political cortex to the rescue

Political Branding: What do Democrats Stand For?
By Tom Ball, 2006-06-01 09:49:15
Section: Frontal Lobe

Create a powerful and attractive brand by promoting a bold vision. Let's face it. Most people are not visionaries. Even those with vision are often beaten down by the belief that they lack the resources, power or influence to act on their vision. Thus, they look to others to provide a vision for them. They look to leaders who can define an actionable set of principles and goals around which they can rally. A 'vision' is something that gives hope, focus and meaning to people's lives. It gives people a feeling that there is 'something more' to life. In politics, a well-communicated vision is something that gets people elected. It is something that excites partisans and nonpartisans alike. And it is something that ensures voter turnout. In recent times, Republicans as a party have been far more successful than Democrats in communicating their vision -- thanks in part to the efforts of three conservative iconoclasts: Barry Goldwater, Irving Kristol and Newt Gingrich. In particular, Gingrich's vision, "Contract for America" set the stage for a conservative 'revolution' that served as a rallying point for fiscal and social conservatives. This 'branding' of the Republican party has been critical to the party's success in marketing itself as the fiscally disciplined, morally correct, small government, national security guardian of the free world; attributions that have yet to be earned through actions. But that is the power of vision. If properly communicated, it supercedes reality for all who find favor in its promise. These same branding efforts have somehow evaded the left-leaning political community. That is, perhaps, ...until now, thanks in large part to Howard Dean, Arianna Huffington, and Moveon.org. http://www.politicalcortex.com/story/2006/6/1/94915/97409
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Tactic: Ask Questions that Suggest the Correct Answer
By Tom Ball, 2006-05-30 22:07:13
Section: Frontal Lobe

Q: Why ask an unbiased question, when you can ask a loaded or leading question and get the answer you want? A: A non-loaded, non-leading question simply carries more weight with the respondent. It makes them feel as though they're thinking for themselves in an unbiased context.
Thus, they are more likely to connect with that answer, defend it and even convince others of its validity. They've come to the conclusion themselves, using their own style of logic. It's their answer, not yours. Of course the material you present prior to posing the 'unbiased'
question will presume the answer that you are searching for. Technique 1: Ask Questions that subtly suggest what the "Correct" answer is. You guessed it. That's a leading question. Example 1: "Do you want them determining what's right for you? For your children?" Whoever "them" is, is
inconsequential. No one wants other people 'determining what's right for them' or 'for their children'. Thus the answer to this question is 'No!' But there's more to the question than that. It presupposes some frames that you might like to instill into those being questioned. It says
unequivocally that "they" are attempting to make decisions for the respondent. In fact, that may or may not be true. Regardless, it presents the frame that someone else is unfairly calling the shots, making the decisions and holding control over those being questioned. No one likes
that. Example 2: "I believe in total freedom of thought. Do you?"

http://www.politicalcortex.com/story/2006/5/30/22713/6924

This Week in Blogging the Religious Right
By Frederick Clarkson, 2006-05-29 00:54:00
Section: Frontal Lobe

This is yet another eclectic round-up of interesting and significant blog posts from the Greater Blogosphere on the religious right and what to do about it. This week's edition features posts from Orcinus, Jews on First!, and Political Spaghetti -- as well as many of the usual suspects. Almost everyone has opinions about the religious right, its major characters, and the latest outrageous statements of Pat Robertson. I think it is important that we listen to people who know what they are talking about.

http://www.politicalcortex.com/story/2006/5/29/0540/80092

Bush Receives Tongue in Cheek Award from West Point at Commencement
Address
By Dood Abides, 2006-05-28 21:37:52
Section: Frontal Lobe

President Bush in a moment of prayer at West Point Santa Monica, CA (APE) - President Bush yesterday delivered his traditional commencement address to graduates form the West Point military academy. During the address, he framed the war on terror as the next cold war, and contrasted his dismal polls and current political situation with beloved President
Harry S. Truman. Bush implied that history would remember him as the president who took the initial unpopular steps in a long and grueling "War on Terror" which would ultimately be won by another president. Ironically, the senior class, after the address, presented Mr. Bush with a plaque as a joke honoring him as the "Worst President in History".
http://www.politicalcortex.com/story/2006/5/28/213752/970

The Road to Hell is Paved with Republicans' Alleged Good Intention!

