SlowpokeBlog

About this outrageous quote about abortion from Donna Brazile, which is making its way around the blogs ("All these issues that put us into the extreme and not the mainstream really hurt us with the heartland of the country,"):

Clearly she hasn't read George Lakoff's Don't Think of an Elephant, because she's doing EXACTLY what Lakoff warns us not to do: use the radical right's framing of issues, thereby reinforcing them. First, being pro-choice is not an extreme position; the anti-choice minority has defined it as such. Anyone who was at the March for Women's Lives last April saw just how mainstream that crowd was. Secondly -- and this is the one that really gets me -- is Brazile's use of the barfworthy term "heartland." Come ON! The right has been pushing the idea of the heartland (read: red states) as this magical, wholesome place where people are real, unlike the coastal states, which are merely appendages filled with un-American snoots. When you repeat this, you perpetuate the myth.

I cannot believe the learning curve of these literalist Dems who still think we "lost" on the issues! Kerry was up against one of the dirtiest campaigns in history; it doesn't matter whether you soften your tone on abortion -- they'll still pass out leaflets claiming you want to ban the Bible, as the RNC did. And millions of people will swallow it. They'll turn a Vietnam war hero into a princess. Not taking a firm stand on anything -- like reproductive freedom -- makes their job that much easier.