Political cards
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 | ||||
| race card | Used effectively to silence criticism of Obama in 2008 | |||
| hate speech card | ||||
| anti-gay card | ||||
| 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 | |||
| 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. | |
| global warming denier card | belittles and denigrates victims of the Nazi holocaust. | |||
| anti-environment card | ||||
| insensitive card | ||||
| greedy card | ||||
| fundamentalist card | ||||
| creationist card | ||||
| birther card | ||||
| conspiracy theory card | ||||
| homophobia card | ||||
| Dominionist card | Used by misogynists to attack Michelle Bachmann. [1] | |||
| "Responsible" Republicans card | ||||
| "millionaires and billionaires" card | class warfare | appeals to voters motivated by envy | politicians that use it are dependent on campaign contributions from millionaires and billionaires. | |
| anti-abortion card | ||||
| gun card | slurs anyone who wants to take away defensive weapons | |||
| working families card | class warfare | postures Democrats as advocates of 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 | ||||
| Nazi card | a liberal deplorably compares a conservative opponent to a Nazi | |||
| 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 |
Total number of cards: 24, out of a goal of 52.
