Frank Luntz On Distorting Health Care Reform

Frank Luntz has warned Republicans that health care is popular and they should not oppose it. Mike Allen reports:

“You simply MUST be vocally and passionately on the side of REFORM,” Luntz advises in a confidential 26-page report obtained from Capitol Hill Republicans. “The status quo is no longer acceptable. If the dynamic becomes ‘President Obama is on the side of reform and Republicans are against it,’ then the battle is lost and every word in this document is useless.

“Republicans must be for the right kind of reform that protects the quality of healthcare for all Americans. And you must establish your support of reform early in your presentation.”

Don’t get your hopes up that Luntz is actually advising Republicans to support meaningful health care reform. He is only saying they should embrace “the right kind of reform” as a preface to attacking health care reform. Luntz proceeds to provide a long list of every dishonest Republican talking point about health reform such as that it would be a “government takeover of healthcare.”

Frank Luntz is an expert at choosing words to influence people. He doesn’t care if the words are honest as long as he thinks they will be effective. I’m sure his distortions will sound convincing to many in the 21 percent who still back the GOP. On the other hand scare stories about bureaucrats making medical decisions won’t fool anyone who has had treatment denied by insurance company bean counters based upon profit as opposed to health care considerations. His scare stories about long waiting times won’t fool those who have no health care coverage at all. His insincere claims of concern for the ability of doctors to make health care decisions look especially foolish when so many doctors are backing health care reform, realizing that the current system is collapsing and the Republicans offer no meaningful alternatives.

5 Comments

  1. 1
    Michelle Torio says:

    Frank Luntz On Distorting Health Care Reform – Liberal Values … http://bit.ly/esc36

  2. 2
    Lloyd Y. Asato says:

    Frank Luntz On Distorting Health Care Reform – Liberal Values … http://tinyurl.com/cwcqlo

  3. 3
    Eclectic Radical says:

    I have to partially disagree. There are people whose positions would be very much improved by meaningful health care reform who steadfastly oppose it because they believe their situation will change for the worse if it happens. There are people who favor health care reform and agree it is necessary who oppose meaningful reform because they fail to grasp the difference between health insurance and access to health care. For many of these people, Romneycare is the solution to the nation’s health care problems.

  4. 4
    Michelle Torio says:

    Frank Luntz On Distorting Health Care Reform – Liberal Values … http://bit.ly/esc36

  5. 5
    Lloyd Y. Asato says:

    Frank Luntz On Distorting Health Care Reform – Liberal Values … http://tinyurl.com/cwcqlo

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