Democrats are losing the battle for votersÂ’ hearts because the partyÂ’s message lacks emotional appeal, according to a widely circulated critique of House Democratic communications strategy.Lacks intellectual appeal for the most part, too. But that's neither here nor there. Why would they push the emotional side of appealing to the voters? Do they actually think the intellectual side is good enough? I smell hubris.
“Our message sounds like an audit report on defense logistics,” wrote Dave Helfert, a former Appropriations spokesman who now works for Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii). “Why are we defending [the State Children’s Health Insurance Program] instead of advocating a ‘Healthy Kids’ plan?”
Careful, heresy like that will get you $hit-listed.
Helfert sent the memo this week to an e-mail list of all Democratic press secretaries and communications directors after staffers met on Monday to discuss rolling out the DemocratsÂ’ latest message.
I don't care what we're advocating! Fiddle with it until we get a platform that gets us into power and then we'll be able to coast intellectually and morally.
He said the meeting left him cold because it focused on what polling shows voters want rather than how to present persuasive messages. Republicans have done a better job by developing poll data into focus group-tested messages like “culture of life” and “defending marriage,” along with attacks like “cut and run” and “plan for surrender” in Iraq, he argued.
Heck, just use their results then. As Ann says, if Donks had any brains they'd be Republicans!
In particular, Helfert points to Republican pollster Frank Luntz, who helped develop the 1994 “Contract with America” and is credited with helping Republicans come up with terms for polices like “Healthy Forests” and “Death Tax.”
Well, it is a death tax after all. Deal with it. But it may be a good thing. Too much money inherited at too young an age makes a person useless to society.
“Republicans have been kicking our rhetorical butt since about 1995,” Helfert wrote.
Democratic leadership aides were not impressed, and indicated that the memo did not have a vast and immediate impact.
Fine. Stay stupid.
“Everybody’s a message expert,” said one Democratic leadership aide. “The fact of the matter is Democrats are working hard to communicate our accomplishments. There is work to be done and that’s why Democrats are working together and mounting an aggressive campaign to discuss the real victories we have won for the American people.”
Why should a party have to work so hard to communicate an accomplishment? Isn't it obvious? Or are they working hard to spin defeat into victory for a select audience?
On the record, they were a bit gentler, if not enthusiastic. “We appreciate input from those who have been on the front lines, and we value their opinions,” said Nadeam Elshami, spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Translation: "Whatever."
But another Democratic aide said HelfertÂ’s memo reflects the frustration of many of those with a role in getting the message out. Several hundred of them assembled for MondayÂ’s meeting in the Ways and Means Committee room.
"Not that the sentiment is widespread or anything!"
“I don’t agree with every point he’s making, but the sentiment of exasperation I totally agree with,” said the aide.
Exasperation that really came on strong when it looked like the US was starting to win the Iraq conflict and the Dems had nothing to hide behind?
As a case in point, he cited DemocratsÂ’ frustration over the likely showdown with President Bush over supplemental spending for the Iraq war. Democrats are discussing not sending a supplemental spending bill to the floor until Bush changes course on the war. But that makes many Democrats nervous that Bush will use the tactic to say Democrats arenÂ’t supporting the troops.
If it's blatantly true, can you still call it a tactic? I guess you can if you're a Donk.
“Are we any more prepared to deal with the threats that are going to come about cutting off funds to the troops?” asked the aide.
No.
But he also noted that the number of the memoÂ’s readers might have been limited by the fact that the memo was a long attachment, which makes it less likely to be read by BlackBerry-wielding aides.
Takes a lot of words to get someone to suspend rationality.
Republicans were amused. Brian Kennedy, spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), said, “House GOP communicators would take his remarks as a compliment.”
Too simple. Donks probably took it literally, but that's funny in itself!
Helfert wrote a master’s thesis in 2004 on how the Bush administration “sold” the Iraq war to the public. He was the Democratic spokesman for House Appropriations from 2003 to 2006, when he left to teach at American University for a semester. He returned to the Hill this year to become Abercrombie’s spokesman.
Ah. A master's thesis. At a conservative university I assume?
He said he did not send the memo to the media. He’s gotten about 30 e-mails applauding his sentiments, most of them short “attaboys.” Staffers at the House Democratic Caucus, which is in charge of setting the Democratic message, were “a little less than pleased.”
You're screwing up my intellectual house of cards, man!
“I’m not trying to stage a coup,” Helfert said. “I’m hoping leadership and some of the members will embrace these principles.”
Careful, they'll switch over to the Dark Side.
His memo is sharply critical of Republican policies but also suggests a neurological explanation for Republican message success: By using emotional appeals and warning of dire threats, Republicans can trigger neurons called “amygdalae” in the temporal lobe, which is the seat of the “fight or flight” response in the brain.
That happens in creatures that are aware of what's going on in their surroundings, yes.
“Almost every Republican message contains a simple and direct moral imperative, a stark contrast between good and evil, right and wrong, common sense and fuzzy liberal thinking,” Helfert wrote. “Meanwhile, we’re trying to ignite passions with analyses of optimum pupil-teacher ratios.”
Looks like the Trunks took all the good stuff before you guys got there and left you the crumbs to work with, eh?