Democrats also help conservatives by what a friend has called “Democratic Communication Disorder.” Republican conservatives have constructed a vast and effective communication system, with think tanks, framing experts, training institutes, a system of trained speakers, vast holdings of media and booking agents. Eighty percent of the talking heads on TV are conservatives. Talk matters, because language heard over and over changes brains. Democrats have not built the communication system they need, and many are relatively clueless about how to frame their deepest values and complex truths.

Sounds like one of my comments from last night:

Yeah, I was live-blogging it [the attack on the IPCC late night in Congress during the HR1 amendment process] here when it happened. The MO Republican was just essentially just slandering.

You know what was almost as bad, though? It was the Democratic party response. Waxman did attempt a half hearted response but he really didn’t call out the slander or just how factually wrong the GOP member was.

It was just one more piece of evidence of how lame so many of the Democratic Party elected have become in being able to truly argue a cause.

During the 90 hours or so of discussion on the bill and amendments the few good rhetoricians and the handful of dedicated politicos among the elected Democrats really stood out from an otherwise bland crowd.