outrages I've dealt with for a long time is the touting by politicians of their heartfelt support for seeing that all children are covered by medical insurance. What are said children to do if their parents can't get medical care, and then can't take care of the children.

[bleever]

26. You're me, but with better word learnin'.

You say it all smart and easy at the same time.

:salute:

[grantcart]

28. lol thanks

[Bobbie Jo]

27. K&R

:kick:

[Hekate]

29. Excellent! -- now how do we get the Dem leadership to actually talk like that?

... and not shoot themselves in the foot as they so often do? If only our Dem candidates would take this lesson from the President and make a narrative that is all about the Natomas and Marcellus's in their own districts.

I love what you said!

Hekate

[grantcart]

32. tks

[dccrossman]

31. Kick

K&R

[LongTomH]

33. God, I hope you're right!

nft

[grantcart]

34. The President illustrates the point in his speech in Iowa.