I do not believe that we lost the election because John Kerry
failed to communicate the fact that he embraces religious values
that are important to most Americans. I would argue that we lost
because Democrats do not understand how Republican strategists use
religious issues—-and every other sort of
issue—-to win the only campaign that matters: the
Image Campaign.
Republican strategists understand something that their Democratic
counterparts do not: the state of mind of The Swing Voter. The
typical Swing Voter knows that he does not understand the subtle
details of the issues well enough to make a wise decision, so he
relies on his “impressions” of the candidates. Is this
candidate someone I can trust to rule over me? Understanding
this, the Republicans focus all of their efforts on defining
Democrats in the minds of the Swing Voter in a negative, vaguely
threatening way. They do this by relying primarily on negative
campaigning.
Republicans know that accusations and insinuations are persuasive
to Swing Voters primarily because they are typically
headline-readers and sound-byte-nibblers who do not seek out
in-depth explanations of complex issues. If the media reports that
a Republican has accused a Democrat of having a character flaw, the
average Swing Voter will tend to believe it unless it is
successfully answered. These attacks not only create a negative
image of their opponents; they also implicitly suggest that
Republicans are devoid of the character flaws they are attacking.
It enables them to indirectly claim that they are noble
& virtuous before the electorate.
Republicans understand precisely what they are doing when they
speak disparagingly of “those Democrats.”
It’s a variation of the “us vs. them” social
comparisons that are so common among high school students.
Throughout October, Swing Voters constantly saw video clips of
George Bush standing in front of his adoring supporters,
ridiculing John Kerry with his smirky smile. People do not
tend---on a natural level---to want to be associated with those who
are being ridiculed.
Average Americans who put Republican candidates into office with
their votes do so because they are identifying with those whom they
intuitively perceive to be social “winners.” They
don’t understand all of the nuances of the issues, but they
do have this impression that there is something
“defective” with The Democrats. Once they’ve
become invested in their identity with the Republican Party,
they instinctively defend Republican policies even when those
policies are likely to harm them. In order for the Democratic Party
to win these Average Americans back, they must begin to fight fire
with fire.
If they want to again become the majority party, Democrats need to
defineThe Republican Politician as a DECEIVING,
MANIPULATIVE, SCHEMING, MEAN-SPIRITED, CON-ARTIST who willfully and
gleefully assassinates the character of any innocent victim that
stands in the way of his rabid lust for power. They need to create
an image of The Republican Politician in the minds of the Average
American that is instinctively feared. In defining The
Republican Politician as essentially manipulative, Democrats will
also indirectly be defining themselves as The Protectors of
the Average American.
Democrats tend not to want to participate in “character
attacks” because they maintain an idealistic hope that a
respectful debate of the issues of the day is possible in a
civilized society, but they really have no choice: the Republicans
have no such inhibitions. Every attack and accusation they make
must be used to define them as smiling, disingenuous
weasels. In doing so, Democrats must express both derision and
wisdom and show an eagerness to explain what the Republicans are
up to. They need to take the time to point out and explain in
television commercials the misrepresentations, the deceptions, the
intent, and the strategy of the Republican attacks.
It will also be important for Democrats to spend more and more time
ridiculing the stupidity of Republican policies
and---implicitly---those who embrace/defend them. This is necessary
in order to socially isolate those who belong to the
Republican Party (or to at least counteract the social pressure on
Swing Voters that is created when Republicans ridicule Democrats).
If the Democrats fail to do this, the Average American will not
even listen to what they have to say re: “the issues.”
If their image of Democrats is sufficiently negative, they
won’t want to be persuaded because they’d want
to protect an identity that had become very important to them.
The most recent 20 comments posted to Electrolite by Taxwisdom.org:
Show all comments by Taxwisdom.org.