Not What You Say, but How You Say It

The mighty message boys have their talking points out and boy, are they in lockstep. Pay attention to these two words:

Investigation:
(standard definition) the work of inquiring into something thoroughly and systematically
(new) the act of a Democratic member of Congress who asks a question about what happened before

Together:
(standard) in contact with each other, in each other's company
(new) in lock-step, following orders, reading the same talking points without dissent

Use our new vocabulary words in a sentence:
The Democrats in charge of congress ARE investigating, but are NOT together.

It was fascinating to have the TV on in the background while this meme was pushed forward by every single talking head speaking on behalf of "the Republicans" today on CNN and MSNBC. I am in awe of how quickly these wheels are set in motion and how they become the new lexicon. As a Democrat, I wish every person speaking on behalf of Democrats today had a similar vocabulary of code words to push. As I have posted here before, our greatest strength is also our Achilles heel.

As a party, the Democrats have always seen things in a thousand shades of gray. We believe in examining different aspects of issues, listen to people with different points of view, and cobble together a position. While I consider those strengths, the problem we have as a result is that we do not see everything as black and white, or good and evil. And the one time we tried it, Dems voted for authorizing military action in Iraq.

Joe Biden would like to start the next Congress as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee by holding a week of hearings to hear from people involved in the situation, ask questions, expect truthful answers, and try to figure out how we got to where we are, so that can lead us to a way out. I call that doing his job under the "oversight" role of Congress. If others think that is an "investigation," they're in for a big shock if a real investigation is ever needed in the next two years. (And I don't mean the R version of an investigation that put the nation's business on hold while they investigated Bill Clinton's sex life. Oh, no. Gee, what message did that folly send "the terrorists"?)

Biden thinks that in the end, a 3-state political solution may be the most effective way to deal with the violence there. According to the new meme, any Dem who disagrees with that concept is proof that our leadership is not "together."

"Not Together" now means not being in lock step, not seeing the world in black and white, holding more than one thought in your head at a time, and considering that you might have made a mistake in the past. The meme today is that's unacceptable, and suggesting it means "weakness" to "the terrorists."

So, readers, how do we challenge the newest meme that questions are investigations and disagreement is dangerous? Why is it that Dem pundits don't get the same talking points, the way the Repub pundits do and they all spout them on the same day on different TV shows? Help me try to figure this out in our comment thread.