Saletan started writing the "Frame Game" column in 1997. And you've completely failed to understand the point of framing. It's not about just choosing names. It's about choosing a whole set of metaphors to describe the issue you're addressing and how you solve it, both to create a coherent way of thinking about why your solution is a good one, and to engage people's values and emotions.

It is true that Democrats talk about this much more often than they actually do it, and that when they do it, they often do it clumsily. But reducing the idea of framing to a caricature does not make it any less important.

Drew Westen's book, The Political Mind, includes some really good examples of successful framing by past progressives like TR, FDR, and LBJ. (And by the way, it remains useful to separate liberal from progressive, because not all liberals are progressive, and not all progressives are liberal. There are a fair number of fiscal conservatives who are very progressive because they recognize that the current right wing movement is a threat to America's ability to remain a premiere economic power. There are also a number of paleoliberals who are not at all progressive, who see the "new left" as a threat to their establishment positions.)