Time doesn't always fly
Can you believe that Cindy Sheehan was only a year ago? Only a year ago for Camp Casey, Katrina, the beginning of a real anti-war movement. It seems like so long ago, but it was only last summer that things started to go so assuredly south for the chimp.
I think that should be a lesson in how much things can change. Don't think that they can't be back on top a year from now, despite wildly optimistic and completely ungrounded speculation from uninformed bloggers (see below).
Two items - I was in Connecticut over the weekend and I feel good about Lamont but I don't think it's a lock. The latest poll has Lieberman back within striking distance. I spent a lot of time resisting the Lamont bandwagon, but I've realized that this race (I know I'm not the first to say this) is vital in charting the future of the Democratic party. If Lamont wins, the Dems are going to come out as the anti-Iraq war party. Already you see rumblings of this. It seems crazy that one primary in one small state could do that, but it's a bellweather if ever there was one. So the people that are fighting for Lamont are not just fighting for him, but because it is finally a chance to change the base line position of the party, to make the war an issue that we are willing to go to the mat over. If Lamont loses? Well, let's just hope, ok?
Item the second, also about me coming late to what the rest of the world knows. I just bought George Lakoff's Don't Think of an Elephant, his slim, readable book about framing, and it is totally blowing my mind. Az was reading it last night and was so engrossed she couldn't even pay attention to Best Week Ever. It explains how the GOP is winning the war of ideas not because their ideas are better and not because they have values and we don't, but rather because they know how to put their ideas into "frames" that people already understand. Lakoff calls them frames, but you could also say trope or archetype. It's brilliant, cogent, and gives a plan of action of sorts. Check it out.
I think that should be a lesson in how much things can change. Don't think that they can't be back on top a year from now, despite wildly optimistic and completely ungrounded speculation from uninformed bloggers (see below).
Two items - I was in Connecticut over the weekend and I feel good about Lamont but I don't think it's a lock. The latest poll has Lieberman back within striking distance. I spent a lot of time resisting the Lamont bandwagon, but I've realized that this race (I know I'm not the first to say this) is vital in charting the future of the Democratic party. If Lamont wins, the Dems are going to come out as the anti-Iraq war party. Already you see rumblings of this. It seems crazy that one primary in one small state could do that, but it's a bellweather if ever there was one. So the people that are fighting for Lamont are not just fighting for him, but because it is finally a chance to change the base line position of the party, to make the war an issue that we are willing to go to the mat over. If Lamont loses? Well, let's just hope, ok?
Item the second, also about me coming late to what the rest of the world knows. I just bought George Lakoff's Don't Think of an Elephant, his slim, readable book about framing, and it is totally blowing my mind. Az was reading it last night and was so engrossed she couldn't even pay attention to Best Week Ever. It explains how the GOP is winning the war of ideas not because their ideas are better and not because they have values and we don't, but rather because they know how to put their ideas into "frames" that people already understand. Lakoff calls them frames, but you could also say trope or archetype. It's brilliant, cogent, and gives a plan of action of sorts. Check it out.
posted by chiniqua at 10:30 AM
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