So give me the dirt on Frank Luntz.

[Dappleganger]

I'm not familiar with him but a republican relative of dh's is contantly quoting him and his polls and am sick of it.

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. cheeto-stained fingered, socially inept blob with nothing of value to say

[babylonsister]

2. As a rethug said, he's a 'moron'...

The gop get their marching orders on how to frame issues from him, if that helps.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Luntz

Criticism

In 1997, he was reprimanded by the American Association for Public Opinion Research for refusing to release poll data to support his claimed results "because of client confidentiality". Diane Colasanto, who was president of the AAPOR when it reprimanded Luntz, said

“ It is simply wanting to know, How many people did you question? What were the questions? We understand the need for confidentiality, but once a pollster makes results public, the information needs to be public. People need to be able to evaluate whether it was sound research.<13> ”

In 2000 he was censured by the National Council on Public Polls "for allegedly mischaracterizing on MSNBC the results of focus groups he conducted during the <2000> Republican Convention." In September 2004, MSNBC dropped Luntz from its planned coverage of that year's presidential debate, following a letter from Media Matters that outlined Luntz's GOP ties and questionable polling methodology.<14><15>

In the wake of the 2008 Presidential election, fellow Republican and prominent pollster Bill McInturff criticized Luntz before journalists at a National Journal Breakfast, insisting that Luntz is "a moron" and lambasting him for mocking Senator McCain's inability to use a Blackberry, which McInturff attributed to the injuries that McCain sustained while a prisoner of war in Vietnam.<16>

[Dappleganger]

3. So does he engage in push-polling? nt

[Brother Buzz]

6. He has gone way beyond a mundane push poll

He manipulates the message beforehand and uses the push poll to measure his success. He won't release a poll that doesn't have the desired results, but rather, goes back and works the meme to re-shape the message, then polls again. Sneaky and dishonest.

[Captain Hilts]

9. No, worse. He lied about the survey population he was using. nt

[Joanne98]

4. Lice infected maggot

[Fire1]

5. Ugh!!! lol!!! n/t

[Hell Hath No Fury]

8. Do lice inhabit bad rugs???

I thought they only liked natural hair. :D

[Captain Hilts]

7. As my former boss - a Republican pollster used to say:

"Luntz is smart, he's articulate, and he's a liar."

[City Lights]

10. Here's some info on him from Source Watch:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Frank_Luntz

Luntz is the wordsmith who coined the term "death tax" to replace the vague notion of an estate tax. In his world, vouchers are better known as "opportunity scholarships" and offshore oil drilling is better expressed as "deep-sea energy exploration." And he's the man who once advised the Bush administration to emphasize the "lack of scientific certainty" in the global warming debate.

Financial regulatory reform

In January, 2010, Luntz distributed a memo to Republicans with advice on language to use to kill financial; reform legislation before Congress.<2> In the memo Luntz urged opponents of reform to say the legislation is filled with bank bailouts, lobbyist loopholes, and additional layers of complicated government bureaucracy.<3>

"If there is one thing we can all agree on, it's that the bad decisions and harmful policies by Washington bureaucrats that in many ways led to the economic crash must never be repeated," Luntz wrote. "This is your critical advantage. Washington's incompetence is the common ground on which you can build support."

Luntz continued: "Ordinarily, calling for a new government program 'to protect consumers' would be extraordinary popular. But these are not ordinary times. The American people are not just saying 'no.' They are saying 'hell no' to more government agencies, more bureaucrats, and more legislation crafted by special interests."

Health care legislation

Luntz wrote a May, 2009 memo, THE LANGUAGE OF HEALTHCARE 2009<4>, to Republicans describing how to use language to kill President Obama's health care reform legislation that was before the Congress. The memo advised Republicans to:
(1) Humanize your approach.
(2) Acknowledge the “crisis” or suffer the consequences.
(3) “Time” is the government healthcare killer.
(4) The arguments against the Democrats’ healthcare plan must center around “politicians,” “bureaucrats,” and “Washington” … not the free market, tax incentives, or competition.
(5) The healthcare denial horror stories from Canada & Co. do resonate, but you have to humanize them.
(6) Healthcare quality = “getting the treatment you need, when you need it.”
7) “One-size-does-NOT-fit-all.”
(8) WASTE, FRAUD, and ABUSE are your best targets for how to bring down costs.
(9) Americans will expect the government to look out for those who truly can’t afford healthcare.
(10) It’s not enough to just say what you’re against. You have to tell them what you’re for.

Notice #3 under health care..."Time is the government health care killer." Interesting that all the Pukesters want to scrap the whole thing and start over.

[Dappleganger]

11. Excellent info, thanks! nt

[grasswire]

12. media matters has been documenting on Luntz for six years

http://mediamatters.org/search/index?qstring=luntz