A question about Frank Luntz

[underpants]

Yesterday I watched the entire Bill Maher show that is available on youtube -part 1 of 6 here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx_5pRWLDhQ

Guests were the delectible duo of Paula Poundstone and Ariana Huffington ------and Frank Luntz. As they discussed basically and primarily Luntz (in an aside he actually rationalized some of his "Luntzspeak" by saying to Poundstone "I got paid big money for that") and I thought I remembered something that wasn't mentioned. I googled his name but haven't found what I thought I knew about him.


Wasn't he covertly a Republican operative while he was continually featured and cited as a nonpartisan pollster and debate analyzer?

[meegbear]

1. You are correct oh great one ...

he worked in Newt to create those positive/negative words lists to define candidates.

[underpants]

7. C&L has a small piece on him

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/14/flim-flam-frank-aka-the-luntz/

[shenmue]

2. He is a total skunk

Another worthless ass destroying this country.

:grr:

[EV_Ares]

3. Yeah, didn't Tweety Bird use him all the time and always introduced

him like he was a neutral pollster.

[Cooley Hurd]

4. He was used heavily by MSNBC during the 2000 election...

He would appear with "non-partisan" (cough-cough) focus groups and the consesus would always be that Al Gore was a whiny baby and should concede.

Not to mention he has a lousy rat pelt on his head...

[underpants]

6. Yes! He offered the PROOF that "Bush did very well" line

see we have a green line and a red line to prove it!!! See we have all these people sitting behind it that seem to agree!!! See therefore the it must be representative of them and don't you want to be just like everyone else??? See it won't seem that strange if Bush wins huh???

[blm]

11. Luntz' tenure at the NBCs is proof-positive the news dept was a subsidiary of BushInc.

.

[Cooley Hurd]

13. And this was back in the day when John Gibson was a headliner there...

:thumbsdown:

(Of course, that was also my first exposure to Olbermann via his The Big Show ;))

[opihimoimoi]

5. He is as slimey as they come....a total asshole.....

[Captain Hilts]

8. He was dishonest about the survey population of the Reader's Digest survey to support Contract on Am

It was not a survey of the general population, as originally billed.

He lied to make support for Gingrich's program seem bigger than it actually was.

He's smart and he's a liar.

I worked in polling at the time, and he actually fell out of favor with Republicans for a while because of it, hence, his now using 'dr' to get back some of the legitimacy he lost.

[mcscajun]

9. He is the God/Father of Republican Talking Points.

He is a master framer.

[jean]

10. he called Rove, "Dr." Rove during the show - such reverence.

[DFW]

12. Non-partisan, my ass

I've seen this guy up close lots of times. Unlike many
of the people who attend these things, I have never thought
of a single thing I wanted to talk with him about, so I
can't say I know him.

He is extremely intelligent, and knows how to manipulate
words and people. He has made a fortune at it, and the
Republicans have more of that what they all worship (money),
and so his allegiance is theirs. He smirked arrogantly after
the elections of 2002 and 2004, and now suddenly adopts a
faux conciliatory "let's work together" tone when so many of
his clients are being exposed for what they are. Frank Luntz
is Dickens's Uriah Heep: "very 'umble," always self-depreciating
and always behind the scenes to help do the dirty, no, make that
dirtiest work. Remember the vicious slander attack that helped
Tom Daschle out of his Senate seat in favor of right-wing extremist
John Thune? That was our boy Frank all the way. He prances about
like a male peacock in heat when his side wins, but is the very
voice of moderation and conciliation when his side is on the losing
end of things. Bend over and take it in the ass when things go
his way, let him buy you a beer and call you his buddy when they
don't. Don't laugh--he's good at what he does, and it works.
People fall for his whole act (well, the wig is so obvious,
maybe not for that).

Frank Luntz is a major intellect for hire to the highest bidder,
and the highest bidders are the bad guys. I wish we had someone of
his abilities working for us, but I'd hate it if they were as
arrogant about it as he is. I'd be embarrassed to say he was OUR son
of a bitch. We could use someone of his smarts, but I sure wouldn't
want to have to admit in public that he was working for us. But until
the DNC has more money than Halliburton and Rupert Murdoch, that is
a dilemma that will not be confronting us. Of course, he could always
acquire a desire to see what's best for the country. Really. This does
happen to people every now and then. However, in the case of Frank Luntz,
I think we'd have a better shot at waiting for Godot.