{"id":26153,"date":"2012-02-13T12:15:28","date_gmt":"2012-02-13T18:15:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=26153"},"modified":"2012-02-13T07:03:04","modified_gmt":"2012-02-13T13:03:04","slug":"chanting-points-memo-2012-third-verse-same-as-the-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=26153","title":{"rendered":"Chanting Points Memo 2012: Third Verse, Same As The First!"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been almost two years since I launched what’s become one of those blog’s most popular features that doesn’t involve waving guns at drug dealers – the “Chanting Points Memo”.<\/p>\n

Since we’re heading into a \u00a0new campaign, I figured it was time for a reset – a “relaunch” of the Chanting Points Memo.<\/p>\n

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What’s a “Chanting Point?” \u00a0From the\u00a0Dictionary In The Dark<\/a><\/em>, here’s the conventional definition:<\/p>\n

Chanting Point<\/strong>:\u00a0 (Noun)\u00a0 Similar to a \u201ctalking point\u201d, but intended to be recited by rote (often as part of large real or virtual crowds) rather than critically analyzed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The term – and the idea – was sparked during the 2010 by the DFL response to Tom Emmer – which was almost entirely something I christened \u201cchanting points\u201d; bits of rhetoric that may or (generally) may not contain a grain of \u201ctruthiness\u201d, but aren\u2019t designed so much for substantial policy discussions as they are to be chanted by crowds, either in person or online.<\/p>\n

I’ve related the story before: the\u00a0term occurred to me in the summer of 2010 at the Minnesota State Fair.\u00a0 Ed Morrissey and I were sitting on stage, across from the DFL booth, talking about the ongoing negotations that led to Obamacare back in 2009 and 2010.\u00a0\u00a0 A compact fiftysomething woman in a full Frankenware ensemble strutted to the middle of the audience area, folded her arms, and started shaking her head back and forth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWould you care to discuss this?\u201d I asked her, getting ready to take the mobile microphone and hike out into the audience.<\/p>\n

She took a deep breath as I stood up, and yelled \u201cPUBLIC OPTION NOW!\u00a0 PUBLIC OPTION NOW! PUBLIC OPTION NOW!\u201d.\u00a0 She then turned on her heels and scampered away as fast as her busy little legs could carry her.<\/p>\n

Ed and I noted that that was about as close to a substantive argument that\u00a0most\u00a0<\/em>Minnesota DFLers came then, and now.<\/p>\n

Words designed to be bellowed over ones\u2019 competition.<\/p>\n

Chanting points.<\/p>\n

The point is, people don’t have to understand the chanting points, much less the truth; they just have to be gulled into voting DFL. \u00a0It’s not about elucidating issues or informing the public; it’s about swinging the ill-informed just enough to gain and retain power.<\/p>\n

It’s another election. \u00a0And the DFL has another set of chanting points rolled out;<\/p>\n