By Bob Kendall, 2006-05-28 13:23:17
Section: Left Brain

No other cliché fits what George Bush has done to America during his reign of incredible error than this time-worn but timely cliché: The road to hell is paved with alleged good intentions. There is nothing any world leader can do that is worse than to wage a war minus clear and convincing proof that the nation he represents is under immediate attack. That is precisely what George Bush, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, and Donald Rumsfeld, did, using the infamous forged document that Colin Powell read in lambasting Iraq at the UN to scare everyone into the Iraq War. Remember when Republicans and Democrats made such a sick spectacle of themselves, carrying on as if they were saving the entire world by launching the war against Iraq?

http://www.politicalcortex.com/story/2006/5/28/132317/006

Kissinger Acknowledgement Demonstrates the Right was Wrong Again
By Bill Hare, 2006-05-28 01:00:06
Section: Left Brain

The paradox is that the right has been proven wrong again and again, as well as hypocritical. The hypocrisy was blatant in the case of the Vietnam War, a track record now being equaled if not surpassed by the Cheney-Bush brigade's actions and comments on the Iraq War. Currently those who dare criticize Cheney, Bush and other administration operatives for rushing America to war on demonstrably proven false information are denounced as damaging America at a time the country is waging a war against terrorism. (Better than a generation ago Nixon and his hired guns declared themselves to be seeking to perpetuate freedom on behalf of the "silent majority, and were allegedly being opposed by those who were accused of "running down America." It was a period of turbulent division that saw scores of American young men leave the country and travel to Canada, some never to return, rather than go to Vietnam to fight in a war they genuinely believed to be wrong.)

http://www.politicalcortex.com/story/2006/5/28/106/33715

Blair Asks for and Receives Political Asylum in America from Bush
By Dood Abides, 2006-05-26 07:05:08
Section: Frontal Lobe

Bush and Blair earlier in the day, prior to Blair's request for political asylum in the United States Washington, DC (APE) - Scarcely minutes after a nationally televised meeting at the White House between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Bush was completed, White House sources stated that Mr. Blair asked for and was granted political asylum in America by President Bush. This comes on the heels of the revelation in Britain that Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith has
been ordered to turn over controversial papers dealing with legal advice given to Mr. Blair prior to the run-up to the war in Iraq. The papers apparently demonstrate Blair's complicity in deceiving the British government over the illegality of a war in Iraq, at the behest of the Bush administration.

http://www.politicalcortex.com/story/2006/5/26/758/90267

NSA, CIA, and cocaine: 3 birds with 1 stone
By 8ackgr0und N015e, 2006-05-26 12:35:35
Section: Frontal Lobe

Now that Gen. Hayden has been confirmed as the next CIA director, let's take a look into our future. We can assume the NSA's version of TIA will find a new home at the CIA. For the sake of argument, let's assume everyone involved in this program is committed to the rule of law and seriously interested in protecting America from threats. Even if that is all true, we still have a problem. How do you demonstrate the program's value to the people who pay for it without sharing classified information? It turns out, Ronald Reagan had a solution to that sort
of problem; he called it "trust but verify." We can apply that approach to solve this impasse while meeting the legitimate needs of all the stakeholders. Here's the proposed test:

http://www.politicalcortex.com/story/2006/5/26/115243/414

US plans massive data sweep
The core of this effort is a little-known system called Analysis, Dissemination, Visualization, Insight, and Semantic Enhancement (ADVISE). Only a few public documents mention it. ADVISE is a research and development program within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), part of its three-year-old "Threat and Vulnerability, Testing and Assessment" portfolio. The TVTA received nearly $50 million in federal funding this year.

