That ridiculous marketing phrase is back – “compassionate conservative.” It’s now being attached to new Senate majority leader Frist – described as “a conservative with a compassionate edge.” Attaching the adjective “compassionate” to themselves seems to be the conservatives’ strategy to win over middle of the road Americans. The thing is, if they weren’t evil, mean, and ruthless people, why would they have to add the “compassionate” part?
Think about it this way: you never hear about a compassionate liberal. People make that assumption without having the adjective in place. They never automatically connect “conservative” with “compassionate.” Conservatives expend a lot of energy trying to make people think of them as kind and generous people. That should tell you something very important.
