General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Almost 100 hate-crime murders linked to single website, report finds [View all]nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)here is the dictionary definition from political science
triangulation
The act of a political candidate presenting his or her views as being above and between the left and right sides of the political spectrum. Its sometimes called the third way.
The term was first used by political consultant Dick Morris while working on the re-election campaign of President Clinton in 1996. Morris urged Clinton to adopt a set of policies that were different from the traditional policies of the Democratic Party in order to co-opt the opposition.
Morris described triangulation in an interview on Frontline in 2000: Take the best from each partys agenda, and come to a solution somewhere above the positions of each party. So from the left, take the idea that we need day care and food supplements for people on welfare. From the right, take the idea that they have to work for a living, and that there are time limits. But discard the nonsense of the left, which is that there shouldnt be work requirements; and the nonsense of the right, which is you should punish single mothers. Get rid of the garbage of each position, that the people didnt believe in; take the best from each position; and move up to a third way. And that became a triangle, which was triangulation.
Morris also offered a definition in his book Power Plays: The idea behind triangulation is to work hard to solve the problems that motivate the other partys voters, so as to defang them politically
The essence of triangulation is to use your partys solutions to solve the other sides problems. Use your tools to fix their car.
http://politicaldictionary.com/words/triangulation/
And here you go, some academic dog whistles, err articles
http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ968447
http://jtr.sagepub.com/content/44/4/431.short
http://soc.sagepub.com/content/40/1/125.short
I could give you more.
There is plenty of RESEARCH into this, and it is not just an American phenomena.
As I said, you cannot discuss this intelligently with partisans.
Nice try at the smear though. Good day. I got an article to write. Air shows are fun.