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. Political cards are thus a form of thought-terminating cliché.
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 than 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.
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."</ref>
|appeals to voters motivated by envy |politicians that use it are dependent on campaign contributions from millionaires and billionaires. |- |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 evuntil a liberal candidate utters a statement like the United States is made up of 57 states. |- |fundamentalist card |seeks to link Islamic fundamentalism with Christian fundamentalism. |Richard Dawkins screed, The God Delusion. |puts Billy Graham and bin Laden in the same boat. |A majority of Americans are neither atheist nor secular humanists. |- |[[Dominionist]n look petty |- |snark card |Using snarky (sometimes even offensive) humor to attack the opponent. |Rachael Maddow, Jon Stewart, etc. |Often a cue for other liberals to "join in" the laughter |Nobody else is laughing (or they are laughing at the snark attempt-er). |- |Jesus card | Guilt by association card | insinuating that someone is bad because he was once in the same room with some extremist | "shaking hands with Saddam Hussein." [1] | slander at willcard | sabotaging Google searches | [[Rick Ses straw men out of real conservatives, which ultimately backfires as stereotypes are dispelled. |}