Why, Exactly, Is The CBC Talking To Frank Luntz?

TurnAllTheDials

ToElevenVille

Well, you knew this was coming:

Republican politicians are increasingly speaking out this week in effort to persuade people who are skeptical about COVID-19 vaccines to take the shots as a new, more contagious variant sends caseloads soaring.

At recent news conferences and statements, some prominent Republicans have been imploring constituents to lay lingering doubts aside.

In Washington, the so-called Doctors Caucus gathered at the Capitol for an event to combat vaccine hesitancy. And in Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis this week pointed to data showing the vast majority of hospitalized COVID-19 patients hadn't received shots.

"These vaccines are saving lives," said DeSantis. His statement was a contrast to messaging from his campaign team — he's considered a 2024 presidential candidate — which is selling campaign merchandise mocking masks and medical experts, including the nation's top infectious-disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci....

But what is driving all this 'forget what I said yesterday' business now?

Well, according to the 'expert' the CBC, via the AP, spoke to it is being driven, at least in part, out of concerns about a public opinion backlash:

"I think they've finally realized that if their people aren't vaccinated, they're going to get sick, and if their people aren't vaccinated, they're going to get blamed for COVID outbreaks in the future," said Republican pollster Frank Luntz, who has been working with President Joe Biden's administration and public health experts to craft messaging to bring the vaccine hesitant off the fence.

In his focus groups, Luntz said many skeptics have struggled to assess the veracity of the things they read and hear...

The thing is, Mr. Luntz is a longtime paid crafter of messaging, most often Republican messaging, that has been used to rile up the base regardless the actual veracity of said 'messaging' and/or the validity of said 'crafting'.

The following is from a recent piece in Salon by Zacchary Petrizzo:

...Chris Ingram, a former senior vice president at the Luntz Research Company who worked at the company from 1997 through the early 2000s, told Salon that Luntz's claim to deliver objective data is a "total shtick and a scam."

Ingram described observing Luntz trying to manipulate focus groups that used "dial testing," in which participants spin a small handheld device, yielding real-time results in response to questions asked by the presenter. "Frank, when he would be hired by clients, whether they would be corporate or political, would sit in that room yelling, 'Keep turning the dials! Keep turning the dials!'" Ingram told Salon in a phone interview. Luntz's primary concern, Ingram said, was results that would yield more "compelling" data to be "present[ed] to the client."...

And then there's this:

...An exclusive Salon report earlier this week detailed that when Luntz presented himself as an impartial pollster running focus groups for VICE News and HBO in 2018, he was actually being paid by Ted Cruz's Senate campaign. In a statement to Salon, VICE News said it was "unaware of this affiliation, and Luntz did not disclose this information at the time of these productions."...

****

So.

Here's a suggestion for the CBC, who, all by themselves, put Mr. Luntz on our TeeVee screens yesterday...

Make like the Cleveland Plain Dealer and get people like Mr. Luntz, people who, based on their track record, deliberately obfuscate, misrepresent public opinion and peddle codswallop, out of your rolledexes permanently.

Because until you do that you are part of the problem when it comes to the spreading misinformation cloaked with a veneer of respectablity.

OK?



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