Drill baby drill!

The masses find it difficult to understand politics, their intelligence is small. Therefore all effective propaganda must be limited to a very few points. The masses will only remember only the simplest ideas repeated a thousand times over. If I approach the masses with reasoned arguments, they will not understand me. In the mass meeting, their reasoning power is paralyzed. What I say is like an order given under hypnosis.
Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf

Yes, I will start out this day by citing Hitler’s words about the limited intelligence of the masses. Next, I’ll talk about how I hate children and pugs and kittens. But the Fuhrer’s words came to mind as I read a Billings Blog piece on the use of stock phrases in politics.

But I must qualify Hitler’s words and my own thoughts on the subject. There are indeed stupid people out there. And smart ones. Most people are of average IQ, which is why it is average, and further have only limited interaction with politics. Issues are complex, but politicians have but a few seconds to grapple with those issues in the public eye. So they use catchy phrases, and there are some very high-priced people out there who come up with those phrases.

So take a minute to read a Politico summary of a confidential memo circulated among Republicans about how to deal with the health care crisis. And then as you make your rounds of newspapers, blogs and TV news, note how many of them are following Frank Luntz’s advice:

Humanize your approach. Abandon and exile ALL references to the “healthcare system.” From now on, healthcare is about people. Before you speak, think of the three components of tone that matter most: Individualize. Personalize. Humanize.

…define the crisis in your terms. “If you’re one of the millions who can’t afford healthcare, it is a crisis.” Better yet, “If some bureaucrat puts himself between you and your doctor, denying you exactly what you need, that’s a crisis.”

The arguments against the Democrats’ healthcare plan must center around “politicians,” “bureaucrats,” and “Washington” … not the free market, tax incentives, or competition.

The healthcare denial horror stories from Canada & Co. do resonate, but you have to humanize them. You’ll notice we recommend the phrase “government takeover” rather than “government run” or “government controlled”…

“One-size-does-NOT-fit-all.”

“A balanced, common sense approach that provides assistance to those who truly need it and keeps healthcare patient-centered rather than government-centered for everyone.”

Democrats are not very good at this game. Remember the debate about health insurance for children? It was ripe for exploitation by the likes of someone like Frank Luntz. Here’s what the Democrats used as their catch phrase: S-CHIP.

Anyway, this is America. We don’t really discuss anything. Journalists don’t ask good questions, politicians are allowed to repeat catchphrases in three minute television interviews. The heated debates behind closed doors in DC are about marketing, and on the Democratic side, how to manage the damned progressives, rope them in and neutralize them.

Remember how we solved the oil shortage: “Drill, baby, drill.”

That’s as deep as we ever go.