Bush Talking Points (Part 2)

This is the second of nine pages of talking points (The Language of Prevention and Protection) prepared for the Bush Campaign by Republican pollster and strategist, Frank Luntz -- simply to make available what the Bush monkeys will be mimicking between now and November. If you prefer to read the document en toto, you can find it here (PDF).

All emphasized text is per the original document.

MAKING THE CASE: THE LANGUAGE OF THE WAR ON TERROR

1) Set the Context: 9/11 changed everything. On this issue more than any, context is everything. The American people have notoriously short attention spans – and they do not always see the big picture unless it is unveiled to them. Start with what we all hold in common – the shared experience of the tragedy on September 11th, but then explain what it has done to the present and what it means for the future. Before Americans will accept where you want to go, you need to emphasize where we all have been.

THE CONTEXTOF 9/11: WORDS THAT WORK
"9/11 changed everything. [It changed our economy. It changed our spending priorities.] It changed the way we think about threats to the United States. It changed our recognition of our vulnerabilities. It changed the kind of national security strategy we need to pursue in guaranteeing the safety and security of the American people."
-- Vice President Dick Cheney

2) Before you can talk Iraq, you must talk about Homeland Security. Make the case for PREVENTION here at home before the need for action abroad. After explaining the context of 9/11, it’s equally important to paint a vivid – but not too graphic – picture of what you hope to prevent in the future. Prevention is a positive, optimistic, hopeful concept, but terrorism also requires that you communicate your concern of what may but hopefully never will occur. It’s not just a "we want our kids to have opportunities in the future" message, like most political issues. It’s also a, "we want our children to have a future, period" message.

You have to explain that this is not a war in which victory is measured by a signed treaty or a definitive military victory. It measured day-by-day in terms of prevention – in events that did NOT happen and lives that were NOT lost.

EXPLAINING THE THREAT: WORDS THAT WORK
"We came to understand that for all the destruction and grief we saw that day, September 11th gave only the merest glimpse of the threat that international terrorism poses to this and other nations. If terrorists ever do acquire weapons of mass destruction - on their own or with help from a terror regime - they will use those weapons without the slightest constraint of reason or morality. Instead of losing thousands of lives, we might lose tens or even hundreds of thousands of lives in a single day of horror.
-- Vice President Dick Cheney