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Friday, June 17, 2005

Sit w/ the Guru

Posted by on June 17 at 10:19 AM

Just did an interview w/ George Lakoff. He’s the in-guru with the Democratic Party these days. He’s been getting meetings with the likes of Hillary to pontificate about his philosophy of ‘Framing.’ His hit book “don’t think of an elephant!” lays out his theory pretty well. Basically, he says that the Republicans have, over the last 40 years, invested money and time and think tanks in creating subconscious frames (government bad, free markets good) in voters’ minds. This allows Republican candidates to speak in quick soundbites that resonate or plug into these frames, while the Democratsas in the Kerry v. Bush debatesare left long winded and stammering because there are no progressive subconscious frames to lock into. Lakoff suggests a massive mission wherein the Dems I.D. their own frames and start plugging in. There are a lot of flaws and contradictions and lapses in Lakoff’s theory, and I had fun this morning wrangling with him. Anyway, he’s speaking tonight at Town Hall. Pretty stimulating NPR-type junk.