Thursday, March 4, 2010

Hooray For Budget Reconciliation And "Budget Reconciliation"!

A while ago, Ezra had a post encouraging people to find a better name for budget reconciliation. I know where he's coming from, but as I watch Republicans complain about it, I'm really starting to warm to the boringness of the name. When you incorporate the words "budget reconciliation" into some political attack you're making, its emotional appeal drops by about 70%. And if you're using the word "reconciliation" alone, well, that's a six-syllable word for what two people do when they want to start being nice to each other. Convincing a non-tuned-in swing voter that he should dislike Democrats or universal health care because of reconciliation is going to be a comically difficult task.

4 comments:

Numberwang said...

The GOP won't have to craft attack ads with the word "reconciliation" in them- they'll craft attack ads talking about how the black guy is ramming his giant bill down your throat. Playing off the sublimated sex-panic of aging self-described "independent" male voters is just the sort of thing that works on the tuned-out at election time.

"Shit, I don't want ANYTHING rammed down MY throat- I can't believe Obama turned out so radical!"

Anonymous said...

Repubs are off their game. They should be calling it a "death vote".

Anonymous said...

They've been trying to call it the "nuclear option" but even the media is noticing it's already been taken

Helen Bushnell said...

Reconciliation actually sounds kind of friendly.