oh, puuuuullleeeeeeeezzzzeeee....

I'm expected to take this seriously?

Really?

Frank Luntz, the man who taught Republicans how to lie so the public would believe them (he even wrote an instructional manual of words to use to "frame" the debate), is now offering advice to Democrats.

No, as he says, "Seriously". Here's a small, small sample from his Huffington Post guest blog:

snip

For two years the Republican Party was adrift in meaningless messaging to support meaningless reform - and have communicated absolutely nothing for the past three months. By comparison, the Democrat majority that took Congress in November was remarkably disciplined and effective in promoting change, reform, and accountability in the weeks following their historic election.

But alas, power does strange things to Democrats: put a gavel in their hands and a camera in their face and they revert to the name-calling that kept them from the majority for a dozen long years. Sure, it's easy to land rhetorical jabs on a staggering opponent - but that doesn't make it effective. The message from the electorate in November was 'work together and compromise.' You need only look at the incumbent governor of California who won a lopsided landslide in an otherwise Democratic sweep. Cooperation works. Compromise wins. But over-heated rhetoric says to the world that you are no different - and no better - than what you replaced.

If there's anything at all to admire about Luntz, it's that he's well-educated, absolutely brilliant in the arts of linguistics and propaganda. This post is a masterpiece of his works.

Remember a week or two ago I referenced a post from Digby that confirmed what I had suspected since the election. That post said that the well-coordinated message coming out of the great Republican Wurlitzer was that the elections wasn't about Republican Corruption, Rejection of George W. Bush, or even a repudiation of the war in Iraq....no...it was none of these, the Novemeber election (and subsequent Democratic Party landslide) was ALL ABOUT BIPARTISANSHIP....got it? In the Huffington post blog, Luntz "kindly reminds" Democrats of this (even if it isn't true) and then goes on to point out case after case where Democrats behaved "badly" or in a partisan manner. He skillfully draw parallels that aren't there to make stir the image, again to FRAME the topic in an unacceptable posture so you will think that the Democrats are just one vote shy of murdering our own troops. Look a this snip and pay attention to the high-lighted sections.



The list goes on. Speaker Pelosi callously suggesting that President Bush is moving quickly to "put troops in harms way" is a short jump away from suggesting that the President is deliberately trying to get our soldiers killed. Likewise, Senator Kennedy saying that U.S. troops are like "police officers in a shooting gallery" smacks of sound-bite flippancy and expediency of the worst kind. We need an intelligent debate, not a sound-bite contest.

It is "a short jump away from suggesting that the President is deliberately trying to get our soldier killed." only because Frank Luntz has now told us it is so. It is a tool of his trade to place the thought in the mind; to paint an indulible image with his words to that perceptions are created and imprinted on the mind. He is doing so masterfully and under the guise of offering "serious" advice to the Democratic Party.

I also high-lighted "We need an intelligent debate, not a sound-bite contest." because the irony is so rich. Here is the man who taught Newt Gingrich and his jolly band of pirates to talk in soundbites who is now telling us we need an "intelligent debate". I'm sorry Frank. I don't believe you.

Your faux centrist crap may be swallowed hook, line and sinker by some but as for me, I "ain't buying it".

The real message of November was "We're Mad As Hell and We're Not Going to Take It Anymore". Democrats need to learn that message and act on it. Fix what has been broken in the last 12 years by the Republican kleptocracy and especially what George W. Bush has broken on the last 6 years. Put an end to the corruption and bring the law-breakers to the justice they so richly deserve.

One of my first political mentors chided me because I was trying to be "politic" in my approach and he hit me with the old, political maxim, The Only thing you find in the middle of the road is yellow stripes and dead skunks!" They're right of course. If you stay in the middle of the road, you're a coward and you're likely to get run over by those who actually have principles......Democrats must follow the words of Shakespeare's McBeth,

Lay on, McDuff! And damned be he who first cries, Hold! Enough!