The Pro-Suffering (Republican) Party's Healthcare Plan: Die Quickly. Their Greatest Fear: Turnabout is Fair Play

The Republicans have one great advantage over the Democrats. They are not afraid of incorrect over-simplifications, and they use this advantage to re-label and reframe the argument. Thus the inheritance tax becomes the "Death Tax," provisions to pay doctors to discuss living wills and other kinds of end-of-life planning with their patients becomes "Death Panels" and "pulling the plug on grandma, and a plan to create a publicly owned insurance company to compete with big for-profit insurance companies becomes "socialized medicine." The list goes on.

Now along comes Democratic Representative Alan Grayson, who has apparently read "Words That Work" by Frank Luntz, (Republican pollster and adviser who created the "Death Tax" label and who knows how many other successful Republicanisms) or has developed a short punchy communications strategy on his own. He is turning the tables on the Republicans, and they don't like it at all.

In a floor presentation to the House of Representatives Tuesday night (Sept 29, 2009), Grayson said that the Republican Healthcare Plan was "Don't get Sick" and if you do get sick "Die Quickly." When Republicans, those shy and sensitive souls who never say such things of the Democratic plan, asked Grayson to apologize he did. He apologized to the 44,789 Americans who die from lack of health insurance each year and their families for congress's not having acted sooner. He pointed out that this number is more than 10 times the number of those who died in 9-11 terrorist attacks and called the annual death toll a holocaust in America.

As I noted, the Republicans don't like this at all. They have likened Grayson to Joe Wilson who the house voted to "Rebuke" (a slap-on-the-wrist) after he yelled, "You lie" at President Obama during a join session of congress. While this is typical hypocrisy from the Republican's who have made a cottage industry of saying the Democratic plan to reform health insurance was going to kill people (see this segment from the Rachel Maddow Show for a small sampling of these Republican remarks and complete coverage of this issue).

From his remarks on the Rachel Maddow Show, it is clear that Representative Grayson gets it and Rachel does not. The Republicans have been gaining ground through the use of simple direct, maybe inflammatory and inaccurate, framing of the debate in terms that  catch American attention. Grayson used the same technique in reverse, and that is what so infuriated the Republicans—not his words but his use of their technique.

A few days ago, I analyzed a right-wing letter attacking government programs. The letter required only 293 words to make to Federal Government look bad; it took 1900 words (almost 4 times as many) to correct the errors in the attack letter. Reality is complex and detail tedious. To capture the mind of the American public, Democrats need to reframe the arguments into few words that catch the attention.

Calling the Republican Party the "Party of No" doesn't cut it. They are proud to be the Party of No. How about labeling them the Pro-Suffering Party, or the Reactionary Party, or the Party of I've Got Mine.  Like Alan Grayson, we need to learn to reframe the debate into short, direct messages that place the Pro-Suffering Party on the defensive.

Comments

[Foxwood]

Please call your Reps, Senators, and Harry Reid and tell them you know what they are doing and we will NOT take it.

Time is of the essence.
They want this RAMMED through by next Thursday!

http://animal-farm.us/change/your-getting-healthcare-in-the-end-657

[homeopathie]

Hi,
There will be more drama in next few months about the health insurance plan.There must some new and innovative ideas for the plan.

http://www.vitabits.fr/remede/