GOP Memo Coaches Members To Show Empathy Toward Unemployed

[kpete]

GOP Memo Coaches Members To Show Empathy Toward Unemployed
CAITLIN MACNEAL – JANUARY 7, 2014, 5:22 PM EST7646
This post has been updated.

A memo from House leadership to the Republican caucus coaches members on how to speak about unemployment in a compassionate manner, according to the Washington Post.

The memo tells representatives that unemployment is a "personal crisis" and asks them to give "proper consideration" to an extension of longterm unemployment benefits.

...................

"Republican leaders can offer advice on how to sound empathetic when discussing unemployment but that won't change the fact that today we saw the majority of Republicans in the Senate vote against extending vital unemployment insurance benefits," DNS Deputy Press Secretary Rebecca Chalif wrote in an email to reporters.

"No amount of message guidance is going to change the reality that their policies are bad for the unemployed, they are bad for the middle class, and they are out of touch with the vast majority of Americans."



MORE:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/republican-memo-empathy-toward-unemployed

The chief advice: Express sympathy in soft focus. Or as the suggested talking point puts it:

“For every American out of work, it’s a personal crisis for them and their family. That’s why House Republicans remain focused on creating obs and growing the economy.”

A second familiar theme: Go negative on Washington, D.C., while subtly suggesting that unemployment is a kind of handout. In words of the talking point:

“Washington has lost its priorities if it’s more focused on making unemployment easier to tolerate than it is getting people back to work and restoring independence all together.”

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2014/01/07/leaked-gop-memo-spinning-unemployment-benefits/

[neverforget]

1. words mean nothing without action

put up or shut up you soulless bastards

[JEFF9K]

2. Even SOUNDING empathetic could heard Republican politicians ...

... with their hypocritical base.

[ananda]

3. You mean teaching them how to sweettalk people into ..

.. letting them screw them.

[justhanginon]

4. If you have to be coached to show empathy is it really empathy?

Or is it just as phony as a fake Hollywood smile. Sometimes you just have to shake your head and wonder what the hell these people really are about. And the answer may very well scare you to death.

[lob1]

5. Its easier to teach a cockroach to cry than it is to teach a pub to sound empathetic.

[etherealtruth]

6. Sociopaths need to be coached in "How to feign empathy"

i guess this is consistent with that!

[Scuba]

7. The most important thing is to be sincere, and if you can fake that, you've got it made.

[SolutionisSolidarity]

8. I'm glad the unemployment issue is hurting them.

The only reason they stop acting overtly callous is when it's bleeding them politically.

[jsr]

9. Message: We Pretend To Care.

[octoberlib]

10. Why don't they just change their name to the Sociopath Party?

You can't teach people empathy and compassion.

[Ed Suspicious]

11. It's like programming robots... Hate-filled, bigoted, idiotic robots.

[Cha]

12. Oh, like this?..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024291249

[Rex]

14. It is a failure of government and ultimately us the citizen

that our current political situation holds creatures with no empathy or emotions in high esteem like Eric Cankersore. A huge failure by us to evict these animals from office and a strident success for the M$M in pushing RWing propaganda like it is gospel! And of course the willfully ignorant lap up the RW gospel like candy.

[Rex]

13. BARF! The party of SUCK hires an instructor to teach them human emotions that they lack.

GOD I HATE REPUBLICANS! They make this country SUCK so bad, I wish they would all just go and jump off a cliff. DO the country a favor!

[winter is coming]

15. "Personal crisis"? How about "nightmarish disaster with no end in sight"? n/t

[L0oniX]

16. Acting classes are fun.

[Zambero]

17. Reminds me of a song by The Platters

Ah yes, good old COACHING! An applied skill that will always come in handy in the absence of actual concern, especially when word fabrications are needed to replace things like action.

[NastyRiffraff]

18. How to act like a human

It's like coaching a hostile alien on how to pass for a thinking, caring human.

[ProSense]

19. GOP still being coached on how to talk

GOP still being coached on how to talk

By Steve Benen

About a year ago, the Hispanic Leadership Network, a conservative organization that supports immigration reform, tried to give their Republican allies some advice on how best to communicate. The group recommended “tonally sensitive” language: GOP politicians were reminded not to reference “illegals” or “anchor babies.” The organization added, “Don’t characterize all Hispanics as undocumented and all undocumented as Hispanics.”

Around the same time, a different group of strategists gave Republicans advice on how to speak to and about women. GOP officials were reminded, for example, that rape is a “four-letter word.”

For most of us, training like this isn’t necessary. Decent, respectful Americans know not to use offensive language, making coaching unnecessary. That elected officials of a major U.S. political party need to be instructed on how to avoid repulsing large segments of the population really isn’t a good sign.

But the coaching continues.

House Republican leaders sent a memo this week to the entire GOP conference with talking points designed to help rank-and-file Republicans show compassion for the unemployed and explain the Republican position on unemployment benefits. In the memo, which was obtained by The Washington Post, House Republicans are urged to be empathetic toward the unemployed and understand how unemployment is a “personal crisis” for individuals and families.

The memo also asks Republicans to reiterate that the House will give “proper consideration” to an extension of long-term insurance as long as Democrats are willing to support spending or regulatory reforms.

The talking-points memo isn’t especially long – it’s only 133 words – but party leaders, no doubt fearful of appearing callous, apparently saw it as necessary.

- more -

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/gop-still-being-coached-how-talk

[Coyotl]

20. The Memo was entitled

Mission Impossible

[DinahMoeHum]

21. Poor 'Pukies: They STILL think their problem is marketing. . .

. . .instead of their product, which SUCKS.

[tclambert]

22. The title should say "GOP Memo Coaches Members To Fake Empathy Toward Unemployed"

'Cause, you know, if they really felt empathy toward the unemployed, they wouldn't need any coaching on how to show it.