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Sports

Top Republican Messaging Firm To Hold Football Focus Group About Whether Redskins Should Change Name

By Travis Waldron on Jun 11, 2013 at 4:04 pm

(Credit: Associated Press)

“It’s not what you say, it’s what they hear,” Luntz Global, the premier strategy shop run by Republican messaging guru Frank Luntz, boasts at the top of its web site. And Luntz Global is interested in figuring out what National Football League fans are hearing.

Luntz Global, which has worked on behalf of the NFL and other sports leagues during labor disputes in recent years, is conducting a football focus group in Alexandria, Virginia, on June 13, where it will pay participants $100 to share their opinions about the current state of America’s most popular professional sports league and the Washington Redskins, the NFL franchise embroiled in controversy and a federal trademark lawsuit involving its name.

An email survey meant to judge the interest and eligibility of potential participants includes multiple questions about the NFL generally, including how many games they watch and attend. It also asks about their “overall opinion of the NFL right now,” their “overall opinion of the NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell,” and what they perceive as the “greatest problem or challenge facing the NFL today.”

Five questions in the survey ask directly about the Redskins. “Which of the following best reflects your opinion of the NFL team name ‘Washington Redskins’?” the 20th question asks, offering “I find the name offensive and they should change it” or “I don’t find the name offensive and they should keep it as is” as the possible answers. The next question asks respondents, “In a word or phrase, please describe the ownership of the Redskins.”

Luntz has appeared on ESPN as an “NFL consultant” relating to concussions and the litigation it is facing from more than 4,000 players alleging that the league covered up links between football and long-term brain injuries, and the NFL is listed among Luntz Global’s corporate clients on its web site. The Redskins are not listed among those clients, which include other franchises like the New York Yankees and Indiana Pacers. Neither, though, is the National Hockey League, which, according to a Deadspin report, conducted a focus group with Luntz to help form its message when it locked out its players in 2012.

“We are not involved in this,” NFL spokesperson Greg Aiello said in an email. Neither the Redskins nor Luntz Global responded to repeated email and phone requests for comment about whether the franchise or owner Daniel Snyder is involved in the focus group.

Luntz is the Republican strategist who helped the GOP change the language around issues like global warming (“climate change”), the estate tax (“death tax”), and health care reform (“government takeover of health care” earned PolitiFact’s 2010 Lie of the Year award but also caused considerable consternation among pro-reform Democrats). He has found similar success in sports, where, according to the Deadspin report, he helped the NHL craft its labor dispute messaging around “shared sacrifice” and also pushed it to bench unpopular commissioner Gary Bettman in favor of a “more blue collar” assistant commissioner when it took its lockout case to the public last fall.

It is unclear whether the Redskins are working with Luntz, but for a team that has spent much of the offseason surrounded by controversy about its name, such expertise could be useful. A recent poll found that 79 percent of Americans support keeping the name, but members of Congress, D.C. politicians, and influential media figures have all targeted it as racist and offensive. For an owner who has often had his own image problems, Luntz may be of service too. And while the league may not be involved in this particular focus group, the information Luntz takes from it could help its messaging around concussions, particularly as a new season begins and the litigation against the NFL continues to move forward.

After Deadspin reported the NHL focus group in October, Luntz responded that “the research was no different from what I and others in my field have done for sports teams, sports leagues, and players’ unions for many, many years,” adding that the objective was “to understand exactly what fans think and precisely what they want.”

Politics

Top Republican Strategist Says NRA Is Out Of Touch On Gun Control

By Sy Mukherjee on Dec 26, 2012 at 5:30 pm

During an appearance on CBS’s This Morning on Wednesday, GOP pollster Frank Luntz starkly admitted that the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) widely-panned proposal to put armed guards in public schools in the wake of the tragic shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School is out of touch with public sentiment and the American people.

As Politico reports, Luntz — who conducted a poll this past spring finding that most Americans and even NRA members back common sense gun control measures — asserted that while Americans support the Second Amendment, they are not prepared to see schools turned into police state security checkpoints:

“The public wants guns out of the schools, not in the schools… And they are not asking for a security official or someone else. I don’t think the NRA is listening. I don’t think they understand most Americans would protect the Second Amendment rights and yet agree with the idea that not every human being should own a gun, not every gun should be available at anytime, anywhere, for anyone. At gun shows, you should not be able to buy something there without any kind of check whatsoever.”

