In my last post I berated the Liberals brains trust and their blogging supporters for failing to read and apply the lessons on framing given by George Lakoff (Don't Think Of An Elephant).
The Liberal folly continues.
The Tories have tweaked the 'Ignatieff is a carpet bagging absentee and elitist Canadian' framing in a second (and very effective) attack on the Liberals. This tweaking is successful, because it forces the discussion of the merits of Ignatieff as a leader of the Liberals (and as a potential prime minister of all Canadians) into the frame the Tories have settled on.
The Tories have achieved this with one posting by a Tory blogger:
" “The ads will backfire”, “Canadians are turned off by negative ads”, “This isn’t the United States (oops)” are the sounds coming from the Parliamentary Press Gallery and other members of the media elite in this country. They claim to tell us what we think when it’s clear that they’re out of touch with the effect that those ads will have on us as Canadians."
And, whoops, there the Liberal commentators go, racing after the Tory hare.
Bloggers attack the premise that the Canadian media is biased against the Tories. Liberal party members join the chase.
And meanwhile, Harper smiles his cold little smile as the Liberals adopt his framing of Michael Ignatieff, and dance to his tune.
Round Two to Harper and his Tories.
When will Liberals ever learn?
Monday, May 18, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
Given your predictive track record, I'd say "round 1 Liberals". Generally whatever you argue, the opposite turns out to be true. It's a good sign indeed.
The real issue here is this "Cat" wants the Liberals to fail - daily rants about them an all.
Layton who?
Sorry, Steve V, your comment (understandable though it is) is misplaced. Why not address my concerns?
"this "Cat" wants the Liberals to fail "
Bingo. That's your only "concern", and it's why it's hardly fair analysis. Carry on...
And because this "Steve V" guy doesn't want the Liberals to fail, so how can we trust his analysis?
Steve V is right. Just look back this blog - daily, neverending critique of the Liberals.
Remember the pathetic rants about the coalition that the majority of Canadians "didn't want".
The passing of the budget that a huge majority of Canadians want - and the NDP? Counting their fingers and toes and playing grammar school snitches about who and how many votes, etc. in the House.
I think you struck a nerve, Cat. Why else would the Liberals here be so desperate to change the subject?
I'm not sure, though, how the Liberals are adopting the Conservative frame. It seems to me they're ridiculing it, which is often an effective strategy (not always, but often). I'd appreciate a post explaining the idea in some more depth -- I've read Lakoff's Moral Politics, but not this book, so I may be missing something.
ADHR, it is really worthwile reading Lakoff's book, or articles discussing framing. Whole new universe of political strategy opened up when polsci's down south applied framing (starting with Republican Luntz).
If we do not learn the lessons of framing, then we will not form a Liberal government come the next election. Harper is far too shrewd to be simply brushed aside by a fresh face.
So far I have not seen our leaders understanding the concept of framing, nor how to respond to it properly. As a result, we will probably face another Harper minority government come the next election, as he will be riding the turnaround in the economies of the world by then.
Good post, Cat. Often wondered if the 'store minders', were asleep, dead or tween.
foottothefire
Post a Comment