Tag Archives: Frank Luntz

Luntz Speaks the Truth, Thinking He’s Off the Record

GOP evil genius Frank Luntz spoke to a student group at the University of Pennsylvania.  He offered some fluff, making jokes about Nancy Pelosi and face lifts.  When asked about political polarization, he became more serious and replied he had something to say, but not on the record.  So the student reporter from the college newspaper turned off his recording device.  But another student started to record on his iPhone with Luntz, who I guess never heard about Mitt’s 47% video, unaware.  Luntz, feeling a little too comfortable and confident, then blithely went off on right-wing talk radio:

“And they get great ratings, and they drive the message, and it’s really problematic.  … And so that is a lot of what’s driving it.  If you take — Marco Rubio’s getting his ass kicked. … He’s getting destroyed.  By Mark Levin, by Rush Limbaugh, and a few others.  He’s trying to find a legitimate, long-term effective solution to immigration that isn’t the traditional Republican approach, and talk radio is killing him.”

And now talk radio will kill Luntz.

For more, see “Secret Tape:  Top GOP Consultant Luntz Calls Limbaugh ‘Problematic,'” David Corn, Mother Jones

Ryan’s Urgent Need for Frank Luntz

Give me a break!

From “Ryan Says Requesting Stimulus Funds Was a Mistake,” Trip Gabriel, The Caucus, NYT:

“Representative Paul D. Ryan said on Thursday it was a mistake to have requested funds in 2009 from the federal stimulus bill after voting against it.

“Mr. Ryan earlier denied asking for money from the $787 billion stimulus on behalf of companies in his Wisconsin district, contradicting a report by the Boston Globe on Tuesday that he wrote to the federal Energy Department requesting funds for two companies to develop so-called green jobs.

“’No, I never asked for stimulus,’ Mr. Ryan said in an interview with WCPO-TV in Cincinnati, which was broadcast Thursday. Mr. Ryan, along with Mitt Romney,…have vociferously denounced the stimulus as an example of President Obama’s failure to restore the economy. The Congressional Budget Office said the stimulus increased employment by 1.3 million to 3.3 million people.

“Mr. Ryan said in the television interview that he did not recall writing the letters. Later, his office issued a statement that he had since checked into the letters. ‘They were treated as constituent service requests in the same way matters involving Social Security or Veterans Affairs are handled,’ he said in the statement. ‘This is why I didn’t recall the letters earlier. But they should have been handled differently, and I take responsibility for that. Regardless, it’s clear that the Obama stimulus did nothing to stimulate the economy, and now the President is asking to do it all over again.’’’

The newest pathetic GOP euphemism —  It’s not stimulus money, it’s constituent service.  Yeah, that’ll work.  Paging Frank Luntz…

If Ryan keeps twisting in the wind like this, he’ll be generating some energy, just not for the GOP ticket.

Mitt Wants You to Pay More, So Rich Can Pay Less

The Brookings Institution and the Tax Policy Center have issued a report on Mitt’s tax plan.

The plan raises taxes on 95% of us by an average of $500.

But if you make $200,000 or more, then you’ll pay less, a lot less.  In fact, the plan would shift about $86 billion in tax burden from those earning over $200,000 to us “little people.”

Why is it evil “redistribution” when it goes from the rich to the rest of us, but economic genius when it goes from the rest of us to the rich, excuse me, the “job creators.”  I guess because Frank Luntz says so.

 

 

 

Newt and His Mom

We’ve all seen the campaign appearance before moms where Frank Luntz stage-crafted an emotional moment for Newt to cry while remembering his late mother.

Here is Marianne Gingrich, the second Mrs. Newtie, on Newt’s relationship with this mother:

“He didn’t talk to his mother much.  He just didn’t have patience with her.  And she was pretty drugged up for a long time.”

Newtie may not be able to give Mitt a run for his money when it comes polling, but he certainly can when it comes to phoniness.

I Think Newt’s Crying Was Planned

I posted previously about Newt Gingrich’s crying at an event with Iowa moms as he recalled his own mother.  I just want to add that I think it was pre-planned and staged.  I wasn’t sure initially, but then I read that the questioning that prompted the crying came from Frank “Evil Genius” Luntz, not from an audience member.  Luntz has worked with Newt for a long time — he wrote the Contract with America in 1994.  He and Newtie would have been on the same page about how the event would unfold.

I think they saw it as a way to help Newt with women, given his treatment of his first two wives and his much-younger third wife, Callista the Platinum Helmeted.

Tuesday night, I think Newtie will be crying for real.

I think Hillary’s crying in New Hampshire last cycle was spontaneous.

Newt Crashes! Newt Cries!

Hey, it worked for Hillary in New Hampshire.  At a meeting with moms in Iowa, with Frank Luntz moderating the questions, Newt Gingrich, crashing in the Iowa polls, cried when recalling his mother.

So we’ll see if this plays out more as a Hillary moment or an Ed Muskie moment.  I never thought that Muskie should have been disqualified for tearing up in New Hampshire on an emotional question about his wife.  I think you can cry and still be an effective commander in chief.

For you Freudians out there, Newtie cried recalling his mother singing in the church choir.  Of course, his third wife Callista is famous for singing in their church choir.

Sick of This “Class Warfare” Crap? Thank Frank Luntz.

The GOP’s spinning of garden-variety progressive taxation as “class warfare” is nothing new.  Way back in March 2008, before President Obama was elected, back when the Tea Party referred to an 18th century event, evil genius Frank Luntz was accusing him of class warfare on evil moron Sean Hannity’s show on Fox.