I posted a video of legendary Republican message-maker Frank Luntz on here not too long ago, in which Luntz said bluntly that "inflation" was a term that wasn't working for the GOP anymore, it didn't scare people into voting for Republicans the way it ...
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I posted a video of legendary Republican message-maker Frank Luntz on here not too long ago, in which Luntz said bluntly that "inflation" was a term that wasn't working for the GOP anymore, it didn't scare people into voting for Republicans the way it used to, so Republicans needed to start working to replace it with another word that worked better for them. He suggested "affordability."
I guess CNN got the memo. Here's Dana Bash tonight in her interview of Kamala Harris, asserting that the nation is in a "crisis of affordability."
(To jump straight there, skip to around 2:25.)
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Jason Lefkowitzreplied to Jason Lefkowitz last edited by
Note that what I think makes the above an interesting illustration is precisely that I DON'T think Bash is taking her cues from Luntz directly here. It's more insidious than that.
Luntz tells his clients to say "affordability." They do, and soon their hangers-on are saying "affordability." Then the whole political class is saying "affordability." Then the reporters eventually pick it up from the air around them. And now Luntz has won, because we're all debating "affordability," which we can't do without using the word he wants us to use. The word that frames the debate the way he wants it framed.
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Jason Lefkowitzreplied to Jason Lefkowitz last edited by
I think in this particular case Harris handled the question pretty well, because she spoke to the underlying concern without ever using the word "affordability."
(Note also that when Bash pushed her to embrace the term "Bidenomics," she embraced the policies without ever using that term either. I think that was canny of her as well.)
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Jason Lefkowitzreplied to Jason Lefkowitz last edited by
If you missed that original thread on Frank Luntz and "affordability" from back on August 16, here's the link.
https://vmst.io/@jalefkowit/112969897676754962
~ fin ~
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@jalefkowit affordability < weird
It’s a burrowing meme parasite, but I don’t think it will stick because it has too many syllables. That’s also why it’s been a long time since the US elected a president with a last name more than two syllables long
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@flyingsaceur Oh definitely, "affordability" is, like, C-tier Luntz. It's no "death tax," for sure. It's him trying to scrape something together out of the dross he has to work with
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@jalefkowit inflation is a mouthful too. I mean, for the love of god, “milk and eggs tax” is right there. But as you pointed out before, you don’t become a great political consultant by winning elections
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Jason Lefkowitzreplied to AN/CRM-114 last edited by [email protected]
@flyingsaceur Inflation at least has the scary memories of the '70s attached to it, though the number of people who remember those gets smaller every day.
But "affordability"... yeesh. That's some soft cheese