RNC Talking Points

Here's the first paragraph of what Marc Racicot of the RNC put out last week. He was supposedly referring to the final Presidential debate. Perhaps it was written before the debate and sent along anyway?

President Bush won a clear victory on substance, style and credibility in the final debate tonight - showing that he's the candidate who "finishes strong." The President spoke with clarity, conviction and compassion about the most important issues facing our country.

Wow! He doesn't belong to the reality-based community, does he?
Here's the rest:

On issue after issue, he showed Americans that he shares their values and priorities. He revealed just how far out of the mainstream Kerry's record lies on abortion, gay marriage, immigration, taxes, health care and fiscal discipline.

John Kerry showed how far he's willing to go to deceive the American people about this record when he said "I've actually passed 56 individual bills that I've personally written." The fact is that he has only been the lead sponsor of 5 bills and 4 resolutions that have become law.

The most revealing moments:

Kerry believes education is unrelated to the economy - this is a fundamental misunderstanding of how individuals achieve the American Dream.

President Bush believes that no child should be left behind when it comes to the quality of education she or he can get.

A good education is the foundation for opportunity, prosperity and success.

On immigration, John Kerry said, "we need an earned legalization program for people who have been here a long time." This amnesty proposal stands in contrast to the President's temporary worker program.

President Bush revealed John Kerry's tendency to confuse a litany of complaints with a plan. John Kerry demonstrated that he didn't have a plan and he resorted to foreign policy attacks, because he does not have an agenda for America.

The Framing
Let's take this one piece by piece:

Frame Set 1

President Bush won a clear victory on substance, style and credibility in the final debate tonight - showing that he's the candidate who "finishes strong." The President spoke with clarity, conviction and compassion about the most important issues facing our country.

• Substance

"Substance" implies that Bush's performance involved something other than vapid repetition of hollow slogans. Of course, since just about everything he said was a tagline from his stump speech, this one doesn't hold water.

Maybe they were referring to the fact that he has mass and occupies space.

If you want to afford points for that, well, then I guess both candidates met that pretty well. Kerry wins more points on that one, though, because he's so tall. I give Bush 1 and Kerry 2.


• Style

According to the dictionary, style is "A quality of imagination and individuality expressed in one's actions and tastes."

The President's suit was OK, but not exactly stylish. He was all grins, though. Maybe that's what they mean by style? Admittedly, smiley-face-befuddled Bush was a welcome change from angry-befuddled Bush.

Let's chalk up one point in the style column for his Alfred E. Newman "What me worry?" grin.


• Credibility

There are two overall meanings for credibility: "A capacity for belief" or a "power to elicit belief."

Bush tends to lie outright, such as when he said "Gosh, I just don't think I ever said I'm not worried about Osama bin Laden. It's kind of one of those exaggerations."

If they really meant to imply that he can elicit belief, they're saying that lying in a way that makes people believe the lie is a good thing.

I suppose they could have been using the other definition, implying that Bush is able to believe his own lies.

Either way, I see credible lying as a bad thing, and I see believing your own lies as even worse, so I'm taking 5 points away from Mr. Bush and using the proceeds to send Mr. Racicot a dictionary. He needs to find another word.

Before moving to the next point, I do have to note the framing in Bush's statement that "It's kind of one of those exaggerations."

The implication is that he was calling John Kerry dishonest. But, if you assume that the President is referring to his own previous sentence, instead, that's when you arrive at reality. George Bush, in implying that Kerry has a penchant for exaggeration, was himself exaggerating, by going beyond the bounds of truth.

I'm afraid that's another point off for the President.


• Strong Finish

Usually strong implies, well, strength. I didn't really see that. I was having a hard time figuring out what they were talking about, until I came across a fitting definition of Strong: [17.] Characterized by a high degree of saturation.

He was certainly sweating a lot, and there was that foamy drool stuff at the corner of his mouth, so I'll give him a point for saturation.

Now the question is - what substance was he saturated with?

