Winning the war of words

In the battle over political language, the "flip-flop" tag is but the latest GOP victory. Progressive linguist George Lakoff explains how Democrats can reframe the debate.

By Matthew Craft

Oct. 2, 2004 | It was midway through the second half of the first Monday Night Football game this season. The New England Patriots, the reigning Super Bowl champions, were fighting off the Indianapolis Colts on their home field in Foxboro, Mass. A series of events had put the Patriots on their heels until a Colts running back fumbled the ball near the goal line and reversed the game's momentum. Al Michaels, the game's announcer, chuckled that they'd come to the right state. Massachusetts is, after all, home of the "flip-flop."

Most people tuned in to see a close, hard-fought game, not for the political commentary, yet everyone watching knew what he meant. After months of tireless repetition, the Bush-Cheney campaign's "flip-flop" charge against John Kerry has become a national cliché.

"That's exactly what research shows," said George Lakoff, a cognitive scientist at the University of California at Berkeley. "Repeat something over and over and it gets in people's brains." Republicans, Lakoff argues, have found success through "framing" issues along lines that fit their worldview and sticking to them. The Democrats aren't nearly as effective.

After months of fielding the flip-flop accusations, for example, the Kerry team mounted a countercharge, pointing out Bush's numerous about-faces. Bush fought and supported both the Homeland Security Department and the Sept. 11 commission, they said, placed tariffs on steel then lifted them, and reversed campaign pledges on foreign policy and the environment. But nothing doing. In the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, a majority said Bush was more "honest and trustworthy" and called Kerry "wishy-washy."

The flip-flop tag's widespread acceptance and the failed attempts to unseat it point to a larger obstacle for Kerry and the Democrats if they hope to win the White House or claim a majority in Congress. The instant polls and punditry after the first presidential debate on Thursday night gave Kerry the win -- and Lakoff agreed that Bush was off his game. But Kerry still ceded an opportunity to start reframing the larger political debate, Lakoff said.

Kerry's language looked promising at times. For example, during the debate, Kerry mentioned peril and crises in North Korea, Iran and the Sudan in a critique of Bush's leadership, and after all three examples he repeated the phrase "And the world is more dangerous." That's the right idea, Lakoff said, "but he never came back to it."

In the end, Democrats are stuck playing defense for the time being no matter who claims victory in the battles of the presidential debates, because Republicans have taken the lead in the larger war. They've captured the political language.

Democrats need to follow their rivals' lead, Lakoff argues, though not by moving to the right. It's not as simple as parroting conservatives' speeches, buying a television network or shouting down opponents on talk radio.

Next page: What it means if a voter has "seen a John Wayne movie and understood it"