GOP consultant, pollster, strategist, and attack dog Frank Luntz is "profoundly depressed." Now he knows how we feel after listening to his "re-framing" blather all these years. But I digress.
He's down and out because his side lost in 2012, and "there's nothing [he] can do about it." Thankfully.
Actually, he did make one good point, opining that, as The Atlantic put it, Americans "didn't listen to each other as they once had. They weren't interested in hearing other points of view. They were divided one against the other, black vs. white, men vs. women, young vs. old, rich vs. poor."
Hmm, now how did that happen?
Black vs. white: Did GOP voter suppression aid and abet?
Men vs. women: Did shutting down women's health service providers and forcing trans-vaginal ultrasounds aid and abet?
Rich vs. poor: Did attempts to kill Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security aid and abet? Did corporate "people" hoard their profits, fail to hire, and lie, cheat, and steal?
Did political shock jocks and Fox propagandists have anything to do with this sad state of affairs? Did the GOP priority to do in President Obama contribute just the teensiest bit to the bitter divides? Did all that GOP obstruction impede progress and communication? How about those raucous-bordering-on-violent health care reform town hall disruptions? And the anti-abortion extremists stalking and threatening clinics and their staffs culminating in the assassination of Dr. George Tiller? And Republicans either giving tacit approval of such activities via their silence or outright support while appearing on the so-called "liberal media"?
Any of that ring a bell, Frank? Any of that contribute to the "divide against each other" attitude you so ironically lament?
Granted, Luntz does acknowledge that he helped create this toxic atmosphere, and now *sniffle* he haz a sad, and yet...
... he blames Obama. Yesireebob, he said that.
See for yourself, via The Atlantic's "The Agony of Frank Luntz" (All together now, "Awww!"):
[H]e fell apart. Leaving his employees behind, he flew back to his mansion in Los Angeles, where he stayed for three weeks, barely going outside or talking to anyone.
"I just gave up," Luntz says. [...]
But it was Obama he principally blamed. The people in his focus groups, he perceived, had absorbed the president's message of class divisions, haves and have-nots, of redistribution. It was a message Luntz believed to be profoundly wrong, but one so powerful he had no slogans, no arguments with which to beat it back. In reelecting Obama, the people had spoken. And the people, he believed, were wrong.
Now he moans about just not being good enough to make a difference any more.
He's *heavy sigh* ever so distraught about all those people yelling at each other, the ones he, you know, encouraged to yell at each other. And he manages to include a whole lot of Luntzisms (read: talking points) while expressing his grief. And he helped create a monster, then emerged from his lucrative bubble long enough to notice the damaging consequences, and, ta-daa! blamed the president. Got it. Perfect. True to form.
The fruits of all his messaging efforts? Well, nowadays, he's contract free:
He still advises his friends here and there, but he no longer has any ongoing political contracts. (Corporations and television networks, not politicians, are his main sources of income.) [...]
Luntz would also like to break into Hollywood as a consultant, but he can't get his calls returned. He can't figure it out. He thinks it must be a partisan thing. In every other industry, he says, 90 percent of his presentations result in a contract. But in entertainment, he pitches and pitches and pitches (he wouldn't tell me which studios or shows) and things seem to go well, but then there's some excuse. Not this time. Not the right project.
Get a clue, Frank. Not the right fit. Not the right talent. Not the right appeal. Not the right person. Not even close. Not this time, not any time.
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