Day: 4/30/2012

Fox News ‘Word Doctor’ Frank Luntz Admits That Conservatives Have Lost The Debate

Posted by on April 30, 2012 at 4:00 pm. 20 Comments :

Frank LuntzIn an op-ed in the Washington Post, pollster and Fox News fabulist, Frank Luntz, has virtually surrendered in the battle for the hearts and minds of the American voters. His opinion piece lays out what he calls the “Five myths about conservative voters,” and in the process reveals the reality that Americans are more closely aligned with the values of progressives than those of conservatives. And much of this is thanks to the Occupy movement.

The first myth that Luntz seeks to debunk is that “Conservatives care most about the size of government.” It’s clear that Luntz is referring only to conservative voters, rather than to the conservative politicians that represent them in office. The Republican Party is still just as fixated on shrinking government as it has been since the spawn of Ronald Reagan. However, Luntz has discovered that average Americans, even those who identify as conservatives, realize that…

“…it’s not the 1980s anymore. Today, conservatives don’t want a reduced government so much as one that works better and wastes less. […] For conservatives, this debate is less about size than about results, along with a demand that elected officials demonstrate accountability and respect for the taxpayer, regardless of whether they’re spending $1 million or $1 trillion.”

That’s a fairly good summary of what the Occupy movement has been advocating for the past year. And it is an abandonment of the extremist rhetoric of conservative icons like Grover Norquist, Sarah Palin, and the Tea Party contingent.

Luntz then moves on to the delicate issue of immigration and denies that “Conservatives want to deport all illegal immigrants.” Once again, he is reporting his research of people, not politicos, and he asserts that they…

“…don’t want to round up all the illegal immigrants and deport them. They believe in the American dream and understand that immigrants built our country. That’s why conservatives embrace legal immigration. A solid majority believe that there should be an eventual path to earned legal status.”

That is the precise policy of Democrats who are sponsoring the DREAM Act to provide a path to residency for undocumented immigrants who came to this country as children and who commit to service in the armed forces or completing a college curriculum. Yet Republicans are fiercely opposed to this plan, that they derisively refer to as amnesty, even though it puts them at odds with their own constituents.

The third “myth” Luntz cites about conservatives is that “They worship Wall Street.” There is no doubt that the Republican hierarchy genuflects at the feet of Goldman Sachs. Mitt Romney has raised more money from Wall Street than any other candidate. And his GOP colleagues in congress are the first place Wall Streeters go to secure their special treatment in the form of legislation and regulation that enhances their prospects for ever greater wealth and power at the expense of 99% of the rest of the population. Luntz, however, observes that most conservatives…

“…agree with moderates and liberals that things on Wall Street have gotten out of hand. They believe that those who abuse the system should be held accountable and that those who work hard and play by the rules should be free to advance.”

Didn’t I hear that in an Obama speech about a hundred times over the past six months?

Number four on the Luntz list is a perennial: “Conservatives want to slash Social Security and Medicare.” It’s worth noting that while Luntz labels these items myths, there is abundant evidence that they are in fact the positions taken by conservative Republicans and have formed the basis of their platform for decades. This one is a good example of that. And it is also another example of where conservatives in Luntz’s research agree with liberals, as Luntz notes…

“70 percent of them oppose cuts to Medicare. They want the program strengthened, not dismantled.”

Finally, Luntz attacks the notion that “Conservatives don’t care about inequality.” The wealth gap has been a primary objective of the Occupy movement. Republican politicians, beginning with multimillionaire Mitt Romney, desperately try to portray this as class warfare. However, when actual people are consulted about their opinions, even right-wing pollsters like Luntz discover that…

“Fully 66 percent of conservatives consider the growing gap between the rich and the poor a ‘problem.’ […] Like all Americans, they are outraged that there hasn’t been a single prosecution by the Obama administration for the corporate abuses that led to the economic meltdown.”

Unfortunately, even with regard to Obama and the Democrats, much of the discussion about this has been no more than lip service and much more needs to be done.

When conservative pundits talk about this country being a center-right nation, they are describing a situation that may be decades out of alignment with reality. The American people consistently side with liberal values in most polls, and now even the research conducted by the right’s most reliable propagandist has published findings that affirm this. And this isn’t the first time Luntz has had to concede ideological defeat. Last December he said this to a select audience at the Republican Governors Association:

“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.”

At that time Luntz advised Republicans to avoid certain words and replace them with others that he had focus-group tested. For instance: “Out: Capitalism / In: Economic Freedom.” When conservative PR flacks tell Republicans not to talk about capitalism, a significant shift is taking place (see this InfoGraphic of the other words that Luntz highlighted).

The bottom line is that the American people fully recognize who their advocates are, and now conservative strategists recognize it as well. Consequently they are spinning furiously to try to avoid losing an even bigger percentage of the populace and a blowout in November. But it’s going to be a difficult sell if the GOP has to persuade voters to support them by advocating policies long-held by Democrats. Luntz knows that and that is why he is frightened to death.

Allen West Trashes The White House Correspondent’s Dinner That He Attended

Posted by on April 30, 2012 at 2:10 pm. NO Comments :

I just couldn’t pass up this bit of puerile nonsense from Nazi-baiting, commie-phobic, congressman Allen West:

West via Facebook: “On Saturday night I was honored to be invited to the White House Correspondents Association dinner. There was much glam, glamour, and humor flowing. However, as I walked from the Washington Hilton in the rain to catch the METRO back to the Batcave, I pondered life outside that ballroom and the pomp. While the President laughs and dines, our Constitutional Republic is eroding and my countrymen are suffering. In this election year, it is sad to think that some of those who were sitting in that ballroom Saturday night laughing and living it up, are helping to perpetuate the manipulation and deception of our country.”

