Monday, July 14, 2003
If I could think of a way to get handsomely paid for the time I spend making other people look good, I most certainly would: friends send me their resumes to improve upon; my husband seeks my input on marketing strategies; my boss relies on me to fool the world into thinking he is an articulate politician (and for this I am paid most pathetically). I bet Bush’s speech writer, Michael Gerson, gets handsomely paid for making the president look good, but I sure wouldn’t want his job. Not in a million years. It must be a nightmare having to recycle the same 200 garble-proof words in ever new and creative ways for Bush to use. Thankfully at least the expression ‘evil-doers’ seems to have once-and-for-all been jettisoned. I was really getting close to the edge on that one.
In spite of Bush’s propensity towards garbled syntax, I do have to hand it to him for his flawless enunciation of what has become the Republican’s new brilliant tagline: “compassionate conservative.” Whoever came up with that one should be up for some kind of marketing award:
The tagline is clear, concise, compelling, and very good use of alliteration.
It accomplishes just what a positioning message is supposed to do in that it establishes meaningful and valued differences to distinguish itself from the competition's offerings.
These two simple words have also put the democrats in a real pickle in terms of coming up with their own desperately needed tagline. I mean if Republicans are now compassionate conservatives, what does that make the liberals?
7-Up had it easy. All they had to do was to say the "Un-Cola" and they were on their way. But the liberals can't say the "Un-compassionate conservatives" or "Un-Liberals" can they? The other problem is that the letter L doesn't have nearly all the complimentary alliterative modifiers that the letter C does i.e. compassionate, courageous, courteous, caring, charismatic, communicative, etc. What the letter L does have is a litnany of adjectives that only serve to reinforce the negative image already associated with the liberals i.e. lax, loose, lollygagging, libertine, etc.
The paltry few L-words that are somewhat positive give us likeable and loveable… Likeable Liberals? Loveable Liberals? Nah. Too self-congratulatory. And too mushy. The conservatives have it hands down with “caring” which implies a certain emotional sobriety; I picture a benevolent patriarch. For L-words we also have logistical, lion-hearted, or linch-pin. Ugh. Back to the drawing board.
In the meantime I suggest the Democrats start attacking the credibility of the Republican's compassionate conservative claim. How about this for fodder? During Bush’s whirlwind tour of Africa, he went to visit the Slave House on Goree Island in Senegal which was the holding pen for upwards to a million slaves en route across the Atlantic Ocean. Bush spent all of 15 minutes there. “Very emotional, very touching,” Mr. Bush said as he headed off the island… He then spent 60 minutes at a popular Game Park in Bostswana. I'm thinkin' callous conservative...
I also think someone should get a hold of the footage of Bush and entourage coming across a male elephant unsuccessfully trying to mate with a female. Not a giraffe. Not a gazelle. An ELEPHANT. This might not be as damaging as Mike Dukakis in the tank but certainly symbolically good for SOMETHING I should think.
In spite of Bush’s propensity towards garbled syntax, I do have to hand it to him for his flawless enunciation of what has become the Republican’s new brilliant tagline: “compassionate conservative.” Whoever came up with that one should be up for some kind of marketing award:
The tagline is clear, concise, compelling, and very good use of alliteration.
It accomplishes just what a positioning message is supposed to do in that it establishes meaningful and valued differences to distinguish itself from the competition's offerings.
These two simple words have also put the democrats in a real pickle in terms of coming up with their own desperately needed tagline. I mean if Republicans are now compassionate conservatives, what does that make the liberals?
7-Up had it easy. All they had to do was to say the "Un-Cola" and they were on their way. But the liberals can't say the "Un-compassionate conservatives" or "Un-Liberals" can they? The other problem is that the letter L doesn't have nearly all the complimentary alliterative modifiers that the letter C does i.e. compassionate, courageous, courteous, caring, charismatic, communicative, etc. What the letter L does have is a litnany of adjectives that only serve to reinforce the negative image already associated with the liberals i.e. lax, loose, lollygagging, libertine, etc.
The paltry few L-words that are somewhat positive give us likeable and loveable… Likeable Liberals? Loveable Liberals? Nah. Too self-congratulatory. And too mushy. The conservatives have it hands down with “caring” which implies a certain emotional sobriety; I picture a benevolent patriarch. For L-words we also have logistical, lion-hearted, or linch-pin. Ugh. Back to the drawing board.
In the meantime I suggest the Democrats start attacking the credibility of the Republican's compassionate conservative claim. How about this for fodder? During Bush’s whirlwind tour of Africa, he went to visit the Slave House on Goree Island in Senegal which was the holding pen for upwards to a million slaves en route across the Atlantic Ocean. Bush spent all of 15 minutes there. “Very emotional, very touching,” Mr. Bush said as he headed off the island… He then spent 60 minutes at a popular Game Park in Bostswana. I'm thinkin' callous conservative...
I also think someone should get a hold of the footage of Bush and entourage coming across a male elephant unsuccessfully trying to mate with a female. Not a giraffe. Not a gazelle. An ELEPHANT. This might not be as damaging as Mike Dukakis in the tank but certainly symbolically good for SOMETHING I should think.
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