Burnt Orange Report

The GOP's Reframing Of The Debate

By Vince Leibowitz

I recieved an email today with a link to a Think Progressive that discusses conservative Political strategist Frank Luntz's 160-page "playbook" (download it here) which devotes a lot of discussion to reframing the debate on a myriad of issues.

Evidently, someone acquired a copy of the book and scanned it and made a PDF of it. It first surfaced on DailyKOS earlier this week, and was followed up with subsequent posts, both linking to Think Progressive's posts.

I haven't had the chance to read the entire thing yet, but I did find some interesting tidbits.

First, this little tidbit:

Taxation, Litigation, Innocation, Education. Remember those four words for they are at the core of your message, your policy and your response to the critics of corporate America. Here is the policy answer to the outsourcing challenge that offers a solution without selling out conservative free-market principles. The four words should be strung together, repeated often, with an adverb attached: too much taxation, too much litigation, not enough innovation, not enough education. That should be your mantra. Remember it. Fortunately, the four words rhyme, which means your audience will remember it as well.

God, I think I'm going to be sick.

I actually decided to Google the bolded phrase above and, in a Google news search, the State of the Union transcript actually came up first. Though Bush doesn't use all of that language or the exact same language, he follows the "adverb" rule:

Because of excessive litigation, everybody pays more for health care.

And, he used "innovation," but not exactly in the reccomended context:

In this century, the greatest environmental progress will come about not through endless lawsuits or command-and-control regulations, but through technology and innovation.

At any rate, the document, which is evidently entitled "The New American Lexicon," since that appears in the footers of several pages, covers just about everything a conservative should know when it comes to "reframing the debate." There are sections (which include "do"s and "don't"s to say) on ANWR, energy policy, tort reform (which should never be called that, according to the report), healthcare, Social Security privitization (which should be called "personalization" by Republicans, the report notes), the tax code and on and on and on.

There are even sample speeches in the document you can take, personalize, and deliver to the local Rotary Club!

While this is all very interesting, what I'd really like to get my hands on is a Texas version of a "playbook" like this, specifically the pages that deal with "tax relief" and "education reform." I'm sure some Texas consultant (probably Royal Massett) has written one. I'd also love to know the Texas GOP's "buzz words" they'll use when they have to justify leagalizing casino gambling as a means of funding education. Instead of saying "casino gambling" they'll probably say something like "speculative enterprise lyceums," or "recreational monetary venture facilities."