Valuable talking

Dave Pell gets it. In fact, he got it a long time ago:

This isn't about real values. It's about framing morality as a set of issues and then selling that message. Morality doesn't necessarily have anything to do with patterns of behavior (see the never to be resolved Catholic Church scandal for details). This debate has little to do with reality. As I've mentioned here several times, W had no problem bashing Hollywood after being introduced by Arnold. Come on, folks. The right runs against lawyers in a country where the average American watches at least four episodes of Law and Order a day.

And we all know that Fox sells one set of values on their news channel, but strips that message down, rubs it with oil and gives it a rocking pair of fake tits before selling it on their entertainment channel. And both channels are doing pretty damn well.

The values thing isn't just about values. It's about packaging, positioning and messaging.

That's what I mean when I say things like this:

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.

We've got the ammo, we just need to load the guns and fire off a few rounds. See what it is we can scare up.