United States Project

03:00 PM - January 16, 2013

The Frank Luntz script for Congressional Republicans

A guide to phrases journos should look for (and scrutinize)

By Trudy Lieberman

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Is it germaine to say Frank Luntz is an a-hole?

Because he is, one of the worst.

In other news, this is making the rounds:

http://www.remappingdebate.org/article/journalists-service-pete-peterson

Same ideas as Frank Luntz, but with money behind it. All these people seem to hate social security?

Is there a reason why?

http://mobile.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2012/12/19/the_powers_that_be_hate_social_security_here_s_why.html

Standard economic logic. Doh!

"The Economy thrives on incentives (if you work, we'll give you money) and desperation (if you want money, you have to work) and Social Security is a double-wammy, reducing the incentives of workers and reducing the desperation of the elderly."

So, speaking of logic, why remove the 'recent comments' widget? It makes the possibility of having a conversation really small. Your website, your discretion, but what's the logic behind minimizing, thereby reducing, audience participation on the cjr site?

It's a good question and I'll likely never see the response because I'm not going to spend all day refreshing a page in the hopes that someone from cjr says hello someday. There's got to be better ways to kill off spam (like a comment rating system) than to reduce the impact of worthy comments.

Cheers

#1 Posted by Thimbles, CJR on Thu 17 Jan 2013 at 12:12 PM

Perhaps we can tweak some truth out of those Luntzisms.
"Luntz recommended a “more powerful metaphor” like “piling debt on our children” or “mortgaging the American dream.”
Tweaked: “piling debt on our children” without even leaving them the legacy of a deed to the family house.
Tweaked: “mortgaging the American dream.” to greedy filthy rich usurers.

Tweaked:“we need to strengthen Social Security, we need to strengthen Medicare for future generations.” so that heartless politicians will not be able to continually insult and attack its benefits to all Americans.

#2 Posted by denim, CJR on Sat 19 Jan 2013 at 08:38 AM

If the press had any integrity, they'd note that Republicans only care about deficits and the debt when a Democrat is President.

(The same is true about government oversight)

I've often heard press behavior attributed to "fear of being accused of liberal bias".

I can't believe that anymore. "Follow the money", as someone once said before he became a wealthy access-journalist.
~

#3 Posted by ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®©, CJR on Sat 19 Jan 2013 at 10:06 AM

I believe Frank Luntz should preface each of his semantics lectures with the definition of doublespeak. With this out of the way, the average viewer will easily be able to follow along. Why do we need Frank Luntz on Fox News. Fox already has Bill O'Reilly.

#4 Posted by Courtenay Cross, CJR on Mon 18 Feb 2013 at 04:56 PM