Really? Gee, I couldn’t help but notice that Mr. West himself was “living it up” at the affair that he was “honored” to have been invited to. He was the guest of CBS (presumably because Fox News had already promised their tickets to more important guests, Lindsay Lohan and Kim Kardashian). And after dining on the gourmet cuisine and enjoying the celebrity-studded entertainment, West expects us believe that he ambled home with deep sorrow for all the little people he pretends to care so much about.

West knew precisely what the event was when he donned his tuxedo and headed off to walk the red carpet into the Washington Hilton with the rest of the elites. He knew it was a party where there would be drinking and dining and laughter, and the sort of wanton joyfulness that his Puritan renunciation forbids, at least until the Bush recession is over. It is the pinnacle of arrogance to feign empathy only after spending hours rubbing elbows with the “A” listers at the party. Who does he think he is kidding?

Maybe the evening went south for West when Jimmy Kimmel reminded the crowd of the time that Obama called Kanye West a jackass. “No offense sir,” Kimmel said, “but I think you got the wrong West. I think you meant Allen.” I’m inclined to agree with Kimmel.

West continues to betray his cynical and dishonest nature every time he opens his mouth. And Republican leaders like Romney and Boehner are still too chickenshit to repudiate his inane public statements accusing Democrats of being Nazis and communists. So don’t forget to help out Patrick Murphy’s campaign against West in Florida’s 18th district. It’s time for the people to send West packing.

Fox Nation vs. Reality: Wind Farms Cause Global Warming?

Posted by on April 30, 2012 at 11:35 am. 2 Comments :

In their ongoing effort to insure that the Fox News audience is the most ill-informed collection of dimwits on God’s flat Earth, Fox Nation published a story that makes the incredulous claim that “New Research Shows Wind Farms Cause Global Warming.”

Fox Nation

Of course the research referenced shows nothing of the sort. Even the first line of the Reuters article, to which the Fox Nationalists linked, specifically says that the effect the wind farms “might” have is limited to the “local” climate. There is no finding in the research that suggests any global impact.

What’s more, when contacted by Media Matters, the study’s lead author called the coverage “misleading.”

“[it is very likely that] wind turbines do not create a net warming of the air and instead only re-distribute the air’s heat near the surface, which is fundamentally different from the large-scale warming effect caused by increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases.”

This is part of a continuing pattern of conservative media misrepresenting scientific research in order to deceive their audience and promote policies that benefit their wealthy, corporate backers. These right-wing “journalists” never bother to correct the record even when the scientists they misquote insist that their work has been mangled. That’s because reporting the truth is not part of Fox’s mission. Advancing their partisan disinformation is the only reason they are in business.

Bill Moyers On Allen West And The Ghost Of Joe McCarthy

Posted by on April 30, 2012 at 8:33 am. 5 Comments :

This video should be required viewing for the historical amnesiacs and revisionists who wistfully wander down paths of ignorance that lead to personal ruin and animus and hostility, but could be avoided with just a little perspective and reason. As usual, Bill Moyers supplies copious amounts of both.

“Little of what Allen West says ever surprises me. He’s called President Obama ‘a low-level socialist agitator,’ said anyone with an Obama bumper sticker on their car is ‘a threat to the gene pool,’ and told liberals like Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi to ‘get the hell out of the United States of America.’ Apparently he gets his talking points from Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, or Ted Nugent. But this time I shook my head in disbelief. Seventy-eight to 81 Democrats, members of the Communist Party?”


And don’t forget to help out Patrick Murphy’s campaign against West in Florida’s 18th district. Send a progressive Democrat to congress and send West packing (or more likely, to Fox News).

Breitbart Is Hot For Gay Activist Dan Savage

Posted by on April 30, 2012 at 1:55 am. 1 Comments :

Most people have vivid memories of the first rumblings of romance in their youth. It usually manifested itself as teasing or taunting the object of one’s affection in their fifth grade class. That playful hostility was the surest sign of a crush in those days of flirtatious immaturity.

That must explain the response by the Breitbart crew to remarks made by gay activist Dan Savage to a group of high school journalism students. Savage’s address was typical of his controversial oratorical styling that commonly includes profanity and challenging subject matter. This address was no exception.

The part of the speech to which the Breitbrats, and a growing amen chorus of conservatives, object is when Savage observes that many Christians cling tightly to Biblical verses that condemn homosexuality even while they ignore passages that similarly condemn – to death – children who curse to their parents, women who are not virgins on their wedding day, and anyone who works on the Sabbath. That contradiction was too much for some of the student reporters as well as their adult counterparts in the right-wing press.

I have no problem with coverage of public figures like Savage that includes criticism of their ideas or even their method of presenting them. However, there is something extraordinary about the Breitbrats’ reaction that bears mentioning. They posted at least nine articles in one day blasting Savage for his remarks at the student convocation and resurrecting past commentaries that have nothing to do with it.

Breitbart Dan Savage

The ferocity of their assault reminded me of the childish romantic who, knowing that his desire could not be fulfilled, resorted to harassing his love interest. This applies particularly to Ben Shapiro who wrote six of the articles. Is Breitbrat Ben secretly stuck on Dan Savage? Who can say? But he is plainly obsessed in some respect and might want to examine his deeper motivations. This sort of fixation is unhealthy and, for his own good, Shapiro should not ignore it.