Frank Luntz Does It for the Children
FERGUSON, ANDREW
Frank Luntz Does It for the Children By Andrew Ferguson Frank Luntz, a Republican pollster and one of the foremost "communications" advisers to Trent Lott and Newt Gingrich, has just posted a...
...The Language of the 21st Century" is his summa, his attempt to compile most of what he has learned in his many sessions with the beast, and to convey to his Republican friends precisely what they must say to make the beast happy...
...And this: "clear-thinking, morally-acting, putting children first legislation effort...
...For at the moment the beast is not happy with the Republicans...
...It stirs the blood...
...Republicans must tread lightly...
...If a proposed change sounds complicated," Luntz concludes, "people will oppose it...
...It has an American flag on the cover...
...In today's over-politicized environment, nothing is more important than using words and phrases that resonate with the American people," Luntz writes...
...He notes a few contradictions along the way, too...
...Everything in bold is meant to be written or said—word for word—in your speeches, press releases and brochures...
...This is better: "We have identified four key phrases that should be included in every speech, interview and every presentation that might make its way to the general public...
...Argument implies contention, which implies unpleasantness...
...Things like argument and evidence will turn your listeners off...
...For example: Luntz tells Republicans they must never say they will "deny" government-provided medical care to illegal immigrants...
...In his chapter on education, for example, Luntz writes that "it may have been widely proven that there is no correlation between educational spending and outcome, but no one believes it...
...dices...
...What is particularly appealing about this approach is that Republicans need no longer worry about ideas...
...They believe, as Luntz himself believes, that Luntz has a special understanding of the writhing, petulant beast that is the American public...
...His emphasis...
...You must not say what you do not believe," he writes...
...A politician would be crazed to contradict the average American...
...What do these words mean...
...Specificity confuses the beast...
...Like Mrs...
...Those are Luntz's words, too, and they come in the plan's prologue...
...Where's the beer...
...Are you trying to make the beast uncomfortable...
...it sounds almost like Churchill, if anybody had heard of him...
...Many, in fact...
...And so on, and so on...
...Many Republicans say he has earned the right to be immodest...
...From this premise flows Luntz's national communications strategy...
...that the beast is stupid...
...And this: "I don't want one child to fall through the cracks...
...Could it be . . . is it possible...
...Don't try to convince the beast otherwise, for it knows what it knows, even if what it knows isn't so...
...Luntz, who spent years fruitlessly shouting English to her Portuguese-speaking maid, Republicans "mistakenly believe that if you speak loudly enough, your message will get through...
...That should not be what politics is all about...
...For the candidate the soundbite practically writes itself: "We must not give...
...It doesn't like "vouchers...
...Still, Luntz insists he has faith in the beast...
...Your task is to talk about education in a way that makes your audience feel comfortable...
...Just about every week, month after month, Luntz hops on a plane at Washington National Airport, flies to some remote corner of the Land Beyond the Beltway, drives to a shopping mall or a chain motel, and there holds a focus group...
...Most Americans thought the Republicans went too far in their almost non-existent "budget cuts...
...It likes nice things, not mean things or angry things...
...politics has become a straightforward matter of phraseology...
...It is "the most serious effort ever made by either party to put together an effective, comprehensive national communication strategy for individual congressional and senatorial candidates...
...Only 38 percent of the American people agree with that...
...You see...
...Don't talk dollars and cents...
...As a team...
...Any time you attack him too wantonly, you risk being perceived as partisan or mean...
...According to my bathroom scale it weighs six pounds, but it probably weighs more since my kids are always screwing around with the scale...
...This goes double for politics...
...Words are used to create a mood...
...So if you say this: "I support vouchers for school choice," you might as well just toss in the towel right now...
...But challenging the public to meet the challenge (so to speak)," writes Luntz, "is not enough...
...Perhaps the most powerful and effective word of this decade is 'challenge,'" Luntz has discovered...
...It doesn't like "school choice...
...Empathize," Luntz writes in his "Communications Checklist...
...The more specific the language, the "less powerful" it will be...
...When the American public feels a draft, Frank Luntz gets the sniffles...
...Average Americans tell Luntz they disdain partisanship and harsh talk...
...He has his finger on its pulse, his thermometer in its mouth...
...Then he adds, "We already have a president who will say anything and do anything to get elected...
...This is why you face the challenges together...
...And another thing: Use newspaper clippings...
...His chapter on education is perhaps the longest in the book...
...and "We will face these economic challenges together...
...Meaning is really beside the point...
...Persuasion implies intellection, which is likewise unpleasant...
...He includes a section on how to write a good campaign letter, for example, and emphasizes that no paragraph should be longer than six lines, lest the voter get bored...
