22 December 2004
I try to hard to avoid mockery but what can I do?
Writing in his new book, [George] Lakoff—[a linguistics professor at the University of California, Berkeley]—states: “Democrats are shocked or puzzled when voters do not vote their self-interest. ‘How,’ Democrats keep asking me, ‘can any poor person vote for Bush when he hurts them so badly?’ “
Republicans might dispute the “hurt,” but no one is arguing that their party’s base stretches well beyond the rich and powerful these days. Lakoff argues that Republicans are succeeding because they have been carefully choosing words to frame issues around values. The strategy has left Democrats on the defensive in many areas.
Of course, I mocked Lakoff months ago, yet the article cited here is dated today. These Old Media types need to try harder to keep up. On the other hand, if they take this sort of drivel seriously there’s a lack of more than speed.
Offload the responsibility
[source]
With regard to how to handle the re-imporation of pharmacueticals, we have this excellent suggestion:
indemnify the drug companies and importers from after-the-fact lawsuits, so that they can’t be hurt because people are willing to cut corners to save money on their prescriptions.
I completely agree. Set the laws so that if you re-import, you’re on your own.
As they do the same, treat them the same
huckupchuck comments at Right Wing News
Also, in spite of what some blinded liberals might say, Fidel Castro IS unquestionably a repressive dictator. I say this not out of any particular malice towards the people who admire Cuban Socialism and the ideals of the Cuban Revolution, but Castro is an autocrat who persecutes those who dissent with him and his regime. No question.
That said, I rarely see or hear anyone on this site criticize Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, or Augusto Pinochet of Chile, or the House of Saud, or any number of anti-democratic repressive dictatorships of the “rightwing” persuasion. That’s not to say that anybody here, including Hawkins, supports these folks, but it is illustrative that when the subject comes to anti-democratic dictators, the targets on this site are almost always leftist anti-democratic and anti-U.S. dictators and not rightist anti-democratic, pro-U.S. ones.
I’ll tell you what - when Castro steps down voluntarialy, leaving behind a prosperous, democratic nation, I’ll stop criticizing him the same way I do for Pinochet. As for Musharraf and the Saudi Entity, if you don’t see complaints about them on right leaning websites you’re just not paying attention.
