Fox News Spin Doctor Frank Luntz Insults Wisconsin (And American) Workers

Republican pollster and “Word Doctor,” Frank Luntz, was interviewed today on Fox News’ Your World to discuss the effect of the Wisconsin protests on America’s perception of unions. What transpired was one of the most vigorous attempts at spin I’ve seen since at least the last time I saw Frank Luntz.

The main point Luntz struggled to make was that unions were hurting themselves by engaging in the protests in Wisconsin. He argued that as people around the country saw teachers, nurses, firefighters, and other public employees fighting for benefits that they (the viewers) didn’t have, they would be resentful. He said that viewers would not sympathize with a union member in Madison who was trying to keep from losing his pension when the viewer didn’t have one to begin with. Luntz told guest host Chris Cotter that Americans wouldn’t support the protester’s efforts to retain their contractually agreed upon salaries while other Americans were taking pay cuts or losing their jobs.

What a crock! And an insult to the intelligence of the American people.

First of all, the protesters in Wisconsin are not refusing to make compromises on material matters including salary and pension benefits. This is not an issue of union greed as it is being portrayed on Fox News. The protest is entirely focused against an effort by Governor Scott Walker to strip public employees of the collective bargaining rights they have had for decades. It is a brazen assault on unions with the intent of forever breaking their ability to advocated on behalf of their members.

Secondly, Luntz is stretching both truth and reason with his arguments. It seems to me that the only thing that Americans watching the conflict will resent is the fact that they don’t also enjoy the benefits that union membership has brought to public employees in Wisconsin. If they see Wisconsin teachers protecting their interests with regard to pay and pensions, the rest of the country is not going to say “Darn those Cheeseheads, they shouldn’t have pensions.” More likely the nation will think “Hey, we should have a union here so that we can have a say in our own welfare and be able to take on the powerful government and wealthy corporate institutions.”

If anything, the Wisconsin protests will increase demand for union representation at a time when workers are taking the brunt of the economic difficulties the nation is enduring. What is happening in Wisconsin is an advertisement for the benefits of union membership and Americans will recognize that. They will want to know why workers alone are being asked to sacrifice while corporations are earning record profits? If corporate taxes were made more fair, and the numerous loopholes closed, there would be plenty of funds available to keep employee benefit reductions to a minimum. And the more money in the pockets of average Americans, the more prosperous the businesses who employ them will be.

But don’t expect viewers of Fox News to hear this perspective. They will be inundated with false premises and conclusions that are manufactured by partisans like Luntz. It is a theme that has been in evidence all day on Fox News. In the past we have seen leaked memos from Fox executives directing their anchors and corespondents on how to frame the stories they cover. It will not surprise me when the memo is eventually leaked that told these so-called journalists to disparage the unions and present Gov. Walker as a hero. And it will likely contain language that is virtually identical to the spin that Luntz articulated in this interview.

[Addendum] Although Fox has been bashing the protesters all week, implying that they are un-American for even expressing themselves, the Tea Party faction is plotting to emerge tomorrow. They are being organized, in true AstroTurf form, by lobbyists from American Majority, a project of the uber-conservative, billionaire Koch brothers. And their affair will be headlined by the terminally choleric Andrew Breitbart, Joe “The Plumber” Wurtzelbacher, and pizza man Herman Cain.

It will be interesting to see them put on a show of support for government bureaucracy, suppression of workers rights, and the unencumbered rule of the powerful elite, over ordinary, hard-working citizens.

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13 thoughts on “Fox News Spin Doctor Frank Luntz Insults Wisconsin (And American) Workers

  1. I’m just wondering whether it wouldn’t be redundant to send those so-called journalists a memo dictating how to spin the story. Even new employees must know they’ve been hired to push the Republican line.

    • That’s true. They would not have been hired if they weren’t already rightist hacks. But they still need to know the specific approved language.

      • ah, yes. Not thinking for oneself means REALLY not thinking for oneself.

  2. I think Mark, the writer of this post, is missing some of the story. It’s not just Frank Lutz and FOXNoise spewing out this anti-union, anti-government worker trash. It’s the entire corporate media, including the likes of The NY Times and The Washington Post.

    In a front page story in Friday’s Post, the confrontation in Wisconsin is depicted in these terms:

    (1) Wisconsin has budget problems.
    (2) Poor Gov. Walker is just doing what’s necessary to keep the state from bankruptcy.
    (3) The state workers in Wisconsin have pay and benefits far beyond those of the private sector.
    (4) Unions have long fought against any tightening of a state’s belt to bring costs down.

    Left out of the story were these facts:

    (1) Two months ago the Wisconsin Republican legislature passed a tax-cut bill decreasing out-of-state corporate taxes by more than $3billion – almost equal to the state’s budget shortfall.