He added, “What they are looking for is a common sense approach saying those who law-abiding should continue to have the right to own a weapon, but don’t believe the right should be extended to everyone at every time for every type of weapon.”

Gun control advocates, public school officials, and a variety commentators have slammed the NRA’s tone-deaf press conference calling for guns in schools and blaming shootings such as the rampage in Newtown on everything but guns. Some have been quick to point out that armed guards did little to prevent earlier massacres at Virginia Tech University and Columbine High School.

A growing number of pro-gun Democratic and Republican lawmakers — including Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX), Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) — have admitted that gun control laws should be revisited in the wake of the tragedy that left 20 children and six adults dead. Others, such as Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), have not signed onto more stringent gun control measures, but have dismissed the NRA’s proposition for armed guards in every American school as “Orwellian.”

Politics

GOP Strategist Frank Luntz: ‘Conservatives Should Not Be Defending Capitalism’

By Faiz Shakir on Jan 11, 2012 at 10:00 am

Last year, Mitt Romney told a Tea Party gathering, “I believe in free enterprise, I believe in capitalism.” Now, Romney’s practice of “vulture capitalism,” in Rick Perry’s words, is coming under attack. As Rush Limbaugh observed recently, “Here we have capitalism being attacked by Republicans, capitalism under assault by Republicans.” In the face of this assault, one of the GOP’s chief strategists is advising Republicans to stop defending capitalism.

Recall, just over a month ago, GOP pollster Frank Luntz offered strategic advice to Republican governors, in which he expressed concerns about the increasing strength of the 99 Percent movement, the Occupy protests, and the waning support for “capitalism.” Luntz told the group that the public thinks “capitalism is immoral. And if we’re seen as defenders of quote, Wall Street, end quote, we’ve got a problem.”

Now, as Romney faces heat from within his own party, Luntz is worried about a “nightmare” scenario where conservatives will go “down the tubes” if they are forced to defend “crony capitalism.” Last night on Fox News, Luntz said the solution is not for conservatives to support a fairer tax system or rid corporate loopholes; rather, just change the language they use:

Conservatives should not be defending capitalism. They should be defending economic freedom. And there is a difference. The word capitalism was created by Karl Marx to demonize those people who make a profit. We’ve always talked about the free enterprise system or economic freedom. Suddenly, they’re trying to defend something that has only 18 percent support.

Watch it:

There’s more than a few problems here. Of course, the Republicans have been long-time defenders of the worst elements of unregulated capitalism. Moreover, conservatives have pilloried Obama for his “war on capitalism,” for wanting to put “capitalism on trial,” and for his purported lack of knowledge about capitalism. As Jeb Bush said succinctly, “I think President Obama has used the bully pulpit as a way to attack capitalism.”

Apparently, Luntz wants the public to believe that Republicans are both the defenders and the opponents of “capitalism.”

Update

According to the Financial Times’ John Kay, “Karl Marx never used the word capitalism.”

Climate Progress

Luntz Warns GOP on Occupy Wall Street, “Don’t Say Capitalism” Because Americans “Think Capitalism Is Immoral”

By Joe Romm on Dec 1, 2011 at 8:38 pm

Frank Luntz, arguably the GOP’s top messaging strategist, said Wednesday:

“I’m so scared of this anti-Wall Street effort. I’m frightened to death. They’re having an impact on what the American people think of capitalism.”

So just as he did with his infamous 2003 global warming warming memo –  which taught conservatives how to sound like they care about the issue while opposing all action — Luntz has some key advice for Republicans on how to pretend to care about regular people while continuing to screw them over.

Amazingly, “Yahoo News sat in on the session,” where Luntz went through his spin at the Republican Governor’s Association on “How can Republicans do a better job of talking about Occupy Wall Street?”

Here are key do’s and don’ts from Luntz:

  • Don’t say ‘capitalism.’
  • Don’t say that the government ‘taxes the rich.’ Instead, tell them that the government ‘takes from the rich.’
  • Republicans should forget about winning the battle over the ‘middle class.’ Call them ‘hardworking taxpayers.’
  • Don’t say ‘government spending.’ Call it ‘waste.’
  • Don’t ever say you’re willing to ‘compromise.’
  • The three most important words you can say to an Occupier: ‘I get it.’
  • Out: ‘Entrepreneur.’ In: ‘Job creator.’
  • “Climate change” is less frightening than “global warming”
  • Don’t ever ask anyone you want them to ‘sacrifice.’
  • Always blame Washington.

