By the way, when informed of the issues, most Americans agree with liberal policies, populist policies. Neither they nor I would characterize ourselves as far-anything or extreme in any way, but mainstream.
For example, nobody likes the idea of abortion, but most Americans do not want the government involved if they find themselves in the predicament of an unwanted pregnancy. And if you frame it as, "You like to k!ll babies?!?!?!?!", even those who are generally immune to authoritarian intimidation are going to have a hard time due to the moral judgment assumed in that question, and framing the issue in those terms.
Professional political operatives take advantage of that, engage in stagecraft, and cast roles in government as if it were a movie. Who looks/sounds like a president/senator/congressman/etc.? Who has the countenance, the gravitas? They then cast career politicians to frame these as wedge issues.
Most voters judge politicians by their personalities and mistakenly assume politicians' ideological positions for their own when they've decided they personally like the politician. Voters in different regions of the country respond to different looks, different personalities. Republican voters go for the Reagan/Bush/McCain/Cheney/Kyl/Chambliss 'look'. Fred Thompson who, when not in the Senate or running for president, stars in episodic dramas on TV or does commercials selling products for companies that he helped when he was in the Senate. Democratic voters go for the Kennedy/Clinton/Obama look (none of whom are or were liberal, but most Democratic voters believe they all were or are). Howard Dean's got the leftist-Coastal look necessary to snag the Democratic base, but he's not a liberal. He's more than happy to play 'Plutocracy' with the big boys -- He's actually dylng to.
About Wisconsin Protests
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