George Lakoff, linguist at UC Berkeley, wrote a book a few years ago called “Don’t think of an elephant. Know your values and frame the debate.” You can download the book highlights pdf here. Do you ever wonder why Republicans repeat themselves so much? Lately, you’ve probably heard “cut and run” about 50 times a day. They do this for a reason - it embeds this in the mind of the public. Then, when Democrats and others dispute this and repeat the phrase, it further embeds the accusation in the minds of the public. In that respect, by repeating anything Republicans say, we are doing their work for them. That is covered in the beginning of Lakoff’s book. He goes on to talk about further examples of framing and how Republicans use language to change how we talk and what we talk about. Defense of Marriage Act is another example. No one’s marriage really needs defending, but the public now thinks there is a threat to marriage that doesn’t exist - because the Republicans keep repeating it. Some Democrats are on that train too, unfortunately. Check out the book, it’s only 36 pages long.