I've been asked to do a focus group (Luntz) for "American Candidate"...

Should I do it? I've never watched the show (it's on Showtime), so I don't know what to expect. And I'm not sure who this Luntz guy is.

DO IT!!! Do what it takes to get in and once you are in, Bash Bush and prop up Kerry!!!

.

so I think I'll do it!

And then come back and tell us EVERYTHING! :evilgrin:

Are they paying you anything? Just curious -- I've been in a few non-politica focus groups and have been paid usually $50 for my trouble.

but they provide a shuttle to the filming location in downtown LA. I just have to brave traffic on the 10 east to get there. Oy!

it will give DU an opportunity to speak to a more mainstream audience ... Luntz is a Republican pollster but he plays it pretty straight on these TV shows ...

if you get your punches in early, you might be able to pull some of the undecideds your way ...

my advice: don't be over the top and stay clear of the mostly unproven conspiracy stuff ... you'll be written off as kooky ... better is to ask simple, straight forward questions to form your responses ...

for example, does any actually believe the war in Iraq is going well? or, it seems to me that if this had gone well, we should give President bush all the credit ... but fair is fair, because it's been such a tragedy with no end in sight, it seems only right that he should shoulder the blame ...

the point is that you'll be more effective if you seem reasonable and show how fair you are than if you just express extreme left-wing opinions ... you can end up as far left as you want to be if you get there through fair, reasonable logic ...

good luck ... we're all with you !!

I'll go to Kerry's website to brush up a little...i've been feeling rusty lately.

i posted the following in another thread about Jamie Rubin's appearance on today's Crossfire show ... i hope you find the strategy useful ...

i hope that the strategy we saw Rubin using will become the new Democratic mantra ... bush's "stubborn incompetence" has lead us into a quagmire in Iraq ... it's killing our troops everyday ... it's damaging our prestige and credibility with the rest of the world, even our former allies ... it's increasing the numbers and power of terrorist organizations ... and it's bankrupting America ... there is no hope for success if we continue the current course ...

every Democratic spokesman should ask each of these points as a question ... for example, is there anyone who believes bush has been successful in Iraq? is there anyone who believes we are not losing troops on a daily basis? is there anyone who thinks U.S. prestige is not being damaged? is there anyone who is unaware of the extreme financial burden this misguided war has placed on the U.S. economy?

the answers to these questions are answers that help Kerry ....

one last point, especially in response to "brushing up" on Kerry's website ... by all means, brush up ... it's always good to have facts at your disposal if they're needed ...

HOWEVER, stick to the simple themes that your audience already knows ... the truth is that facts are not as effective as themes ... it's sad but it's true ...

for example, consider this ... you lookup exactly how many Americans have been killed in Iraq ... your intent is to highlight the high cost to American military families ... a Republican argues that those numbers are wildly out of line and not accurate ... even if you're right, you end up in this idiotic neutralized battleground ... the audience doesn't really know what to believe and ends up focussed on numbers and your credibility rather than the main point you were trying to make ... a better approach is to simply ask is there anyone who is not aware of the great burden this war has placed on American military families ... that's it ... no numbers ... no argument ... the audience already knows this fact ... you have an easy sell ...

this attention to detail has been killing Kerry ... but the campaign seems to finally be awakening ... it's the message that gets heard ... it's not the details that often don't get translated into a message ...

stick to the basic themes that bush never had a real plan for Iraq ... it's clear bush never understood how much resistance there would be ... you can ask "is there anyone who really believes that president bush (don't just call him bush) understood that our troops would still be under attack after all this time? you get the idea ... be respectful ... be logical ... be elementary ... on the economy, you can say that you always believed we needed a balanced budget ... it used to be the Republicans who tried to balance the budget but not anymore ... Kerry actually voted FOR the balanced budget amendment ... president bush has never vetoed a single spending bill during his entire four years in office ... not one single bill ... no wonder he's run up the highest budget deficits in history ... the economy will never be able to recover until spending is brought under control ... "is there anyone here who doesn't understand the damage these record budget deficits have done to our economy?" ... if you stick to these "big picture themes" on Iraq and on the economy, you'll be deadly ...

give 'em hell, manco !!!

Frank Luntz used to be a Republican pollster and nows does those focus groups ~ http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Frank_Luntz

He evidently must still do some work for Repugs, because he was up here in Alaska 2 or 3 weeks ago at the request of our incredibly UNPOPULAR Governor. Luntz was hired by our Governor to help him improve his image. :puke: (It didn't work ;-) )

I agree with the others about attending though... DO IT !!! You'll do a great job!! :bounce:

YES! We need as many Kerry supporters to participate in things like this. ESPECIALLY if it's on TV! We need all the positive coverage we can get. YES! Go for it!

Just prepare for a shower after the show. Luntz SUCKS!

Luntz the puntz helped newt the eft come up with the 'contract on america'. He used very shady polling & got a rebuke from the national pollsters association or some group like that. He's repub through & through. Be sure to bone up so when some right wing wack job says Kerry is the most liberal, blah, blah, blah you can point out where that came from.

While you're there could you ask luntz the puntz to take that dead animal off his head & give it a decent burial? Please?

COMMUNICATING THE PRINCIPLES OF PREVENTION & PROTECTION IN THE WAR ON TERROR The overwhelming amount of language in this document is intended to create a lexicon for explaining the policy of “preemption” and the “War in Iraq.” However, you will not find any instance in which we suggest that you use the actual word “preemption,” or the phrase “The War in Iraq” to communicate your policies to the American public. To do so is to undermine your message from the start. Preemption may be the right policy, and Iraq the right place to start. But those are not the right words to use. Your efforts are about “the principles of prevention and protection” in the greater “War on Terror.” Please do not underestimate the importance of these rhetorical nuances. Let us understand the stark reality of public opinion which provides the context for this language research. Like it or not, the situation in Iraq is the poster-child for the War on Terror. It is today’s ground zero. You must develop a better way to talk about Iraq in the greater context of the War on Terror. Here are the five essential message points:

<snip>

The snippet above is from a secret strategy Luntz developed for the GOP earlier this year. It's been well distributed on DU, cept it looks like you haven't seen it. Know thine enemy. ;)

Right click on this link to download the entire pdf document, just click on it to open:

http://bellsouthpwp.net/m/e/mespouppet/misc/Luntz.pdf

My favorite blurb from Luntz' pdf:

The American people have notoriously short attention spans

I watched last night. I was impressed by the Dem woman candidate and would have voted for her had I been on the panel. They let members of the focus group ask questions to the candidates. Go for it!

edit: removed repeat text