GOP Principles vs. Democratic Policy Wonks

Recently Dave Helfert, a former Appropriations spokesman who now works for Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) sent out a memo to all Democrat House press secretaries and communications directors detailing his frustrations with the Democratic message.

The gist of his concern was that the GOP almost always wins the Washington war of rhetoric. While the Republicans craft messages that are simple, clear and based on well understood principles the Democrat's messages all seem like they were put together by policy wonks.

Helfert's memo "got out" as these things will do. Brian Kennedy, spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), bemusedly stated that, “House GOP communicators would take his remarks as a compliment.”

Apparently the staff of the House Democratic Caucus, which is responsible for setting the Democratic message, were “a little less than pleased.”

Dave Helfert's has a track record of being extremely critical of the Bush Administration and its policies. But his memo also implies that the GOP's successful rhetoric is aided by neurological response. By using emotional appeals and warning of dire threats, Republicans can trigger neurons called “amygdalae” in the temporal lobe, which is the seat of the “fight or flight” response in the brain.

“Almost every Republican message contains a simple and direct moral imperative, a stark contrast between good and evil, right and wrong, common sense and fuzzy liberal thinking,” states Helfert's memo. “Meanwhile, we’re trying to ignite passions with analyses of optimum pupil-teacher ratios.”

I'm no neurologist, and don't know much about "amygdalae", but I do think Helfert is onto something. Crafting messages that work is easier for the Republicans than for the Democrats. The reason is that Republicans believe in principles and logic and facts while the Democrats think in terms of policy and emotion.

Principles and logic and facts make it very easy to craft messages that are exactly as Helfert complains about: "simple and direct moral imperative, a stark contrast between good and evil, right and wrong, common sense and fuzzy liberal thinking." I'm not sure a GOP strategist could have said it any better!

Fortunately the facts and logic do not typically support Democratic positions. It makes the rhetorical war a bit one sided. Bringing an emotional argument to a factual debate is a lot like bringing a knife to a gunfight.