Difference between revisions of "Political cards"

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Revision as of 16:39, July 10, 2011

Political cards are tactics used by liberals in politics, the media, and other adversarial settings in order to appeal to emotion or even prejudice rather than reason. The term is a metaphor for what happens in the card game of bridge, where one card can be played to "trump" (defeat) all other cards. Indeed, there may be about 52 political cards, just as in a deck of cards for bridge.

In contrast with most card games, however, a political card can be played at any time, no matter how irrational or irrelevant to the topic. Many liberal articles and commentaries consist of little more playing one or more political cards.

A card is "played" when one side relies on a particular issue in order to gain an often-unjustified upper hand in the debate or controversy.

Liberals have had a difficult time playing a political card against the Tea Party Movement, due to its amorphous nature.

Political card Meaning Example Advantage Disadvantage
sexist card Lawrence Summers was driven from his presidency of Harvard for merely mentioning the possibility that women may not have as much aptitude for math as men
race card Bringing race into a debate by suggesting that criticism is racially motivated or that one's opponent is racist Used effectively to silence criticism of Obama in 2008
hate speech card Anything that highlights or is critical of the historical record of liberal governance.
anti-gay card Calling opponents of the homosexual agenda intolerant instead of focusing on the immorality of homosexuality. assumes the posture of civil rights advocacy. African-Americans oppose the promotion of gay rights in greater numbers than the general population of the United States as a whole.[1]
intolerant card demonstrating inconsistencies in liberal ideology.
uneducated card Reading from a prop, Dan Quayle once misspelled "potato", and liberals destroyed him by playing this card Effective until a candidate liberals are sympathetic to utters a statement such as the United States is made up of 57 states.
extreme card in typical MSM newspeak, anything right of center or not liberal. Bill and Hillary Clinton persistently referred to the Republican Contract with America as extreme; President Clinton ultimately signed 7 of 10 Contract items in to law. Prior to the 9/11 attacks, was used interchangeably with "terrorist" by mainstream media sources. Polls show mainstream journalists are more liberal than the American public.[2]
global warming denier card opposition to using junk science to promote political activism. Global warming activists have likened climate change to Nazi atrocities. [3] equates moderates with ignorant fascists. belittles and denigrates victims of the Nazi holocaust.[4]
anti-environment card
insensitive card
greedy card Portraying capitalistic ideas or actions as greedy Attacking oil companies for their profits, even though oil companies create jobs and pay into the federal Treasury, and profits make up a reasonable portion of total revenue. Most people care about money and fairness. Seems hypocritical if the person using the strategy is wealthy (like most liberal politicians) or benefits from capitalism (like all Americans)
fundamentalist card
creationist card
birther card
conspiracy theory card the one making the charge cannot explain facts. Hillary Clinton charged that her husband's behavior was the result of a "vast right-wing conspiracy". provides plausible reasons for the simple minded. contradictory evidence leads to more conspiracy theories.
homophobia card an irrational fear. Opposition to the radical redefinition of marriage as expressed in California's Proposition 8 was deemed homophobia.[5] Old stand-by in the arsenal of liberal slander attacks. Attempts to ostracize and criminalize an emotional disorder. Many if not most homophobes are gay.
Dominionist card implies evangelical Christians want to impose an Iranian style theocracy on the United States. Used by misogynists to attack Michelle Bachmann. [1] appeals to the fears of athiests and religious bigots. based on social pseudoscience, propaganda, and journalistic hacks.
"Responsible" Republicans card Used to imply a few Republicans, mostly RINOs, are "responsible."
millionaires and billionaires card class warfare President Obama said on June 29, 2011, "I'm proposing we get rid of tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires." [6] appeals to voters motivated by envy politicians that use it are dependent on campaign contributions from millionaires and billionaires.
abortion card
gun nut card slurs anyone who wants to take away defensive weapons angers those with guns
working families card class warfare See Democratic Talking Points, 2008 Presidential Nominating Convention, from the New York Times. [2] postures Democrats as advocates for people who hold jobs and have children. Politicians who employ such rhetoric invariably work to pass legislation that destroys jobs and undermines families.
against teacher-led prayer in our public schools card
Godwin card invoking the name of Hitler. Liberal George Soros likened the Bush administration to the Nazi regime. appeals to emotion and extremists, and less educated leftists. typical oppressive Nazi tactic.
McCarthyism card accuse someone of being like the (false) liberal portrayal of Joseph McCarthy
liberal mocking card mocking a conservative opponent rather than dealing with substantive issues The Daily Show makes person look petty
Liberal redefinition card changing the definition of a word to suit one's purposes
misuse of statistics card
Islamophobia card
Mediscare card
Third rail card Proposals to reform Social Security result in political suicide. Slander your opponent for proposing solutions. Political and economic stagnation.
Patriot card Seeks to paint loyal Americans as racist. Some "Patriot movement" groups call for tighter immigration control. Democrats can be sensitive to the charge of being unpatriotic.
Immigration card implies Democrats are sympathetic to a person's immigration status, despite the fact there is no historical record of legislative achievements in this area. Seeks to pit voters against each other along racial and ethnic lines, which Democrats view as a win. Most immigrants come to America seeking conservative values, such as a right to work, lower taxes, being free of big government oppression, etc.
free speech card cry "free speech," "free speech" for everything offensive to Christianity, while censoring the truth and limiting political speech
cherry picking data card selectively picking out cases that support one's arguments from a wide variety of material and ignoring all the cases that don't dishonest and easy to point out counterexamples
never-admitting-a-mistake card inability to admit a mistake; lack of openmindness

Total number of cards: 36, out of a goal of 52.

Notes

  1. http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/feature/2008/10/30/proposition_8
  2. The Liberal Media, Every Poll Shows Journalists Are More Liberal than the American Public — And the Public Knows It, Rich Noyes, Director of Research, Media Research Center, June 30, 2004.
  3. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-roberts/global-warming-and-the-ho_b_74210.html
  4. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/02/on_comparing_global_warming_de.html
  5. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/26/AR2010082605233.html
  6. The Washington Post Fact Checker column said, "in the context of a $4 trillion goal, it is essentially meaningless. The item is so small the White House could not even provide an estimate of the revenue that would be raised, but other estimates suggest it would amount to $3 billion over 10 years."