Rove was allowed to define Kerry and our ideas (repost)

because the Democrats have less of a voice. Kerry could not get his message out because the democrats lack outlets to get a message out. Rove's mouth was just louder, due to lack of the impact of conservative media and the coordination of message of the conservatives.

There are at least two conservative radio shows on at all times in every locality. These radio shows reach people of all classes. People listen at work, on the road, and everywhere they go. They are incredibly cheap to produce, and have tremendous impact on their listeners.

The impact on these shows, however, is not so much to draw moderates in as it is to create a coordinated message from the bottom up. The irony of this is that it is really a message from the top down. The most powerful, wealthy Republicans are creating this message and communicating their daily talking points to tens of millions of people without paying a dime. And yet the talking points don't appear to be coming from the Republican elite, they appear to be coming from the local guy doing talk radio. This format works especially well for the rural, working class conservative who won't trust some guy in a suit yabbering away with other elitists on TV. It comes from angry males just like themselves on talk radio, and the messsage sinks in much better because of this.

These people then bring these talking points to work, to their families, and to their churches. When everyone else is listening to the same talking points, they all have the same ideas, and they all agree on issues. Having your peers agree with you is perhaps the most important segment of this. It affirms the message you herad when people like you agree with your point of view. People are not lookng for the truth, they are looking for comapnionship of those with similar ideas! They (the confused, less educated, poor, working class males) are insecure of their veiw of the world, and are afraid of being considered wrong by their peers. Being right, but in the minority is thus not desirable to them! Republican talk radio creates a wrong majority, and it is more desirable to be accepted than to be logically correct! Therefore, the effects of RW radio reach even those who don't listen! The objective of bigoted talk radio is to completely crush and humiliate the ideas of those who don't agree with you! This creates a pretty scary environment for all pragmatic thinkers in a talk radio listening environment. To the confused and insecure, talk radio listeners blather on about the same thing forcefully. This makes them look like they know what they are talking about.

It is their coordinated talking points that frame the debate. The liberals need to do the same. They need to reach out to rural people that are poor, less educated and hurting. What voice from the DNC is getting to them?!? What talking points do poor rural liberals know to combat those from the dittoheads at work? In the Churches? At family gatherings?

The left can meet these objectives, but it needs to start in the grassroots format. No one in rural America is going to lsiten to lefty elitists like Al Franken. We need to get pissed off poor rural progressives on the air in poor rural areas. The abortion issue needs to be neutralized, and can be neutralized. All we need to do is link it to poverty and tell these rural voters that the Democrats stand for the elimination of poverty. Get some facts to back this up, and pound away at it for the next two years. Get the frickin' religious left mobilized. Get preachers to speak out against poverty and corporate cronyism. Religion will work even better for our side if we are mobilized. Our base is a rag-tag conglomeration of people that is not organized right now, and has no channels to communicate a clear message, and it shows. If we were organized, this election wouldn't have even been close.

None of us champion abortion as a good thing. We don't want abortions to happen, but we acknowledge that they are necessary in some instances. Get women on talk radio that had abortions that otherwise would have killed them had the pregnancy gone through. And remember, "Abortion has increased with Bush, because poverty has increased!" This would hit home in so many ways to these people. But no one from our side is in any position to say it enough so the message gets out. Formulate talk channels. Keep repeating the message. Give them the statistics. Spread rumors that the Republicans will never outlaw abortion because it provides a wedge issue for them to use, and making it illegal would take it out of their hands. No one is currently trying to do this now. We need to start right away.

Gay marriage can be framed in their favor as well. Tell them that it's an issue of "big brother" government, not an issue of homosexuals marrying. Tell them that Washington elitists should not decide what our states should be deciding. Tell them that taking power away from the states is un-American.

Gun rights can be framed in their interest as well. Instead of being told that "Democrats will take away their guns," tell them that terrorists now have access to assault weapons, and could strike their families at any time!!!

These are messages that are true from our perspective. They would sink in. You can't argue against them. They are the issues framed in our light. But we need to create a better network to get our frames out. The fact that the DNC hasn't realized this earlier boggles my mind. It's almost as if they aren't really trying and are in cahoots with the Republicans. I have been e-mailing my advice to them for some time, and I never get a response. I know this strategy will work. I am actually looking in to getting a job with them at some point, because if they can't do these things, I will. Their problems come from the psychological standpoint, and not from the political one. McAuliffe raises alot of money, but if they can't get social psychologists in there to formulate a message that connects with people, than all that money raised is for nothing. And if they can't get around their own egos, they will lose more elections.