Can conservatives get any more pathetic?
By Carnacki, 2006-05-26 01:07:46
Section: Frontal Lobe

Via James Wolcott [http://www.jameswolcott.com], comes this wailing lament [http://theanchoressonline.com/2006/05/22/the-essential-president-bush/]
for George W. Bush. Perhaps I am a dim bulb, but President Bush has never surprised me, and that is probably why I have never felt let down or "betrayed" by him. He is, in essentials, precisely who he has ever been. He did not surprise me when he managed, in August of 2001, to find a
morally workable solution in the matter of Embryonic Stem Cells. He did not surprise me when, a month later, he stood on a pile of rubble and lifted a broken city from its knees. When my NYFD friends told me of the enormous consolation and strength he brought to his meetings with
grieving families, I was not surprised. I am feeling agreeable so to The Anchoress, I'll say, yes, perhaps you are a dim bulb.

http://www.politicalcortex.com/story/2006/5/26/1746/62624

Breaking: Enron Verdict
By btyarbro, 2006-05-25 12:11:25
Section: Frontal Lobe

Jeff Skilling found guilty on counts 1-19; not guilty on 9 counts, involving securities fraud, conspiracy, wire fraud, insider trading, and lying to authorities. and wire fraud. The verdict for Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling is being announced in Houston as I write. Ken Lay was found guilty on all 6 counts. As you may remember (I know, it's been a long time coming), Ken Lay was charged with 6 counts and Jeff Skilling was charged with 28 counts of conspiracy, fraud, and other crimes. Here's a timeline [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060525.wenrontimelin
e0525/BNStory/Business] of Enron's success and collapse. Shortly before he entered the courtroom, Ken Lay was "confident" he would be found innocent. The jury returned a little sooner than expected. (That usually isn't a good sign for the defense.) Of course, they'll appeal. I'll update as more facts emerge.

http://www.politicalcortex.com/story/2006/5/25/121125/129

Hotter Than You Think
By Devilstower, 2006-05-24 17:39:27
Section: Left Brain

It's hard to think of any issue that better illustrates the right's utter unwillingness to come to grips with reality than global warming. The right wing machine has flopped and flailed in all directions
[http://blog.nam.org/archives/global_warmin http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/07/18/wsun18.xmg/] looking for something that absolves them of responsibility. It's a natural cycle [http://www.ncpa.org/pub/st/st285/]. Scientists can't agree
[http://www.businessandmedia.org/specialreports/2006/fireandice/FireandIce.pdf] on causes or effects. It's not even real [http://www.marshall.org/subcategory.php?id=9]. And hey, every one of these reports have been produced by the crack researchers at right wing think tanks, so you know they must be true! The latest winner from the "it's not our fault!" parade? It's not the Earth that's getting warmer, it's the Sun [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/07/18/wsun18.xm
l&sSheet=/news/2004/07/18/ixnewstop.html]. But while the right runs around making every excuse short of "the dog ate my ozone layer," real scientists studying that pesky thing called reality are coming back with a raft of new studies on global warming. And the results that keep popping up over and over are, it's going to be worse than we thought. Maybe much, much worse.

http://www.politicalcortex.com/story/2006/5/24/173927/604

Dick Cheney: Moussaoui Definitely Linked to 9/11
By Dood Abides, 2006-05-24 08:40:12
Section: Frontal Lobe

Vice President Cheney posing inside his top secret bunker Washington, DC (APE) - Vice President Dick Cheney speaking in a videotape released to the Wall Street Journal today insisted that Zacarias Moussaoui was directly linked to the Al Qaeda operation which destroyed the World
Trade Center on 9/11. He dismissed as "blatant propaganda" the Bin Laden audiotape released yesterday in which Osama himself stated that neither Moussaoui nor anyone held at Guantánamo had anything to do with 9/11.

http://www.politicalcortex.com/story/2006/5/24/84012/9211

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: The G8's Response to Africa
By mole333, 2006-05-25 06:46:59
Section: Nerve Center

