Tonight on “All Things Considered” there’s a short interview with GOP messaging guru Frank Luntz and George Lakoff, a Democratic consultant best know for his book Don’t Think of an Elephant.
Luntz of course thinks cut-and-run is quite snappy and effective. Lakoff says Dems should say we accomplished the mission of defeating Iraq in May 2003 but are bogged down in an occupation.
But then Luntz says something to the effect of “George keeps hoping if you say occupation over and over again, people will believe it.” The ATC host, to her credit, says, to the effect, “Isn’t that what the Republicans do all the time with cut-and-run?” Luntz essentially says, “Yes but that’s what the Dem want.” He’s clueless to the hypocrisy.
The interview should be up by 7:30. Here’s the link to the story. It should get you to the audio.
In sum, I’m not sure if Lakoff has the right idea, but it’s worth a shot.