Yes, and some in the media still try to apportion blame equally between Democrats and Republicans for the toxic state  of American politics.

George Orwell, in his famous 1946 essay, “Politics and the English Language,” wrote that

“In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.  Political language … is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”

Democrats do sometimes misuse the language and create euphemisms.  All politicians do.  But it is Luntz and his legion of conservative followers who have twisted the English language beyond recognition.  They are the true Orwellians.  The GOP parrot him as if they were reciting lessons in grammar school (see, for instance, Luntz’s memo, “The Language of Healthcare 2009,” which became the GOP playbook for attacking reform).

Is there any nonsense phrase that has been repeated to death this year more than “job creator” — in spite of the fact that for all of the wealth GOP policies have showered on the wealthy they didn’t actually create any net jobs under President Bush?

And yes, I put “Climate change” is less frightening than “global warming” into the list above even though it is from Luntz’s 2003 climate memo.  I included it because conservatives continue trying to blame “the left” for supposedly changing the name from “global warming” to “climate change” (see Debunking the dumbest denier myth: ‘Climate Change’ vs. ‘Global Warming’).  For the record, while I would normally be inclined to recommend progressives say the exact opposite of whatever Luntz recommends for conservatives, there is way too much conflicting analysis to suggest that one of those terms is somehow more effective than the other. Feel free to use both.

How powerful are Luntz’s memos in the energy/climate debate (he wrote one on energy in 2005)?  Just think how many people who want to sound like they care about the issue follow his advice and talk about breakthrough technology as the only answer — see Bush climate speech follows Luntz playbook: “Technology, technology, blah, blah, blah.” As Business Week noted at the time “what’s most striking about Bush’s Apr. 27 speech is how closely it follows the script written by Luntz earlier this year.”

Returning to Luntz’s Occupy Wall Street advice, his comments on capitalism are the most revealing and important for progressives.

Read more

Special Topic

Top GOP Strategist Admits He’s ‘Scared’ Of Occupy Wall Street Because It’s ‘Having An Impact’

By Zaid Jilani on Dec 1, 2011 at 10:15 am

Pollster Frank Luntz

The Republican Governor’s Association met in Florida this week and featured pollster Frank Luntz, who offered a coaching session for attendees about how they should communicate to the public. Yahoo! News’ Chris Moody was there, and captured some of Luntz’s comments on Occupy Wall Street.

Luntz told attendees that he’s “scared of this anti-Wall Street effort. I’m frightened to death.” The pollster warned that the movement is “having an impact on what the American people think of capitalism.” So the pollster offered some advice for them about how to fight back. Here’s a few snippets of what he said, according to Moody:

– Don’t Mention Capitalism: Luntz said that his polling research found that “The public…still prefers capitalism to socialism, but they think capitalism is immoral. And if we’re seen as defenders of quote, Wall Street, end quote, we’ve got a problem.”

– Empathize With The 99 Percent Protesters: Luntz instructed attendees to tell protesters that they “get it”: “First off, here are three words for you all: ‘I get it.’ … ‘I get that you’re. I get that you’ve seen inequality. I get that you want to fix the system.”

– Don’t Say Bonus: Luntz told Republicans to re-frame the concept of the bonus payment — which bailed-out Wall Street doles out to its employees during holidays — as “pay for performance” instead.

– Don’t Mention The Middle Class Because Americans Don’t Trust Republicans To Defend It: “They cannot win if the fight is on hardworking taxpayers,” Luntz instructed the audience. “We can say we defend the ‘middle class’ and the public will say, I’m not sure about that. But defending ‘hardworking taxpayers’ and Republicans have the advantage.”

– Don’t Talk About Taxing The Rich: Luntz reminded Republicans that Americans actually do want to tax the rich, so he reccommended they instead say that the government “takes from the rich.”

