Talking right

Digby over at Hullabaloo has been convincing many that the Democrats can't move to the right in order to win elections:

I am talking about a cultural attitude, much of which has metastisized to other parts of the country, in which liberals are demonized as "the other" and eliminationist rhetoric is commonly cloaked in appeals to religion and "values." This, I believe, is an outgrowth of a long standing, grievance mind-set with its roots in the south. However, it is being exploited by a bunch of rich, greedy opportunists who have spent billions creating a media infrastructire -- particularly talk radio --- to pound these attitudes into people's heads. This dichotomy in our country has been with us from the beginning, but this is the first time it's been marketed successfully by the immoral oligarchs who, in a sweet bit of irony, are making a tidy profit at it.

For those who are criticising me for not providing solutions but simply whining about the situation, I plead guilty. I wish I had the answer. What I have learned, after years of believing in the DLC experiment, is that this problem isn't a matter of compromising on issues. The issues are weapons and each time we capitulate they pull another one out of their sleeve. I no longer believe it is really about these issues, it's about something else.

I agree with him as well (and I doubt any straggler here has decided that I don't), but I think he misses the larger point. Democrats should not shift their arguments to the right, but they need instead to frame themselves in the so called language of the right. Clearer still, liberals need to dominate the talk on values because we have them, and believe it or not they are our bread and butter issue:

Battling the notion that "values voters" swept President Bush to victory because of opposition to gay marriage and abortion, three liberal groups released a post-election poll in which 33 percent of voters said the nation's most urgent moral problem was "greed and materialism" and 31 percent said it was "poverty and economic justice." Sixteen percent cited abortion, and 12 percent named same-sex marriage.

That's 64% of the public who believes, in essence, what the Democratic party believes. And we need them to realize that and support our side. We favor health care for Americans not because it is necessary, but because it is the moral thing to do. We oppose tax cuts for the wealthy because it tears at the moral fiber of America, allowing poverty and economic injustice to fester in the world. We need to raise the minimum wage because to not do so would be morally wrong and reprehensible.

These are the arguments that I see as being more successful in framing the debate in favor of Democrats.

Now someone do some test research and tell me if it will work.