Two years ago I ranted on this blog about the left’s inability to craft its message, in that case excoriating whatever leftist (if he or she wasn’t a right wing mole) crafted the phrase “defund the police”.
There are two sides to the left’s failure in this regard. Not only do we fail to craft a message and push it the way we should, but we accept right wing framing.
Case in point, one of the hundreds of fundraising emails I received today was from one Lucas Kunce, who is running for Senate in Missouri. Here’s the subject line of his email:
I grew up in a pro-life home.
He then goes on to explain that while his parents were anti-abortion, he supports abortion rights.
Now, have you ever heard a Republican refer to people who support abortion rights as “pro-choice”? Of course not. They won’t accept our framing, but we accept theirs, even when it is totally at odds with reality. If we agree to call anti-abortion people “pro-life” then we are implicitly admitting that we are “anti-life”. Not only is that terrible messaging, but it’s not true, since we are the ones who support things like not allowing gun nuts to slaughter school children, medical care for everyone, etc.
Kunce is not alone in enabling this particular bit of Republican messaging. It happens all the time. It is one of the may incompetencies that have undercut the Democratic Party and contributed to its propensity to lose elections it should win.
I very much hope Kunce wins his election, but how hopeful can you be when he wants me to know that he was once pro-life, but isn’t anymore?
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