Frank Luntz is no minor pollster. He is considered to be one of the top political communications experts in the world, having provided consulting to many of the world’s top corporations, politicians, and special interest groups. That Luntz is admitting the impact of Occupy Wall Street and the 99 Percent and telling closed-door meetings of Republicans that it frightens him is a huge victory for the movement.

Economy

Wall St Consultant Frank Luntz Pens Memo On How To Channel Economic Anxiety Into Protecting Wall St Abuses

By Lee Fang on Feb 1, 2010 at 3:51 pm

Frank Luntz

Frank Luntz

Last Saturday, at the lobbyist-organized GOP retreat, President Obama called out GOP strategist Frank Luntz for pursuing tactics meant to simply “box in Obama” rather than pursue substantive policy debate. True to form, Luntz has released a new memo — obtained by the Huffington Post — which lays out the arguments and language Republicans should use to kill financial reform. Luntz, who gained national recognition for his role in shaping the buzzword-heavy Contract for America with Newt Gingrich in 1994, has built a sizable business selling his messaging advice to both corporations and Republican campaigns.

The new memo instructs opponents of financial reform to simply lie about reform legislation, and to twist economic anxiety resulting from the recession into fear of any government effort to fix the underlying cause of the financial crisis. The most dishonest argument is that financial reform would “punish” taxpayers while rewarding “big banks and credit card companies.” In reality, top financial industry lobbyists are not only fighting proposed oversight regulations, but have said recently that they are opposed to “any regulation” at all.

Luntz, ever the publicity hound, leaks his memos out to the media to claim credit for the Republican charge against reforming Wall Street. While he is certainly a driving force behind much of the GOP misinformation, a closer look at his client list reveals that he is in fact being paid by the finance industry:

– Luntz client Ameriquest Mortgages: The proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) would eliminate predatory mortgages. Ameriquest, America’s “sub-prime leader,” has been prosecuted by Attorney General Richard Blumenthal for inflating property values so borrowers could get bigger loans, imposing upfront fees without reducing interest rates as promised, and intentionally deceiving lenders with hidden penalties and interest rates on final loan documents.

– Luntz clients Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns: Under proposed financial reform, big banks, like Luntz clients Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns, would face a new structure designed to police financial products, prohibit predatory ones, and require clear forms and disclosures. The CFPA would also help regulate hidden bank fees and other bank abuses.

– Luntz client American Express: The CFPA would regulate the credit card industry, preventing predatory interest rates and fees.

Nearly every attack recommended by Luntz is not grounded in reality. For instance, he calls for opponents of reform to label a CFPA head an “unaccountable” “czar.” But the legislation clearly states that the CFPA’s Director would be appointed by the President, and then confirmed by the Senate. Luntz also charges that reform advocates are behind “lobbyist loopholes” in the bill. However, the most controversial loophole was inserted by Rep. John Campbell (R-CA), whose amendment allows an exemption for auto dealers. Of course, Campbell still tried to kill financial reform once it arrived on the House floor.

Confusing the public is the point of Luntz’s work. In an interview explaining his smears against health reform, Luntz told the New York Times last year that it did not matter what the actual policy offered — he would still call it a “Washington takeover.”

Health

The New Luntz Memo Is The Same As The Old Luntz Memo

By Igor Volsky on Oct 30, 2009 at 11:45 am

GOP wordsmith Frank Luntz has penned another self-aggrandizing memo advising Republicans how to talk about health care reform. The new memo is the same as the old memo: admit the health care system is in crisis but remind Americans that the Democratic proposals would lead to a government-takeover of health care. “Suggestion: So far, most of the ads featuring concerned patients have been women. It’s time to include men in these ads, too. Treatment of prostate cancer can be delayed just as much as for breast cancer when the government takes over care – and American men deserve to know about that,” he writes.

Luntz points to poll numbers that demonstrate unease with the Democrats’ proposals:

Public anger is REAL (note to certain media outlets & bloggers who will eventually savage this memo: the town hall phenomenon is NOT manufactured). A majority of Americans (55%) agree that “When it comes to the healthcare reform debate in Washington, I’m mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.” Only 26% disagree (leaving 19%). Nearly one in five Americans strongly agree.

But it’s not that Americans are scared of exchanges, subsidies, insurance regulations or the public plan. They’re frightened by the alleged death panels, rationing and the government interference. They’re frightened by Luntz, not Obama.