Frame Set 2

On issue after issue, he showed Americans that he shares their values and priorities. He revealed just how far out of the mainstream Kerry's record lies on abortion, gay marriage, immigration, taxes, health care and fiscal discipline.

• He showed Americans

Saying he "showed Americans" implies that anyone who didn't "see" it his way is not an American or is unAmerican. That means that, in Bush's mind, more than half of the people in this country who voted in the last election (active voters are the ones who get polled) are unAmerican.

Let's proactively knock off another point to account for the increased deficit spending that will be needed for the new jails, and for training interrogators on how to implement "stress positions" when torturing interrogating US citizens.

Of course, Racicot could have meant "showed" in the sense of "a false appearance; a pretense." The administration has been very good at this kind of show.

I'll give him one point for clever use of language.


• Shares their Values

Implies that Bush shares beliefs in which a person or social group has an emotional investment. As we learned above, the group is that subset of Americans that agrees with the president's views. Of course he shares their values, they agree with him!

This statement also implies the inverse for Kerry - that he doesn't share those beliefs. Of course it makes perfect sense for a person who disagrees with the President's beliefs to disagree with the President's beliefs. After all, that's why he's running against the President. Duh!

I think I'll give Bush 1 point because I got to use the word "Duh!" But I'll give Kerry 2 for disagreeing with Bush.


• Priorities
  
  Sharing the "priorities" of the people whose values you share is the same as saying you agree with the people who agree with you. This is redundant, but I'll be nice, and score this one as a "wash."
  
  
• Revealed
  
  The word "revealed" implies that he exposed something that had been concealed, something secret, possibly even with divine help (God does a lot of revealing, you know). Wagging his little puppy tail, Bush trotted over and pulled back the big bad curtain and voila!
  
  Nothing.
  
  Why nothing? Because there's nothing hidden about Kerry's policies. Additionally, since the President stated things about Kerry's policies that aren't true, the word "revealed" is highly inaccurate. The correct term would be "claimed," since the statement's truthfulness is open to question.
  
  I'm afraid the President loses another point.
  
  At the rate he's going, he needs to ace the final if he wants to graduate. Too bad studying's not his strong suit.
  
  
• Far out of the Mainstream

By claiming that Kerry's not mainstream, they're trying to imply that Bush's actions are mainstream. They're using this frame even though Kerry and the mainstream believe the Iraq invasion was a mistake but George Bush doesn't. To him, leading us into the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent civilians for nothing, was good leadership.

They say this even though John Kerry and the mainstream don't support Bush's Clear the way to pollute the Skies Act, which weakens the existing Clean Air Act, allowing polluters to poison American children with extra chemicals like mercury and arsenic in their air and water.

They say this even though John Kerry and the mainstream want full health coverage, while Bush prefers that lucky duckies pay their own way, for health care. After all, you can always pray you don't get sick. An acquaintance of mine calls it "faith based health care." I call it the Health Care Prevention Act.

They say this even though Kerry and the mainstream want a stable economy, but Bush considers the budget his own personal credit card, spending money we don't have to the point of bankruptcy.

They say this even though Kerry and the mainstream believe that outsourcing American jobs is bad for business, American workers, our communities, and for the economy, while Bush believes sending our jobs overseas is good.

They say this even though John Kerry and the mainstream believe that the way education policy has been implemented is flawed and is failing our students in many ways, but George Bush doesn't.

The President loses 10 points for thinking his little tributary is the river.



I need to add an aside here, because so many people are unaware. The President's No Child Left Behind act, while it does leave children behind from an education perspective, does not leave them behind from a military conscription perspective. It requires your child's school to provide your child's name, address, and phone number to the military. School funding will be cut if the school refuses.

If you have a high school-age student, file a written notice with your child's school that they must request your consent before releasing your child's information. It's the only way the information can be withheld.

So really, they DO mean No Child Left Behind after all, they just didn't tell you they meant No Living Child Left Behind:


SEC. 9528. ARMED FORCES RECRUITER ACCESS TO STUDENTS AND STUDENT RECRUITING INFORMATION.

