I FANTASIZED THAT OUR SIDE COULD ACTUALLY FRAME AN ISSUE

DougJ:

If there’s one phrase I hate it's "mistakes were made". Fuck the passive voice. Somebody made the mistakes and they should be named and shamed.

Let's be clear, in layman's terms, Republicans are getting ready to shut down the government. I don’t want to hear any of you saying "the government may be shut down" or "there may be a government shut down". Democrats have met Republicans halfway on the budget. If Republicans don't take the deal, the Republicans will have shut down the government.

How hard would it be for every Democrat and every lefty commentator to refer to this -- starting now, even before it happens -- as "the Republican government shutdown," or just "the Republican shutdown"?

There it is. No "continued on next bumper sticker" -- hell, no verb. Just a concise phrase everybody can process instantly, and one that Republicans and the wingnut media aren't expecting.

It's simple: anytime you'd talk about "the shutdown," say "the Republican shutdown." If enough pundits and interviewees did that, eventually the phrase would lodge in the head of every politically aware American. Republicans would stamp their feet and insist that, darn it, it isn't a Republican shutdown! Which would mean they'd already lost the framing war.

But I'm clearly engaging in idle fantasy, because, given the players, nothing like this could possibly happen.