Since the election, Republicans have tapped into a paranoid corner of the American electorate that sees the President as a communist intent on redistributing the wealth and outsourcing our national defense to Bill Ayers. Now, the party hopes to convince Americans that Obama will turn over the health care system to Dr. Kevorkian. That strategy lost the election and it will fail to stop health care reform.

Politics

Luntz admits he tries to convince focus group attendees to oppose health care reform.

By Matt Corley on Aug 17, 2009 at 8:00 pm

In May, pollster Frank Luntz presented a memo to congressional Republicans, laying out a strategy for opposing health care reform. Since then, the GOP has closely followed his script. Appearing on Fox News today, Luntz claimed that his recent focus groups have shown how “angry” Americans are about President Obama’s push for health care reform. But Luntz also admitted that he tries to convince people at his focus groups to be more scared of government than insurance companies:

LUNTZ: They were more angry and more fearful of government than insurance companies, but not by much. And what I’m saying to people who are nervous about this health care, as I listen to the give and take, is if you don’t like the insurance companies — and most people don’t — then do you really want to add an extra layer of bureaucracy and an extra level of bureaucrats and yet another set of people who can say no to you.

Watch it:

During his Fox appearance, Luntz never mentioned that he also provides strategic advice to various health insurance companies.

Politics

Tracking the influence of Frank Luntz’s obstructionist health care memo.

By Matt Corley on Jul 16, 2009 at 7:00 pm

In early May, conservative word guru Frank Luntz authored a messaging memo defining the Republican rhetoric on health care reform. In order to obstruct reform, Luntz offered a set of poll-tested words that he said “should be used by everyone.” Some of those words were “rationing,” “doctor-patient,” “takeover” and “bureaucrats.” Using the Capitol Words search engine, the Sunlight Foundation’s Paul Blumenthal has found that Republicans are following Luntz’s advice:

Over the past month, as the health care debate has really gotten off the ground, the use of these words in the Congressional Record has skyrocketed. See the numbers below:

“Rationing” goes from 18 uses in May to 90 uses in June. This marks the highest level of use for the word “rationing” in the Capitol Words database.

“Doctor-patient” goes from 6 uses in May to 20 in June. This marks the highest level of use for the word “doctor-patient” in the Capitol Words database.

“Takeover” goes from 13 uses in May to 106 in June. This marks the highest level of use for the word “takeover” in the Capitol Words database.

“Bureaucrats” goes from 53 uses in May to 78 uses in June. This marks the highest level of use for the word “bureaucrats” in the Capitol Words database.

Watch a compilation put of GOP lawmakers mimicking Luntz’ “doctor-patient” rhetoric:

Health

Hatch Peddles Luntz Talking Points, Misrepresents Kennedy’s Health Bill

By Igor Volsky on Jun 8, 2009 at 1:50 pm

During an interview with Fox News this morning, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) criticized the draft version of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) health care bill as a “one-size fits all government mandated health care plan.”

Hatch repeated the Frank Luntz-inspired charge that a government plan would place a bureaucrat between “you and your doctor” at least four times during the segment. And he wildly misrepresented the HELP bill while pressing Democrats in Congress to track a bipartisan path towards passing health reform. Watch it:

Hatch joins a long line of conservative lawmakers who rely on poll-tested Republican talking points that are intended to stall reform rather than fix the system.

For instance, contrary to Hatch’s insistence that the bill would put a bureaucrat “between you and your doctor,” Section 2 of the draft legislation explicitly states that “a strong doctor-patient relationship is essential to the practice of medicine, and patients have a right to an effective doctor patient relationship”:

helpbill

Moreover, Hatch argues that a public health care plan would “crowd out” private coverage and cites a Lewin Group study which found that 119.1 million Americans (Hatch actually rounds the number up to 120) would leave private health insurance if the public plan used Medicare payments and was opened to all employers. The draft of the HELP bill, however, specifies that the public plan would reimburse providers at 10 percent above Medicare rates and most Democratic proposals — including the President’s campaign health care plan — would likely allow only small businesses and individuals to buy-into the public plan. Under such a design, far fewer Americans “would leave private health insurance.”

All this suggests that Hatch is overstating his willingness to work with Democrats in a “bipartisan” fashion. After all, the first step towards compromise is truthfully characterizing legislation.

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