Thursday, February 23, 2006

This is too sweet


It has to be karma, or divine providence, or cosmic justice or something beyond human control.

Think about it. For over five (5) years George Bush and his political boy-genius, KKKarl Rove, have been masters at “framing” the debate in their favor. Under the tutelage of master-manipulator, Frank Lutz, the Bush administration has managed to turn a bill allowing polluters to prosper into the “Clear Air Act”. They turned a bill gutting education into the “The No Child Left Behind Act”. They turned a bill that allowed unprecedented logging in our national forests into the “Healthy Forest Initiative.”

The Lutz formula is ever-so-simple. Reduce issues to short, simple-minded, euphemisms easily digested by common Americans along with their coffee and donuts at the local cafĂ©. There is no need to get into the messy and intellectually taxing (notice the “framing” there) business of discussing policy implications. That is far too nuanced.

And therein lies the beauty of the Dubai Ports deal.

This is something that George and KKKarl cannot reduce to a simple-minded sound bite. For once, their side of the argument requires a long, detailed explanation. Ignore, for the moment that even their long, detailed explanation is wrong for America. Just the fact that they have to take their time explaining places them squarely on the defensive.

In addition, for once, our side of the argument IS simple and easy to explain in a sound bite.

For once, our side of the argument is digestible with coffee and donuts.

I’m reveling in the image of Frank Lutz spending hours-upon hours in front of electronic thesaurus trying to find just the right word, with just the right number of letters, just the right sound, to bail George the Lesser out of this mess.

Amazing. Just amazing. George is so incompetent that he can even mess up framing.

1 comment:

LoLo said...

I completely agree. You put into words one of the many reasons I am enjoying this tempest over port security so much! But, hey, got to go! Much more late-breaking news to watch! I hate to say "I told you so," but our leader may again have to resort to a cumbersome dictionary to reframe his contention that democracy is working in an Iraq rapidly descending into madness and sectarian bloodshed--dare I say, even into civil war???