Friday, February 27, 2004

Using code

In the middle of this piece on bloggability, I found this :
    The Republican Party uses speaking in tongues - using code words which have different meanings to different audiences. Bush can be for square in favor of "a humble foreign policy". To the east and west coast - humble means playing well with others. To the religious radio audience, it means being the instrument of God, with a capital "G", on earth. Hence, one can be strongly in favor of two mutually contradictory positions.
This is gold. Meaning, can we do this too? My first sense is that it feels deceptive, kind of icky. But seriously, can our eventual Democratic candidate do this to get the swing voters? Will he do it?

This is what Lakoff talks about but doesn't provide too many examples on how or what to do.