Here's a notion. The Republicans are making this easy for us. There are only two ways for them to win. Cheating, shutting down the vote in swing states, and we're making progress on that. -- In the courts, and we may have enough votes in Pennsylvania to make it not matter. Their other way to win is lying. Their three big lies. And they're just asking for a take-down. Like, "three words." They are, "Cut The Crap."
David Plouffe hit this well today, with his "tripod of lies" comment. That is, "the Romney campaign is built on a tripod of lies," those being "You didn't build that," the welfare b-s, and the Medicare joke. We need to beat that, but not by arguing, not even by being offended. Especially not by having the conversation, the debate, they want. No. We dismiss it.
Our answer is "Cut The Crap." It's a bumper sticker, it's a slogan, it's call-and-response at the convention (Can't you see JoeB leading that?) It's the most straight up, all-American answer that ever was. Every time they say "You Didn't Build That," we say "Cut The Crap." Every time they mention their welfare thing, we say, "Cut The Crap." And when they try the Medicare lie, same thing, "Cut The Crap." We create a whole new category, and everybody can laugh together, AT them. We take the initiative. We flip it. WE insult THEM. We make them respond. We get in their face. Every Republican who shows up in public should dread it. Everywhere they go, they hear, "Cut The Crap."
The prez should say it, probably once. That rude but not profane word, just once. It won't be hard to find the right moment. His attitude is, "don't waste my time." And "don't waste the peoples' time." Also " I'm not gonna talk about your big lies. I'm not gonna talk about bogus issues made up by the Romney machine." And who knows, if it works, maybe our Barry says it all the time. Wouldn't Mittsy look cute saying "That language is so inappropriate!" We won't lose a lot of votes over that.
All of us -- supporters, surrogates, the campaign, can say it any way we want. But it's A-B-D. Always Be Dismissing. Always "Cut The Crap." We say "Cut The Crap," and what will they say? No? ("We're gonna keep going with our Crap!") Go ahead, let them say "You cut the crap too!" Let them look like the whining twits they are.
We'll have endless opportunities to spell it out. Everybody on KOS, darn near every Democrat, knows they're all lies. We'll make those arguments as needed, but ONLY discuss them AS lies. Only in the frame of "Everybody knows they're lying."
Like, "There's a reason no actual people were complaining about this stuff." That is, "because none of it happened." Nobody ever heard a citizen, or a voter complain about any of this. Not until Romney and Rove and the Kochs put their money behind it. There's not one grass root in this whole forest of lies. They can say this stuff and spend on it all they want. We say "Cut The Crap!"
Sure, we can flesh it out, as needed, in the right circumstance. Like so:
"If the president really wanted to cut the work requirement out of welfare, do you think he's stupid enough to do it right before the election?" And "We all know it never happened, and anybody who doesn't work for Romney, Fox News or the Republican Party will tell you so." Also, "Ask Bill Clinton."
Or, "Dude, there are no Medicare cuts. Not one senior loses one penny in benefits. What the Prez did, with ObamaCare, was MAKE the hospitals and the insurance companies agree to take lower payments." Furthermore, "It's a good deal," and, "It's such a good deal that even Ryan and Romney were all for it. Right down to the exact same $716-billion." Plus "Now Lyin' Ryan and Tricky Mitt say we should give it back. To the hospitals and insurance companies. Really?"
And, if they ever mention "You didn't build that." We say "Cut The Crap" ten times. Then if they insist, we can explain. Start with, "I thought you Republicans didn't like 'Gotcha' politics." And... "Did you see the video that came from?" Carry on with "They can cut and slice the video all they want, but everybody knows what the Prez said, and what the Prez meant. Romney knows it, Rove knows it, Ryan knows it, and every single person who was there knows it too." Maybe better to start this way: "Our Prez has done more for small business and American enterprise than Mitt and his little buddy will ever do. They're only for big guys, for big money, for Wall Street and the big business that shuts down real job creators. That's why they have to lie."
Smash mouth straight up, till every voting age citizen hears it and knows what it means. We're happy to talk about real stuff, about what really happened, and about what we're really gonna do, but for this stuff, it's "Cut The Crap." Start with these three big lies, and use it every time they start another. It'll be a huge laugh, AT them, and AT Mitt. We mock them. We roll our eyes and say, "There You Go Again."
Any reason they can't be the words that won the election? George Lakoff, are you with me?
(Anybody who likes this, any idea how to spread the word, get it to the right people?)
(Long Live Joe Strummer!)