By Bidisha Banerjee
“The Anarchist Cookbook, GOP edition: Republican spin doctor Frank Luntz examines the lessons learned from last year's GOP victory in a playbook that the "non-partisan research and educational institute" Center for American Progress is dissecting in a series of blog posts. (You can download the entire 160-page book as a Zip file here.) "It's probably the only thing that couldn't be found on the internet...until now," gushes a commentator at liberal blog Political Strategy. Another outraged left-wing blogger calls the book "How to Lie and Win," while yet another says "[I]t's like reading 1984. He literally tells you how to use words to manipulate people into being in favor of stuff that does them harm!" (As of late this afternoon(Posted Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2005, at 5:12 PM PT) , conservative bloggers haven't started to respond.)… ”
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Luntz’s playbook is full of things people should never say if they don’t want to undermine the right-wing agenda. Here’s how you can be Frank Luntz’s worst nightmare:
Economy
• Talk about the economy using “facts and figures.”
• Talk about the overall size of Bush’s proposed tax cut.
• Describe how repealing the estate tax protects America’s wealthiest families.
• Talk about the economy without bringing up 9/11.
• Recall how Bill Clinton produced balanced budgets in the late 1990s.
Budget
• Remind people that conservatives want to make painful cuts in vital government services.
• Talk about the deficit without bringing up 9/11.
Social Security
• Remind people that the financial services industry has been embroiled in scandal and corruption.
• Note that money contributed to private accounts will “go into the hands of greedy Wall Street fat cats.”
• Point out that proponents of Social Security privatization “lack factual discipline.”
• Tell people that the push to privatize Social Security is about partisan politics.
Energy
• Tell people what ANWR stands for.
• Say, “We should rely on American ingenuity and not the Saudi Royal Family.”
• Talk about how drilling for oil harms the environment.
• Always say “Drilling for oil"; Never say “Exploring for energy.”
• Give specific examples of safety and security problems at nuclear power plants.
Patients’ Rights
• When talking about trial lawyers don’t use words like “creeps, bottom-feeds, overpaid and evil.”
• Say, “When innocent people who are injured seek compensation from those who cause their injuries it’s anything but frivolous. When a preventable careless medical error forces a child into a wheelchair for the rest of his life, it’s anything but frivolous. And when someone close to you suffers due to doctor negligence, their right to a day in court is anything but frivolous.”
Posted by Judd February 24th, 2005 11:19 amPermalink http://thinkprogress.org/index.php?p=319
http://slate.msn.com/id/2113945/
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