THE MEME IS THE MESSAGEIt might only have looked like a blip on the political radar this past week, but Frank Luntz's
recent editorial for the Huffington Post likely portends the primary conservative meme for at least the next two years. In the key passage (the only one you really need to read), Luntz disguises himself as a sheep and lays bare his latest focus-group-approved frame:
"I am not in the habit of offering partisan linguistic advice to Democrats. But in the genuine spirit of bipartisanship—seriously—I thought this is the perfect time to convey a simple point to the still-euphoric faces of Democrat activists ...
Don't twist the knife."What first jumps out at me when I read this passage is the fact that despite his claim, Luntz fails here to offer any "partisan linguistic advice" to Democrats. On the contrary, he instead offers us his latest partisan linguistic frame
for Republicans. Trust me when I tell you that "don't twist the knife" is a product of days, maybe weeks, of tireless research and focus group testing. That's Luntz's field of expertise, and he's very good at what he does. (This is, after all, the man who once said, without irony, that "[t]o be 'Orwellian' is to speak with absolute clarity...")
So we shouldn't be fooled—I certainly am not—by Luntz claiming to reach across the aisle to the party he still derisively refers to in the column as "the democrat party" (an adjective he and Newt Gingrich brought back into vogue in the early 1990s). Luntz is aware of his one glaring weakness: the fact that he's no longer an unknown player. When word gradually got out about who he was and what he does (and for whom he does it), it effectively tainted every term that emerged from the bubbly swamp of his think tank. That is, once people began to pay attention and realize that catchy terms like "death tax," "blame game," and "tax relief" were republican frames and did not reflect the reality of the issues they purported to describe, Luntz lost a key advantage—that of his own obscurity.
Since then, he has tried on several occasions to make mainstream democrats believe he's willing to work for them and teach them how to exploit complicated issues by framing the debate. He realizes that he's been done in by his own vanity, that his eagerness to let everyone know what a genius he is weakened his own effectiveness. He also realizes that his only chance to reclaim his former glory is to re-brand himself as an independent linguist-for-hire who's willing to bite the hand that's been feeding him for well over a decade.
It won't work. And I'm surprised by how poorly he crafted his latest effort. Were he offering sincere advice to democrats, he'd set up a frame that favors them. Since we know he won't do that, we at least expect him to set up a frame that
appears on the surface to favor democrats. But he failed miserably on that count. In addition to the "democrat" slip, he forgot to make his latest meme—how shall I put this—less idiotic.
Look at it again: "Don't twist the knife."
The image he's trying to evoke here is one of bloodthirsty democrats who, now having the upper hand, are tempted to use their position to inflict undue pain rather than resolve the long-standing partisan conflict. We are all familiar with this device—that of the character who, when given a chance to exact mortal revenge on his nemesis, opts for mercy instead of vengeance. It's an image that stretches back to
The Merchant of Venice and continues right up through
Gladiator, and Luntz knows how easily this metaphor brings it to mind.
But much like Luntz's other creations, this language isn't at all accurate. After all, George Bush is still the madman holding the knife. Only now, instead of standing idly by, Congress is finally going to attempt to disarm him.
Of course we know that, despite his protestations otherwise, Luntz is still nothing more than a strictly partisan player. So objectively accurate terms for the next two years would change his latest frame significantly (perhaps to something like "don't take my knife" or "don't press charges").
There are dozens of good reasons why we shouldn't allow Luntz to once again frame the national political landscape, not the least of which is the timing. Don't be fooled. Don't mistake that wolf for a sheep. Frank Luntz doesn't find religion, he exploits it. He doesn't help explain issues, he obfuscates them.
Twist your knife in his side and nothing but shit will spill from the wound, because he is full of it.
We see you, Frank. And you're not fooling anyone.
