Say What You're For, with Anat Shenker-Osorio

In this episode, Farrah Bostic is joined by messaging strategist, author, and Words to Win By host Anat Shenker-Osorio for a wide-ranging and incisive conversation about political communication, campaign strategy, and why so much of what the Democratic Party does feels like a missed opportunity.

Together, they explore:

How Anat’s early fascination with language and justice led her to a career in cognitive linguistics and progressive messaging.Why most political message testing (RCTs, MaxDiff, etc.) fails to reflect how real people encounter campaigns — and what to do instead.The danger of focusing on persuasion over mobilization, and why “say what you’re for” is the most important rule in campaign comms.How Democrats lost their working-class identity, and why organizing — not polling — is the only way to win it back.The power of persuasion windows and how the left can seize — or squander — them.

This episode is a must-listen for anyone working in politics, messaging, organizing, or simply trying to make change in a noisy, distracted, and deeply unequal world.

🔗 Resources & Mentions:

ASO Communications – Open-source messaging guides and researchWords to Win By podcastDon't Buy It: The Trouble with Talking Nonsense About the Economy Follow Anat on BlueSky and Substack

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📍 Produced by The Difference Engine

Our world is governed by numbers — surveys, polling, algorithms, and data.

On Cross Tabs, we bring you the stories behind these numbers. This podcast is your introduction to the people, perspectives, and agendas that shape our reality, and call it “public opinion”.

We invite experts to discuss pressing issues and walk us through their methods. You’ll hear about the issues that matter from some of the brightest thinkers in policy and politics, tech and business.

Join us and you’ll learn about how polling works — or doesn’t work — and how research can be manipulated to advance a political agenda. Discover the history of topics in the news and hear insights on culture and society.

And learn what’s really at risk in the race to influence and optimize, well, everything.

The show is hosted by Farrah Bostic, founder of The Difference Engine, where she works as a qualitative researcher and strategist working outside The Beltway to understand what drives business leaders, experts, and people like you so we can all make better decisions.

• No. of episodes: 46
• Latest episode: 2025-07-03
• News News Commentary Politics

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