Hullabaloo

Sunday, June 14, 2009

 

Sleeping With The Enemy

by digby

In case you are wondering why conservative rhetoric remains dominant and Democrats operate from exactly the same assumptions as Republicans, perhaps this is a clue:

Durbin highlighted arguments made by Republican leadership: "They tell horror stories about health care stories in other countries. That would be Dr. Frank Luntz's talking point number five." And on he went, referring over and over to the talking points outlined in the Luntz memo.

[...]

But the Senate Democrats already knew all they needed about such mendacious methods: Luntz himself had briefed them at a Democratic retreat earlier this year. His co-panelist: Paul Begala.

Since that January retreat, he has also briefed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) personally, a Reid aide confirmed. The message to the leader and to the Senate Democratic caucus was the same: Words matter.

"He didn't talk about health care in particular," said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), a member of Democratic leadership. "He talked about words, and words matter, and how important it is how you portray what it is you're doing. And obviously now he's advising Republicans what kind of language they can use to fight for the status quo."

The Luntz-Reid meeting was also about messaging. The majority leader and the Republican pollster had met several times over the previous several years, although only met once this year, other than the retreat, said a senior aide to Reid. Luntz didn't return several calls and e-mails.

There you have it. The GOP messaging expert is advising both parties. No wonder everyone is selling conservative tropes and propaganda and nobody even knows what liberalism really is.

Ask yourself why in the world the Democrats would be interested in Frank Luntz's advice now of all times. Do they really think he is better at this than say ... the Obama campaign? That the Republican success of the past four years is so impressive that they need to emulate it? I honestly don't know. But I do know that Frank Luntz is a conservative true believer who helped Newt Gingrich engineer the Republican revolution in the 90s and he has not changed. He has been reprimanded by his professional peers and has been caught rigging his focus groups. If you want to help Republicans by any means necessary, this is the guy you'd call.

The question is why Democrats are inviting him to advise them on how to use his patented fraudulent conservative propaganda and methods? You wouldn't be crazy to wonder if they may just share his goals.

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digby 6/14/2009 01:00:00 PM |