Democrats are losing the battle for voters’ hearts because the party’s message lacks emotional appeal, according to a widely circulated critique of House Democratic communications strategy.
Right there is one of the biggest problems the Democrats have. They cannot even see what they are doing and how it is portrayed in the minds of others.
Their message is "all" about emotion and no facts to back them up.
SCHIP:
They unveil the SCHIP bill, badly written, allowed people to bypass eligibility in the bill by using state laws, had adults covered and in some cases childless adults, on a program that by its very name is supposed to be for children and provided the means for higher income families to enroll when the program is meant for low income children.
From my own comment section, you see the Democrats methods for arguing these points is not to address the facts or the issues, but to hide behind a child, a 12 yr old and hide behind his family, to appeal to their supporters "emotions" instead of their supporters brain.
In doing so, what they were doing was playing on "emotion" instead of logic because logic could not dispute the "facts".
When the family of that child that they dragged into the middle of the issue had their finances looked into, they once again applied "emotional arguments" in claiming the nasty rightwingers, by doing a little "fact checking" were attacking that family but never addressed the facts of the matter.
DREAM Act:
They once again tried to hide behind children of illegal immigrants by playing to the "emotion" of the supporters of this bill, by dragging out children to fight their battles instead of addressing the basic fact that should amnesty be given to these children of irresponsible parents that brought them here illegally, it would simply encourage more parents to act just as irresponsibly by sneaking their children into the country, hiding them for a few years from authorities and then asking that those children be given legal status because it "isn't the childrens fault".
FISA:
Instead of using logic to determine what tools are needed to keep us safe here at home, the Democrats, once again, appealed to their far left wing by screaming about civil liberties, but didn't address the fact that in this day and age, terrorists abroad communicate with each other and those communications are routed through the United States, even if neither party is in the U.S.
Time after time, issue after issue, the Democrats try to play on the emotions of their supporters while completely avoiding dealing with logic and facts, the above are simply three examples of dozens of times that they have done this.
More of the internal memo states:
Helfert sent the memo this week to an e-mail list of all Democratic press secretaries and communications directors after staffers met on Monday to discuss rolling out the Democrats’ latest message.
He said the meeting left him cold because it focused on what polling shows voters want rather than how to present persuasive messages.....
Here is the crux of the issue, the Democrats are using polls to determine policy instead of what is right and wrong, hence the flip flopping we have documented on many issues.
Does anyone think we nasty rightwingers deliberately take an unpopular stand on SCHIP or regarding Iraq because it is fun?
No, we base our stand on these issues on what we believe and what we can back up by facts, not emotion.
The Republican politicians that helped sustain the Presidents veto on SCHIP didn't do it because it would poll well, or because it would garner them that next vote, they did it because the facts of the bill allowed people that shouldn't be using state programs meant for lower income children to cover childless adults and children from higher income families.
The Republican politicians didn't continue to fight battles on a daily basis regarding Iraq because it was popular, it wasn't popular, (although the polls now show us as good news comes out, public support is finally rising) but because they understood that for our National Security, victory was the only option and as John McCain said, he would rather lose an election than lose the war.
Congress is at a historical low with their approval ratings, the lowest in polling history since the question has been asked, so instead of working in a bipartisan manner to get bills passed that the President will sign thereby "enacting laws" which is what legislating means, Pelosi touts the record high roll call votes for the house and blames the Senate for not getting the bills to the presidents desk.
FACT: Roll call votes mean diddly...bupkus, nothing, zilch, if the bills do not pass the Senate and get signed by the President into law.
That requires compromise and working together and no matter how many roll call votes on bills that they know will go nowhere, it doesn't change the fact that enacting laws is their job and they are failing miserably at it because they are slamming through bills they know will not make it passed the senate, nor the presidents desk and even if it does, they know they do not have the votes to override a veto.
So, again, instead of working within the rules of the system that is set up they are going to try to tout their "accomplishments".
“Everybody’s a message expert,” said one Democratic leadership aide. “The fact of the matter is Democrats are working hard to communicate our accomplishments. There is work to be done and that’s why Democrats are working together and mounting an aggressive campaign to discuss the real victories we have won for the American people.”
Note to the Democratic leadership: You would not have to work so hard to convince people you have made accomplishments, if you had actually made any!!!
It would be visible.
“I’m not trying to stage a coup,” Helfert said. “I’m hoping leadership and some of the members will embrace these principles.”
His memo is sharply critical of Republican policies but also suggests a neurological explanation for Republican message success: By using emotional appeals and warning of dire threats, Republicans can trigger neurons called “amygdalae” in the temporal lobe, which is the seat of the “fight or flight” response in the brain.
“Almost every Republican message contains a simple and direct moral imperative, a stark contrast between good and evil, right and wrong, common sense and fuzzy liberal thinking,” Helfert wrote. “Meanwhile, we’re trying to ignite passions with analyses of optimum pupil-teacher ratios.”
Michelle Malkin and Captain's Quarters deals with the “amygdalae” in the temporal lobe comment and I cannot say it any better than they have.
But where he states:
“Almost every Republican message contains a simple and direct moral imperative, a stark contrast between good and evil, right and wrong, common sense and fuzzy liberal thinking.
That is the one part of his internal message this man got right. By appealing to logic instead of emotion, by showing right versus wrong, by dealing with facts instead of innuendo and hiding behind children and by using simple common sense instead of relying on repeated lies and misrepresentation, the Republicans are getting their message out to their supporters and they are providing us with statistical data to base our opinions on instead of just "emotion".
Having a heart is a wonderful thing but by using your heart when you should be utilizing your brain and by presenting your feelings instead of presenting factual data obtained by verifiable sources, you are discrediting your opinions because you cannot back them up with anything other than other peoples opinions.
The Republican politicians are asking their supporters to think, the Democratic politicians are asking their supporters to feel.
In a nutshell, in there lies the difference between the two.
[Update] Red State states it perfectly and adds a few more examples:
So the Democrats resort to steely logic while Republicans appeal to emotion, digging heavily into the limbic system. But the opposite has been true of the Bush Administrations attempts to promote the necessity of victory in the War in Iraq. Civil war, war for oil, quagmire, Bush's war, innocent Iraqi children, troops are murderers, etc. The Democrats sink to new depths in this regard daily. (Believe it or not, this was Helfert's thesis for his Masters Degree. His professors might have been bribed with liquor.)
Perhaps they should reevaluate their "message" as well as those strategists that seem to be giving them bad advice.
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