Whoever said "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me" obviously never subscribed to the philosophy of Frank Luntz. A newly composed manifesto by the Republican pollster lays out certain keywords and phrases Mr. Luntz has deemed the most damaging to the public discourse on financial reform.
In a 17-page memo titled, "The Language of Financial Reform," Luntz urged opponents of reform to frame the final product as filled with bank bailouts, lobbyist loopholes, and additional layers of complicated government bureaucracy.
As Think Progress notes, Luntz's most dishonest argument is that financial reform would "punish" taxpayers while rewarding "big banks and credit card companies."
Should the "Party of No" want to spin the news about happenings on Capitol Hill away from what's good for working people to what's good for the GOP and Wall Street, Luntz is not the only right wing spin doctor to consider. GOPers took part in a similarly dishonest, distasteful anti-reform brainstorm back in 2005, as word of the Employee Free Choice Act legislation to reform broken labor law emerged from Congress.
Anti-worker groups attempt to damage public perception of Employee Free Choice
Taking a page out of Luntz's handbook: veteran right wing strategist Mike Murphy and pollster John McLaughlin, who both work for corporate front group Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW), an organization that masquerades as a workers' rights group and is funded by anti-worker groups including the U.S. Chamber, the Retail Industry Leaders Association and the Associated Builders and Contractors. Murphy and McLaughlin began the campaign to mislead the American public about crucial legislation to protect workers' rights back in 2005, using polling to flesh out which area of labor law reform legislation might appear the most vulnerable for use in employer anti-union campaigns. They settled on the worker sign-up provision--and honed the phrasing "taking away a 'secret ballot' for workers."
"We developed a framing that it was really a privacy issue," said Murphy.
"Just trashing union leaders -- which appeals to certain donors and is emotionally satisfying and a successful fundraising tool for some of those groups -- is not the way to win this thing....Some find it easier to do stuff that appeals to donors because they profit from the money they raise."
The tenacity which with groups like the CDW and the Chamber shamelessly peddle misinformation about the Employee Free Choice Act is almost admirable. Unfortunately for CEO-funded front groups, a majority of those who voted in key states said they support giving workers the free choice to form unions.
Furthermore, the Employee Free Choice Act is by no means off the agenda for 2010. On January 22nd, the Obama administration renewed its commitment to the labor law reform legislation when Secretary of Labor Solis referenced union membership numbers that make "clear why the Administration supports the Employee Free Choice Act."
