How the Democrats Were Betamaxed

From Alternet:

How the Democrats Were Betamaxed
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


When an inferior product wins out in the marketplace with superior marketing it is called getting "betamaxed." Remember Betamax? In the 1970s, before there was the VCR, there was the Sony Betamax, but, as the story goes, the VCR beat Betamax through its superior marketing even though Betamax was the superior technology. If we consider policies as the products in the marketplace of ideas and public opinion polls as indicators of consumer preference, then we can only come to one conclusion: the Democrats have been betamaxed by the Republicans. Conservatives offer inferior policies, but dominate through superior marketing.
....

Using this same vertical integration model, conservative think tanks and foundations, like the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute, have been laboring intensively on the research and development of conservative policies, as well as their packaging in media-friendly ways. These policies provide the "content" to feed to three primary distribution channels: legislative distribution channels including elected officials, candidates, senior staff, and political appointees; judicial distribution channels; and various mainstream and dedicated media distribution channels, such as Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, the Washington Times, et al. With dedicated channels, sound-bite content and expert spokespeople in the mainstream media, conservatives are retailing their ideas directly to the public or in marketing terms, the "end user." At the same time, in terms of direct marketing through the media, Republicans have managed to intimidate Democrats from competing with them by creating the "liberal media" myth, effectively forcing Democrats into a defensive position.

When we fail to view the world through the conservative business lens, we can easily see all of this as a vast rightwing conspiracy. However if we recall the frame of the marketplace of ideas, then we see it for it is: a well-run operation that recognized its weakness – a less desirable product – and figured out a way to dominate in the marketplace through an incredibly successful, integrated marketing strategy. Branded by the right and blind-sided by the conservative marketing machine, for more than a decade Democrats have been running to the right and abandoning core progressive issues and values in an attempt to keep pace with conservatives. This has been completely the wrong response.

Conservatives, after all, are dominating through superior marketing, not with better ideas or policies. However, because Democrats have failed to grasp the root of the problem, they have reacted to the growing conservative dominance by trying to fit into a more conservative mold. This wrong-headed response has played into the hands of conservatives. Democrats have lost ground in the marketplace of ideas, and have helped to tarnish their brand, as the right and left alike branded them as "wafflers," "Republican-lite" and "spineless liberals." What Democrats should have done was stick to their principles and progressive policies and develop an equally formidable marketing strategy. It's not too late.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

much more here:
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18395

I think Air America is a good first step to winning in the marketing game. But it really takes money more than anything else.

We are the free spirits who want to live naked in the woods, battle corporations, want a fairer distribution of wealth, deplore the spread and influence of commercial media.

WE'd better put that on the back burner and start hussling. We're thirty years behind in a field we invented! Wake up, art directors and content managers. This is your cue!

I'll never forget the huge revolution started in the early 70s by Rolling Stone Magazine and Saturday Night Live. They changed EVERYTHING as companies rushed to copy the hippie style mystique. A president went down.

We need to do the same, make liberal principles so popular that the Nazis can't fight them. It's a statistical fact that liberal beliefs are far more popular in the US than cons. We have been taken over by a small band of radicals. We have to wake up and throw these bastards OUT!

Make "progressive" a brand name. Start with universal taxpayer funded healthcare. Sell it, and associate it with the Progressive brand name.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

not to mention brains.

Why Al Gore got 500,000 MORE votes than AWOL.

btw, AWOL is apparently responsible for at least 1 more abortion than Gore--or Kerry, for that matter.

pretty sure it's beyond your intelligence level.