Saturday, September 11, 2004
Lemonade Tycoons For Cheney
George Lakoff's name has been invoked on this blog a time or two previously--he's the one who has written that conservatives advocate a strict-father model of politics while liberals espouse a nurturing parent model. Now Lakoff is a hot topic in the blogosphere again, with the release of his new book Don't Think of an Elephant. Alternet has an excerpt, and it's worth reading. Lakoff is a linguist, and he's studied how framing--the way we talk about certain concepts--determines how we think about them, and not necessarily vice versa.
One of the frames the Bush Administration has tried hardest to impose since 9/11 is the one that insists only it can save us from terrorism, and that we'd better vote Republican or die. Indeed, Bush has co-opted 9/11 wholesale as a campaign device, as surely as if the 3,000 who died three years ago today were paid campaign workers. Judd Legum and David Sirota of the Progress Report examine how he's done it in The Nation. The overwhelming impression the article leaves is one of anger and shame at how the Republicans continue to use 9/11 and other terrorist deaths in such dishonest ways and for such ignoble purposes.
Quotes of the Day: Yesterday, John Kerry suggested that Bush's stance on assault weapons actually assists Al Qaeda by making such weapons easier to get, which prompted a Bush campaign mouthpiece to launch one of the most ridiculous bon mots of the year: "For John Kerry to infer that the president is helping terrorists is a clear example of a desperate candidate that prefers the politics of personal destruction over a substantive debate on the issues." I trust the Repugs will let us know when they're starting the substantive debate. Of course, if it's on the level of Cheney's Cincinnati appearance on Thursday, we might as well not bother. In addition to trying to weasel off the hook for his "vote Bush or die" remark earlier this week, he also noted that typical economic indicators miss some Americans who are doing just fine, specifically "Four hundred thousand people [who] make some money trading on eBay.'" To which John Edwards responded: "If we only included bake sales and how much money kids make at lemonade stands, this economy would really be cooking."
New at The Hits Just Keep On Comin': Why Time Begins in September.
George Lakoff's name has been invoked on this blog a time or two previously--he's the one who has written that conservatives advocate a strict-father model of politics while liberals espouse a nurturing parent model. Now Lakoff is a hot topic in the blogosphere again, with the release of his new book Don't Think of an Elephant. Alternet has an excerpt, and it's worth reading. Lakoff is a linguist, and he's studied how framing--the way we talk about certain concepts--determines how we think about them, and not necessarily vice versa.
One of the frames the Bush Administration has tried hardest to impose since 9/11 is the one that insists only it can save us from terrorism, and that we'd better vote Republican or die. Indeed, Bush has co-opted 9/11 wholesale as a campaign device, as surely as if the 3,000 who died three years ago today were paid campaign workers. Judd Legum and David Sirota of the Progress Report examine how he's done it in The Nation. The overwhelming impression the article leaves is one of anger and shame at how the Republicans continue to use 9/11 and other terrorist deaths in such dishonest ways and for such ignoble purposes.
Quotes of the Day: Yesterday, John Kerry suggested that Bush's stance on assault weapons actually assists Al Qaeda by making such weapons easier to get, which prompted a Bush campaign mouthpiece to launch one of the most ridiculous bon mots of the year: "For John Kerry to infer that the president is helping terrorists is a clear example of a desperate candidate that prefers the politics of personal destruction over a substantive debate on the issues." I trust the Repugs will let us know when they're starting the substantive debate. Of course, if it's on the level of Cheney's Cincinnati appearance on Thursday, we might as well not bother. In addition to trying to weasel off the hook for his "vote Bush or die" remark earlier this week, he also noted that typical economic indicators miss some Americans who are doing just fine, specifically "Four hundred thousand people [who] make some money trading on eBay.'" To which John Edwards responded: "If we only included bake sales and how much money kids make at lemonade stands, this economy would really be cooking."
New at The Hits Just Keep On Comin': Why Time Begins in September.