    (2) Wisconsin (and other) state workers had pay and benefits commiserate with comparable private sector jobs BEFORE THE PAY AND BENEFITS OF THE PRIVATE SECTOR JOBS HAD BEEN SLASHED, REDUCED OR ELIMINATED FOLLOWING THE CORPORATE MALFEASANCE OF 2006 THROUGH 2009 THAT COLLAPSED THE GLOBAL ECONOMY.

    (3) In a desperate attempt to co-opt media pictures of the police, state troopers and firemen’s unions joining other workers in street protests, Gov. Walker publicly announced last week that those three unions would be exempt from his cuts. It didn’t work as those groups were in the streets this week showing their solidarity with their fellow union members.

    In other words, the corporate sector destroys the economy, throws millions out of work, reduces the pay and benefits of millions more, eliminates their healthcare and retirement benefits, and then has their Republican puppets (no apology to Beck) shout about the high benefits government workers get. And most of the American media promotes the story from the corporate perspective.
    All of this could be interpreted as a well-coordinated, elite-inspired, propaganda program . . . oops! I think I just entered Beckland!

    Never make the mistake that this garbage is peddled only by the seemingly mindless ones at FOXNoise – the outright attack on the middle and working classes is an across-the-board, all out corporate media blitz. Granted, the Post and Times and CNN are sometimes bit more subtle than FOXNoise, but the message is the same nonetheless.

    Most Americans may not realize it – how could they, the corporate media never gives a comprehensive picture, a contextualized presentation, of anything – but we, the 98% of the American working population that aren’t filthy and obscenely rich, have been under a direct assault for the last 30 years.

    The enemy is the free market/libertarian philosophy that has held sway and driven the political process since the Reagan era. The movement, usually characterized as “globalization,” is a process whereby mosts populations around the world will be reduced to a third world status with few rights and lowered living standards. The destruction of unions is instrumental to reducing workers ability to defend themselves against these corporate onslaughts.

    Don’t for a moment think this is some kind of conspiracy theory, it’s not. This process takes place on the front page of most corporate/mainstream newspapers every day. It’s broadcasts to us every evening on the “news.” From O’Reilly and Beck and Hannity, to Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper and Christiane Amapour, to JIm Leherer, Charlie Rose and Maura Lieison, the message is always the same: worship the rich and powerful; believe in the corporate propaganda; blame your fellow citizens below you on the economic scale.

    We are well into the third-worlding of America and the world. And the Democrats, unfortunately for us, are part of this corporate attack.

    Last week the Egyptian people gave us a shining example of what courage and resolve looks like. The workers on-strike in Wisconsin are emulating that courage this week. Let’s hope that courage and resolve grows and spreads across this country, and the rest of the world as well.

    • Corporate taxes were slashed so business would come back. If there are no businesses there are no workers. And there are no taxpayers to pay the unions who do get more money and benefits than the taxpayers who pay them. And your solution is more unions? Where exactly is the money going to come from? Oh I know the “evil rich” who already pay most of the taxes and a whole lot more percentage of what they EARN. Or corporations who will take their businesses to better states for business over overseas. Money doesn’t come from thin air or grow on trees. It is provided by companies who give jobs to workers. Entrepreneurs who don’t whine about no opportunities but create their own opportunities and if they are successful have to give half of that money in taxes. Small businesses who are getting totally shafted by excess regulation. And if they had to be unionized most would have to fold. Giving loads of money to the democratic party by making teachers, firefighters and police have to join unions whether they believe that way or not is what if unfair. “Collective bargaining” just means people are required to pay to belong to a union whether or not they want to be in one. And unions are afraid of losing money so they can no longer guy politicians.

      • Obviously you don’t know what collective bargaining means. And your view of the relationship between workers and corporations is heavily tilted in favor of the corporations. That’s is exactly why unions are needed. Before unions the companies abused workers. Do you want to go back to 80 hour work weeks and children in factories?

  3. I think this is a start to workers movement. At least I hope so. Wheter we belong or don’t belong in a union it is in the best interests of workers to unite. It is imperative, no question about it. What effects union workers eventually effects the non-union workers. The working poor need to have their eyes open.

    • Right. Tea Partiers have no idea had bad things would be for them were it not for the the efforts of unions.

  4. Why do we need unions to protect workers from the government? Unions were established to protect employees from the greedy employers who were more interested in profits than providing safe working conditions for their employees (i.e. mine owners/employees). If we need unions to protect government employees from the government, we need a new government.

    • The purpose of unions is to give workers parity with ANY employer. Without them each employee is a single, powerless entity with no bargaining leverage.

      The employer, whether private of public, is already organized and has representatives, lawyers, and financial resources. That’s the disparity that unions exist to counter.

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