Frank Luntz advises: exploit 9/11 shamelessly

Cocoa

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Fri Feb-25-05 10:58 AM
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Frank Luntz advises: exploit 9/11 shamelessly

not that this strategy isn't obvious, but it's interesting to see it laid out in print, in all its disgusting amoral glory.

http://thinkprogress.org/index.php?p=309

In his memo on how to manipulate American perception on the economy, right-wing spinmeister Frank Luntz advises conservatives to “resist the temptation’ to use facts and figures about the economy. (You know, all those pesky statistics about lower wages, unemployment, skyrocketing deficits, etc.) Instead, he advises, you can’t go wrong if you continuosly remind people about the terrorist attacks of 9/11. “This is the context that explains and justifies why we have $500 billion deficits, why the stock market tanked, why unemployment climbed to 6%.”

Oh, yes, he advises preying on the emotions tied to the terrorist attacks to distract Americans from the truth about the economy, writing, “Much of the public anger can be immediately pacified if they are reminded that we would not be in this situation today if 9/11 had not happened.” It’s also an easy way to get President Bush off the hook: Luntz points out that convincing people that the struggling economy is a consequence of 9/11 (as opposed to, say, Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy) will convince people “it is unfair to blame the current political leadership”

Finally, Luntz advises, 9/11 is the perfect way to dodge responsibility for sinking the country in red ink. In a section headed “Without the context of 9-11, you will be blamed for the deficit,” he points out “supporters are inherently turned off to the idea of fiscal irresponsibility.” The best way to counter that fact? “The trick then is to contextualize the deficit inside of 9/11.”

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Dr Ron

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Fri Feb-25-05 11:00 AM
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1. Need to show administration failings

While the has been a tremendous amount of evidence on this, we need to push harder to get more to realize how the Bush administration failed to follow up on warnings, and how Iraq has worsened the war on terrorism.

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CrispyQ

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Fri Feb-25-05 11:28 AM
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2. Great site! Thanks for the link.

"Love Hannity Style" was a stitch. One poor bastard can't find a girl without rotten teeth. Too funny!

Lot's of other good stuff, too.

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adigal

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Fri Feb-25-05 11:30 AM
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3. What horrible human beings

I KNOW Americans will wake up to this eventually.

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BeFree

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Fri Feb-25-05 11:42 AM
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4. It's the only excuse

Without the lynch-mob mentality coursing thru America's blood, the shenanigans of this administration would not be so tolerated.

Fear is the only thing they can muster. And like mustard covering a cheap baloney sandwich, it's yellowness prevades the American psyche.

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blm

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Fri Feb-25-05 11:51 AM
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5. Except BushInc is responsible for 9/11 happening, too.

What president would refuse to read a two and a half year study on global terror? Bush.

Bush refused to read the Hart-Rudman Report on Global Terror that was handed to him on Jan 30, 2001.

Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice took a pass on it, too. And these people are in power?

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DenverDem

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Fri Feb-25-05 12:10 PM
Response to Reply #5

6. Their hands are bloodier than that.

MMMMMMIHOP

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blm

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Fri Feb-25-05 12:13 PM
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7. Oh sure, but, I use Hart-Rudman as a certifiable starting point.

Because it proves criminal negligence at the very least.

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DenverDem

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Fri Feb-25-05 12:25 PM
Response to Reply #7

10. Definitely where we need to start.

Something that would stand up in court.

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tom_paine

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Fri Feb-25-05 12:14 PM
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8. Frank Luntz is a Goebbelsian, Orwellian Monster

Just one of many in the Reich.

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Norquist Nemesis

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Fri Feb-25-05 12:19 PM
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9. They should go into Guiness Book of Records

for the number of times they've 'reminded' us via "after 9/11" and "in a post-9/11 world". It's been disgusting and heartbreaking to have watched their marketing strategies be spoonfed to America...and even moreso that at least have the country has been nibbling (if not gorging) on the banquet of propaganda from the CONS.

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IrateCitizen

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Fri Feb-25-05 12:30 PM
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11. Frank Luntz is brilliant and completely soulless...

He represents what happens when human beings completely embrace their darker impulses. The man is brilliant when it comes to marketing, I'll give him that, and there is a lot you can learn by listening to him. But I find him utterly disgusting as a human being, if the label "human" even really applies to him anymore.

But then again, he's a marketing guru, so I repeat myself when I bring up his appalling lack of humanity....

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