November 12, 2003

Under the radar screen?

Geoff Pullum recently reported on the efforts of the Rockridge Institute, of which linguist George Lakoff is a founding member. The following item, sent to me by my father, Art Potts, is a fine example of what Rockridge analysts mean when they talk about how deftly the Republican party manipulates language to frame the issues.

In the November 11, 2003, Washington Post, and on the Internet here, there is an article about multibillionaire George Soros committing millions of his own money to oust the Bush administration. One of Soros's major pledges is to an organization which, according to the article, is described by a representative of the Republican National Committee as "an unregulated, under-the-radar-screen, shadowy soft-money group." And what al Qaeda-like paramilitary terrorist organization is the RNC describing? None other than Move.On.org.

It would be a sign that Rockridge's efforts are working if the phrase "unregulated, under-the-radar-screen, shadowy, soft-money group" started rolling off the tongues of Democratic hopefuls whenever the Republican National Committee was mentioned in the news.

The actual statement is worth pondering for all its unstated content: "It's incredibly ironic that George Soros is trying to create a more open society by using an unregulated, under-the-radar-screen, shadowy, soft-money group to do it, " Republican National Committee spokeswoman Christine Iverson said. "George Soros has purchased the Democratic Party."
Posted by Christopher Potts at November 12, 2003 01:40 PM