by Rob in Vermont, Sun Nov 05, 2006 at 11:56:46 AM EST
On Face the Nation this morning, Bob Scheiffer asked Joe Biden (who somehow managed to find himself on a Sunday morning show) something like "What should Americans expect the Democrats to do if they win back the Senate?"
Biden mentioned a push to increase the minimum wage, he made a softball remark that the adminstration would probably have to start listening to other points of view in foreign policy, and he said that Bush would have to nominate more moderate judges to the Supreme Court if he has another chance to. Then he added "But you won't see anything radical, because we'll still have a Republican president".
Thanks, Sen. Biden, for associating the Democrats with radicalism at a time when the nation so desperately needs a Democratic Congress to rein in an utterly radical White House.
What he should have said was something like "As long as we have a Republican president, it'll be tough to accomplish many of the things Americans really care about and Democrats really care about and are fighting for, like ensuring that everyone can get good health care coverage. But if Democrats win control of Congress, we can ensure Americans that we will protect the things they care about. We will protect Social Security and not allow the president to privatize it. We will not allow the President to let millions of taxpayer dollars simply disappear unaccounted for in Iraq. We will make sure Congress plays its proper role of oversight in domestic and foreign policy. We will make sure, as Democrats always have, that the real security concerns of this nation are not ignored, and we will protect the liberties guaranteed by our Constitution."
by Jeffrey Feldman, Fri Nov 03, 2006 at 04:09:04 AM EST
Heading ino the weekend, a new story
by AP writer Steven Hurst has begun to push a powerful "blood" frame for Iraq into the mainstream press.
As Republicans repeat "taxes, taxes, John Kerry, taxes, taxes, terrorism" in an attempt to distract the publc, Democrats working on campaigns may want to email this Hurst article to their lists and print out copies to keep by the phone banks.
"BLOODY" is a heartbreaking, but increadibly powerful frame of the one issue most important to American voters.
by Nonpartisan, Tue Oct 03, 2006 at 04:18:20 PM EDT
[Cross-posted elsewhere. Read my other writings and join the discussion at ProgressiveHistorians.]
Your Republican Congressperson wants to torture poor women.
You see, poor women [having an abortion] don't get the "luxury" of general anesthesia. The dignity and comfort- not to mention humanity- of sleep cost extra. A Poor woman has to stay awake. She feels the cold of the famous (or should I say infamous) stirrups in a room full of doctors and technicians. She endures seven needles plunged into her cervix. Men don't even have a body that comes close to causing that kind of pain. ... Once the shots have been administered, and the "numbing" begins hard metal is used to pry open the cervix to allow access to the uterus. ... Again, this is pain only women ever get to know. And I put quotation marks around "numbing" because it's not as if the woman doesn't feel all of this. She does. She feels the center of her being being spread wide and she feels the scraping of her uterus. The scraping of her uterus. Or the "vacuuming". Either way, it's not a way a human should be awake for on a Saturday morning.
by Paul Rosenberg, Sun Oct 01, 2006 at 12:23:09 PM EDT
Crossposted from Patterns That Connect.
In a short diary at Dkos and elsewhere, Frameshop maestro Jeffrey Feldman has advanced the frame "Hastert Protected A Predator." We could quibble a bit--perhaps "House Republicans Protected a Predator" would be better as a broad indictment of their entire leadership, perhaps not, since it's too impersonal--but there's no question that conceptually Jeffrey's scored a direct hit. The question is--are there others?
Of course there are. And I'd like suggest three more in this diary. They're not all for pushing as equally accessible media frames. Some are primarily for clarifying our own thinking, and just beginning to introduce them to a wider audience. Because, you see, frames are not just about how we communicate messages. They are also about how we think.
The frames discussed are:
"Hastert Protected A Predator."
"We Need Eagles, Not Ostriches"
"Investigate Now: Stop The Public Coverup"
"Corruption Is The Symptom, Conservatism Is The Disease"
Details on the flip.
by Jeffrey Feldman, Sun Oct 01, 2006 at 06:52:34 AM EDT
Fifty years from now, when historians write about the social problem of sexual predators in early 21st Century America, they will put a photo of Cardinal Bernard Law next to a photo of Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.
These are men who had the chance to protect our children, but chose to protect a predator instead.
They did more than just fail as leaders--they endangered our families.