Michael Erard has a piece on how political consultants–Frank Luntz and George Lakoff in particular–work to frame political debates in specific terms in order to give their side an advantage.
This is an area where Republicans have had great success. They’re able to boil complex issues into a few simple phrases which even Joe Blow of the AM radio think tank can digest and regurgitate at will.
You could even see this contrast during the presidential debates. John Kerry came loaded with facts and statistics to support his arguments. On the other hand, Bush relied heavily on his simple talking points. Now to me, it appeared as if Kerry had a much better command of the issues. But apparently to many voters, Bush succeeded simply by repeating enough magic buzz words.