How Idiotic Arguments Enter the Political Mainstream...

The Overton Window, Illustrated, from Corrente (Boldy shrill...) and other sources.

Or: How extremists play a role in setting public policy.

(click on image for larger view)
As the Overton Window shifts along the spectrum, a specific policy (a notch in the graph) goes through the following phases of public acceptance:

• Unthinkable


• Radical


• Acceptable


• Sensible


• Popular


• Policy

"The Overton Window, in my opinion, is basically the key to the Republicans' success over the past twenty years--and it comes straight from the Republican think tanks. "...the GOP knows that the middle DOES matter. They know that by playing to their base in very well-crafted ways, they can shift the very definition of what the middle is. By introducing radicalism into the public discourse (and taking initial heat for it), whatever used to be radical within this context becomes moderate by comparison." Why the Right-Wing Gets It--and Why Dems Don't by thereisnospoon

This cartoon (© Tom Tomorrow) says it all:

(click on image for larger view)

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