In my ongoing efforts [http://www.politicalcortex.com/story/2006/1/5/7123/59920] to generate
grassroots involvement in creating a better vision for development in Africa, I am passing this along: (remaining text from the Call for Abstracts)

http://www.politicalcortex.com/story/2006/5/25/64659/1497

Rummy - Cheney: A Trip Back in Time
By testvet, 2006-05-24 07:31:42
Section: Frontal Lobe

As many of you know I am a totally disabled Army veteran. Yesterday due to the foresight of a friend of the family's, I was taken on a time trip to May 24 1972, the day before my father died, May 25th 1972, I was 16 at the time, soon to turn 17. My brother joined the Army a week after our father died and wanted to go to Vietnam. Yes, I think he needed a check up from the neck up, he WANTED to go to Vietnam, he had to be crazy. They had decided to wind the war down by the time he finished basic and AIT, so they sent him to the DMZ of South Korea the last other war zone in 1972. Why was this important, it took me back to the time of "real" anti-war protests, sit-ins, hippies, and Nixon, Watergate and all that was wrong in America, three decades ago. The letters included the last legible letter my father ever wrote, to see his handwriting again 34 years later, shook me up for a few minutes, kind of like someone talking to you from their grave. He made me remember what a strong man he was, and the respect I had for him, and the lessons of life he taught me.

http://www.politicalcortex.com/story/2006/5/23/11131/6485

GOP Bigwigs Buy Philly Papers
By sdf, 2006-05-23 23:44:12
Section: Frontal Lobe

Philadelphia's two major dailies, the prestigious Inquirer and the "People's Paper" Daily News, were purchased today by a group of investors headed by two local Republican bigwigs:
[http://www.forbes.com/technology/ebusiness/feeds/ap/2006/05/23/ap2768366.html] McClatchy Co. is selling The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News for $562 million to a group of local investors who hope to reverse circulation declines by emphasizing local news and doing more with the Internet. The two Philadelphia papers are being bought by a group led by advertising executive Brian Tierney and Bruce Toll, co-founder of luxury home builder Toll Brothers Inc. [snip] Tierney has been active in local Republican circles and co-chaired the GOP candidate's campaign in the last mayoral election. Both he and Toll have said they won't influence editorial coverage. Right, that sounds convincing. So when the Inky endorses a whole slate of Dems this fall in PA elections they won't start feeling the heat from the guys who just fronted a group paying $562 million? Sure, that sounds entirely and completely reasonable. Just how tied is Tierney to the GOP? Well, did some searching on OpenSecrets.org, and I threw Toll in for good measure -- who it turns out, is even more generous than his partner (see below the fold):

http://www.politicalcortex.com/story/2006/5/23/234412/491

click this picture to go to the blog it resides on

Pat Robertson: Con-Man and Weather Forecaster
By Tom Ball, 2006-05-23 16:24:11
Section: Frontal Lobe

"On a TV show, Pat Robertson said -- and I quote, this is his quote. He said, 'If I heard the Lord right, the coast of America will be lashed by storms this year.' He actually said, 'If I heard the Lord right.' What? You weren't paying attention?" -- Jay Leno (05/22/2006) When he's not calling for assassinations of Democratically elected leaders [http://mediamatters.org/items/200508220006], blaming feminists for 9/11 [http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/f/falwell-robertson-wtc.htm], or
doing business with murderous dictators [http://www.msmagazine.com/sept03/sizemore.asp], televangelist Pat Robertson is busy scamming well-intending Americans out of their hard-earned money. His latest is a particularly egregious offense [http://mediamatters.org/items/200605180016] to our intellect as he positions himself as a would-be 'prophet' of sorts. According to Pat: I go away at the end of each year to pray, and if I heard the Lord right about 2006, the coasts of America will be lashed by storms." Well, duh! How would that make this year any different from any other year
[http://www.geocities.com/hurricanene/costliest.htm]?

http://www.politicalcortex.com/story/2006/5/23/162411/222

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