A search for uses of the string “after-action report” in all forums within the last 30 days turns up exactly one thread (other than this one). And all instances of that string are contained within quotations taken from folks not part of the SDMB.
“Blame game” turns up quite a few more threads - 25 in the last month. But it also turns up 222 threads in the past 12 months, so the increase over the 12 month average isn’t terribly great.
Am I not understanding what you are talking about in the OP, or what?
So it is. But the OP says quite clearly that he sees this trend on the SDMB, not in general blog usage. My searches don’t seem to bear this out. Or, as I said just a moment ago, I’m not understanding what he’s seeing.
I’m not actually sure counting instances of each phrase is the best way to go about this. I looked into which posters actually used “blame game” in reference to the Katrina situation, as well as my completely subjective evaluation of where they lie on the political spectrum.
Well, you’re not going to get people who think Bush screwed up saying, “Yes! Let’s play the blame game!” Instead, critics would say, “Chertoff should be fired!”
Hmmm… That leads to the question, who is distributing these “Chertoff should be fired” talking points?
Well, if we try to count the instances of usage, and find a dearth of such, then it would seem sufficient to question that the trend even exists - no matter the political leanings of the individuals employing such phrases.
And a further investigation into my search results shows that the limited instances returned in them don’t necessarily contain such restricted terms. That is, when searching for “blame game,” all threads containing the string “blame” & “game” are returned. The two words aren’t, in many cases, used consectutively. So there are even fewer examples than I initially supposed.
What constitutes a “dearth?” I have 18 threads mentioning the phrase “blame game” in the past two weeks. What ought I to be comparing that to, considering it didn’t exist as a Republican talking point before Katrina, but was still a commonly-used phrase?
And I don’t think we ought to completely disregard the phrase if it was quoted from an external article. Depending on the context, repeating selected quotes from news and opinion articles could serve to repeat a talking point.
Unless you put the string in quotes, you’ll get a hit for any post with the word “blame” and “game” in it somewhere, like “I blame Johnny for losing that volleyball game.” When I search on “blame game”, I get 42 hits in the past 12 months, 27 in the past two weeks.
It’s pretty funny that people still deny the talking points situation. It’s been the norm for years. Right wingers get their marching orders a number of way, from direct contact with Republican henchmen, from blogs, Fox News, etc.
Remember when Reagan died and singer Morrissey opined that he lamented that it wasn’t George W? The article on the British news website was inundated with hate messages for the Mozzer. Did it happen that a lot of Bush Lovin’ Americans happen to read that site? Of course not - they were linked from Drudge and the right wing blogosphere.
Look at any major issue, especially when the righties are on the wrong side. Terry Schiavo? Culture of Life. Cindy Sheehan? She’s a “move on” liberal. :eek: Etc, etc, etc.
Does that mean the left wing doesn’t do the same thing? Not at all. We just aren’t as good at it.
I’ll freely admit that I somehow ended up on the DCCC’s e-mail list, and they do send me issue- and cause-related content a few times a week. But I hardly look at these e-mails as “marching orders.” Even if I do decide to post something here or on my blog or elsewhere on a topic the DCCC has covered in an e-mail, I can’t say that I’ve ever copied their language and tone.
With many Republicans, it seems to be different. Wherever they get their marching orders from, the emphasis seems to be on “staying on message” to the point of using language very similar (if not identical) to that used by Republican bigwigs.
I’m not saying that the Republicans here (or those that align more closely with the right than the left) don’t contribute original thought. They do. I am saying, however, that there are quite a few dittoheads here who get their marching orders and immediately head to the appropriate SDMB forum to regurgitate the talking points. And I just don’t see that happening so much on the left.
But the main thrust of the thread is that I’m very interested in the dynamic of this relationship between the Republican strategists and Republican foot soldiers. What about the orders from above compels the foot soldiers to immediately rush to their favorite interactive communities, write letters and generally engage folks with the talking points?
“Blame game” is a phrase that’s been around since before the evolution of Man. It’s no surprise that such a common term will get used by a great number of people (on any side of the political spectrum) whenever something that lends itself to such use comes up.
The other, not so long lived terms probably get wide acceptance through repetition in the media, circulating e-mails (faxes before the WWW), and listening to loudmouths at work.
I don’t think it is because of any real common source, but instead due to the strategy shown in the cartoon below. Now, I know that any reference to moveonorg, Michael Moore or Tom Tomorrow will get pounced on, but still… linky.
I’m a conservative, but they must have left me off the mailing list. Anyway, I really do see this crap from both sides. The left, I’ve noticed, doesn’t so much have buzzwords as a defined writing style which, ironically, to me seems almost corporate in its use of redundant words as padding.
I run a transcription business form home, and a lot of my work comes from folks you could very loosely call “liberal-left” ( a multicultural affairs office in a women’s hospital, studies on minority-targeted programming in a public broadcaster, etc). I often know what these folks are going to say before I hear it. There is a certain pattern to their speech, and lots of redundant words.
Right: I’m an Asian guy.
Left: I self-identify as an Asian-Australian male.