...Suddenly, as you absorb "The Language of the 21st Century," a horrible thought obtrudes...
...It is called "The Language of the 21st Century," and it was distributed to GOP lawmakers before the August congressional recess...
...It carries Luntz's customary tone, which is immodest...
...When holding a town meeting, ditch the lectern and go into the audience with a hand-held mike...
...And he has discovered this: "The Republican party in 1997 is just like my mom...
...He sees, with his own eyes, in those rented rooms at shopping malls and the shabby basements of chain motels, the way the beast responds to political messages...
...It would be like taking away his beer or turning off his TV...
...But this is not the problem...
...You need to speak to the average Ameri-can—someone who never graduated from a four-year college, watches about four hours of TV a day, and consumes a six-pack a week...
...Sharing the success...
...And he means it literally, so to speak...
...Frank Luntz Does It for the Children By Andrew Ferguson Frank Luntz, a Republican pollster and one of the foremost "communications" advisers to Trent Lott and Newt Gingrich, has just posted a bulletin to congressional Republicans...
...By two to one, Luntz writes, "Americans feel too much is spent on welfare, but by 10 to one, Americans think too little is spent on aid to the poor...
...And whenever possible, say this: "It's About the Children...
...Words are everything...
...Voters can spot an impostor a mile away...
...This is the problem: "Linguistically, you are out of touch with the American people...
...He pays each of his Jane Q. Publics and Average Joes $40 or $50 for their trouble...
...What's a Republican to do in the face of so many paradoxes...
...Of course not...
...And so the successful Republican will be one who expresses "SADNESS, REGRET, DISAPPOINTMENT or DISMAY" at the scumbucket who is now sliming up the White House...
...comes from the plan itself...
...It comes in a three-ring binder as white as Wonder Bread...
...Loser...
...It is this and more, much more...
...Not separately...
...These phrases work," Luntz writes, "because they are all simple, straightforward, non-controversial statements...
...They listen to Luntz with great attention...
...If you spent countless hours talking with average Americans," says Luntz, who has, "you would know how deeply they want to regain the sense of 'belonging' and 'community' in their lives...
...and so on...
...The reason the beast dislikes "denying" benefits but is happy to "not give" them is that the beast wants to be nice...
...Luntz denies it, and in fact he goes to great lengths to praise its wisdom, but the conclusion, if you read between the lines, is hard to avoid...
...It is a 222-page bulletin, a bulletin with 24 chapters and six appenAndrew Ferguson, senior editor at The Weekly Standard, is the author of Fools' Names, Fools' Faces...
...much of the language indeed has been lifted from his lexicon...
...And this: "All children deserve a chance at a quality education...
...When they ask you about the balanced budget, say that a balanced budget is not about numbers, it's about people...
...It's about the future...
...it likes "parental choice...
...Be interactive...
...Your objective is to create a team-centered approach...
...In return they sip Diet Cokes and eat catered ham sandwiches and for two hours tell him what they think about this and that—politics and politicians, issues and events of the day...
...Either way, the wetbacks get screwed out of medical care, which is the important thing...
...He therefore offers a chapter on "How to Talk About Clinton...
...It is a poignant peek into the psychological condition of the Republican party...
...it likes "opportunity scholarships...
...And this: "the incredible challenges teachers face in the classroom...
...Here they are...
...simultaneously most Americans thought the Republicans didn't go far enough in their "attempt to change Washington...
...Put less emphasis on numbers," advises Luntz...
...They really think Bill Clinton feels their pain, and they really think you feel nothing...
...Luntz listens to them with great attention, and then he returns to Washington and consults with Gingrich and Lott, the titular heads of his party...
...It's about the children...
...Americans want to know that you and they are fighting together for the common good...
...Together as a team, facing the challenges that face us together...
...Honey...
...But 55 percent believe it is right to "not give" government-provided medical care to illegal immigrants...
...You may have noticed that all of the foregoing would fit comfortably on Bill Clinton, the Republican nemesis...
...When they ask you why about affirmative action, say that you support voluntary affirmative outreach...
...We have found the words and phrases that will move the American people...
...The great bulk of his advice consists of the locutions that have made the beast purr with pleasure in his focus groups...
...Investing in people...
...Speak in terms of people, ideas and visions...
...His advice, as contained in his book, is highly practical and extraordinarily detailed...
...It's about the future...
...It is divided with colored tabs...
...They need to know that you care...
...Education, Luntz says, "will likely be the most important issue from now until the start of the new millennium," so Republicans only have about 25 months to get the thing straight...
...You will note that the basic proposition is the same...
...Say this: "Education is about the future...
...That sentence about it being "the most serious effort ever made etc...
Vol. 3 • September 1997 • No. 2