(a) POLICY-

(1) ACCESS TO STUDENT RECRUITING INFORMATION- Notwithstanding section 444(a)(5)(B) of the General Education Provisions Act and except as provided in paragraph (2), each local educational agency receiving assistance under this Act shall provide, on a request made by military recruiters or an institution of higher education, access to secondary school students names, addresses, and telephone listings.

(2) CONSENT- A secondary school student or the parent of the student may request that the student's name, address, and telephone listing described in paragraph (1) not be released without prior written parental consent, and the local educational agency or private school shall notify parents of the option to make a request and shall comply with any request.

(3) SAME ACCESS TO STUDENTS- Each local educational agency receiving assistance under this Act shall provide military recruiters the same access to secondary school students as is provided generally to post secondary educational institutions or to prospective employers of those students.

Frame Set 3

John Kerry showed how far he's willing to go to deceive the American people about this record when he said "I've actually passed 56 individual bills that I've personally written." The fact is that he has only been the lead sponsor of 5 bills and 4 resolutions that have become law.

• ...Only Been the Lead Sponsor...
  The word "only" is being used to diminish his accomplishments. It's common for a single bill to be authored by a coalition of Senators or Representatives, the lead sponsor is simply the one who kicked off the process for that bill. The rest of the group works as hard in getting the bill written and passed.
  
  So the question is, how many bills did Cheney get passed when he was a Representative for Wyoming?
  
  Suffice it to say Kerry has an impressive record.

Frameset 4

President Bush revealed John Kerry's tendency to confuse a litany of complaints with a plan. John Kerry demonstrated that he didn't have a plan and he resorted to foreign policy attacks, because he does not have an agenda for America.

• Revealed

There's that word again. 2 points off for self-plagiarism.


• Tendency to Confuse a Litany of Complaints with a Plan

This was a great-sounding line. Too bad it's a bunch of what Star Wars character Jabba the Hutt would call "bantha poo-doo."

The intent of this framing is to make it seem like John Kerry is a whiner not a leader. This framing is coming from a man so uncertain of his own leadership that he feels compelled to use our tax dollars to prevent simple dissent among his own citizens at his rallies. It would be funny if it weren't so pathetic.

Even worse, any litany of complaints would be a far better plan than Bush's record of failure. Luckily, Kerry published his plan ages ago.


• Demonstrated That He Didn't Have a Plan

It's amazing how the President can both reveal and demonstrate a falsehood, unless of course this statement refers to President Bush. In that case, they've nailed it pretty well, he seems to have no plan after four years. I doubt he's likely to do any better if given another four.

See the previous item for the link to the plan that refuses to not exist, no matter how many times Bush clicks the heels of his ruby slippers and says "There's no plan by Kerry. There's no plan by Kerry. There's no plan by Kerry."


• Resorted to Foreign Policy Attacks

The word "resorted" implies that there was nothing else he could do, he had been backed into the corner and it was his last chance. They act as if Bush's miserable record offered nothing for Kerry to trounce. Of course Kerry did trounce Bush's domestic record several times.


• Does not Have an Agenda for America


This one is meant to imply, again, that Kerry has no plan. We've covered that a couple of times already.

Honestly, given Bush's idea of an agenda, I would be happy if Kerry had no agenda. A lack of agenda is probably a good thing. Frankly, I prefer Kerry's vision of democracy to Bush's agenda of seeking dictatorial style theocracy.

The pilgrims came here to escape the theocracy of England's King George, the one against whom the US Revolutionary War was fought. He was a distant relative of our President (and wanna-be king) George. Let's vote this one out before the coronation ceremony. The last king George didn't work out so well.

I score 1 point to Kerry for liking democracy, subtract 100 from Bush for preferring dictatorship with a side of theocracy. Subtract an extra 5 points for Bush's whole redundancy thing regarding the plan.

There's so much more, like the baloney about deception - I love that coming from President I-cannot-tell-a-truth himself! George Washington must be rolling in his grave.