New From Alan Grayson... And Frank Luntz

I find myself agreeing with Alan Grayson on just about everything in the political sphere. And who else have I ever found who loves weird places like Mali, Afghanistan and Paraguay as much as I do? And when it comes to music, we're both Joni Mitchell fanatics. But yesterday he sent out the lyrics to a Harry Chapin song I had never heard, "What Made America Famous." I have to admit that this is a new one on me. I was never a Harry Chapin fan beyond, perhaps, "Cat's in the Cradle," and a song taken from a Broadway musical in the early 70's (when I was living in India) wasn't something I'd ever listened to-- until I got Grayson's suggestion this week. It was a different letter than any I got from any other candidate. And more thought-provoking.

Today he followed it up with one less off the beaten path and more politically intuitive. It's about how GOP operative Frank Luntz twists words and phrases to twist minds... and viscera.

If you have been hearing the term “job creators” a lot lately, it’s because Frank Luntz wanted you to.

As PBS put it, Luntz’s expertise is “testing language and finding words that will help his clients sell their products, or turn public opinion on an issue or a candidate.” In other words, propaganda.

Here are some actual examples of Luntz’s fine work:

Don’t say “oil drilling.” Say “energy exploration.”

Don’t say “inheritance tax.” Say “death tax.”

Don’t say “global warming.” Say “climate change.”

Don’t say “healthcare reform.” Say “government takeover.”

And don’t say “greedy, soulless multinational corporations who don’t give a damn about you.” Say “job creators.”

Luntz is like a serial killer of the English language.

As soon as I heard the term “job creators,” I said to myself, “that sounds like Frank Luntz talking.”  And sure enough, it’s right in there in Frank Luntz’s latest book, Win: The Key Principles to Take Your Business from Ordinary to Extraordinary. Here are Luntz’s exact words: “You don’t create jobs by making life difficult for job creators.” That’s under the heading “The Ten Rules for 2012: What Americans Really Want to Hear from Their Representatives.”

Here is Luntz’s list of what we all “really” want to hear in 2012:

1. I will never accept the status quo.

2. I will never apologize for America.

3. I will find at least one penny of waste to cut from every dollar of spending.

4. I will never raise taxes in a recession.

5. You don’t work for me. I work for you.

6. I will fight for the public’s right to know the cost and consequences of every piece of legislation and regulation.

7. I will always prioritize American rights over the rights of those who wish to do us harm.

8. I will work with anyone who will work with me.

9. I will always support freedom.

10. I still believe in the American principle: of the people, by the people, for the people.

Note the absence of anything even resembling a policy, a program, or a solution to anyone’s problems. So, for instance, the Luntzified Republican Party’s health care plan really is, “don’t get sick.”

And leaving Ron Paul aside, doesn’t that Luntz list sound like every single Republican candidate for President? And almost every Republican Governor? And almost every Republican Senator? And, of course, Sarah Palin?

Which suggests this startling possibility: If they all read Luntz’s book, then they all know how to read.

But that’s all they ever need to do. It must be so easy to be a Republican elected official. You never have to think at all. You just let Frank Luntz do all your thinking for you.

I look forward to the day when Frank Luntz prescribes a haircut. Then they’ll all have the same haircut.

I wish that, just once, Frank Luntz would goof on them, and tell them that what Americans really want to see in their representatives is a little, tiny moustache, just covering the upper lip, like, like...

Like Charlie Chaplin. You know, like in the movie The Great Dictator. Whom did you think I was going to say?

Here are some more Luntzisms that I just made up:

Vampires are “blood recyclers.”

Space aliens are the “differently specied.”

Plagues are “immune system strengtheners.”

Cancer is “internal genetic diversity.”

Death is “spiritual-corporeal differentiation.”

And nuclear war is “1000 points of light.”

But here’s the really sad thing about Luntz’s propaganda. Like most propaganda, it’s just not true.

FACT: In the last ten years, the population of the United States has grown by 27 million people.

FACT: There are one million fewer private sector jobs in America today than there were ten years ago.

So much for job creation. In fact, judging by employment, if the private sector were an employee, we’d have to fire him. For incompetence.

But you can count on 2012 Republican candidates all over the country repeating ad nauseam “jobcreators jobcreators jobcreators jobcreators jobcreators jobcreators jobcreators jobcreators jobcreators jobcreators jobcreators jobcreators jobcreators jobcreators jobcreators jobcreators jobcreators jobcreators jobcreators jobcreators jobcreators jobcreators jobcreators jobcreators jobcreators jobcreators jobcreators.”

As far as they’re concerned, it’s Frank Luntz’s world. We just live in it.

Alan is running for Congress again in central Florida. Blue America was proud to endorse him again. If you can, please help us reelect the best Member of Congress we've had around here in too many decades. You can do it right here at our Blue America ActBlue page.