A "con," a "scam," a " ," a boo-boo, a bunko, a flim flam. All these are synonyms for what street crime experts call the " ." I will add one more synonym to the list: The Luntz.
The list is long , but the lure of the Luntz is always the same: easy money. Relieve the mark of his cash. And it works just about every time.
This weekend, Bill Maher was the mark and HBO's was the venue for a scam being run coast-to-coast by the grand master grifter of American Politics: Flim Flam Frank, who runs this scam under the name "Frank Luntz."
The name of the Luntz? Let's call it the "Advice to Democrats Scam" or even better: "The Angry Dem Flim Flam" Posing as a expert on winning elections, give advice to Democrats about winning elections by not being "angry.
" Insulting by nature, the advice leads to contentious arguments the end goal of which is to create a ruckus that drives book sales.
Other grifters who work the Angry Dem Flim Flam on TV include Bunko Coulter (a.k.
a. "Ann Coulter"), Boo-Boo Bill (a.k.
a. "Bill O'Reilly") and a shadowy figure known on the street simply as
"Scamsouzah" (a.k.
a. "Dinesh D'Souzah"). They all work the same Luntz, but nobody does it better than Flim Flam Frank.
Like any good Luntz, the key is to realize that the mark cons himself. Once a good Luntz is up and running, the only way to get out of it is to stop playing. You can't beet a flim flam artist at their own game.
If you are in their game, you are losing.
Ultimately, then, the only way to prevent more and more people from becoming the next victims of the Angry Dem Flim Flam is to spread the word on how it works. Warn your children.
Tell your friends. If you see this scam or someone pushing it, do no't bite. Do not play along.
Keep your hands and your money in your pockets. Stop talking, keep walking.
Ultimately, anyone can spot the Angry Dem Flim Flam if they just take a minute to think about these basic tricks and how they work.
Just like a sleight-of-hand magician does not really make that lit cigarette disappear into the palm of his hand, none of these statements used in the Angry Dem Flim Flam are actually what they appear to be. They are key acts of misdirection designed to lure the mark away from the end goal: money.
"Democrats Are Angry": It may be hard to see at first, but when Luntz says this he is not actually giving advice to Democrats.
He is lighting a fire. It is the heart of the scam. Remember the vacuum cleaner salesman who starts his presentation by throwing a bag of dirt on his customer's clean white carpet--all so he can show how well his vacuum removes dirt?
"Democrats are angry," is the bag of dirt in the Angry Dem Flim Flam. Say that line to any Democrat and the end result is always the same: they get angry. Works like a charm.
"Democrats are angry," always elicits the same reply, "We are not!!"
Remember: The Angry Dem Flim Flam cannot begin unless somebody takes the bait and debates the line "Democrats are Angry.
" That is the door you have to walk through. Walk away and there can be no game.
"I Listen To People": But let's assume for a second that we fell into the trap: we took the bait.
We heard "Democrats are angry," and now we are in an argument. The next sleight-of-hand in the Angry Dem Flim Flam is for the Luntz to establish authority, to make the con artist look like an expert whose advice everyone should buy. The Angry Dem Flim Flam is not about "listening.
" It's about buying: cash for books. The key is for the flim flam artist to say something along these lines, "I know what I'm talking about because I listen to people and you don't." The trick here is to see that this is just a tactical lie.
By "listening," the Luntz artist means the he paid people to sit in a room and then elicited their reactions to political language using deceptive marketing techniques. The Luntz does not listen. The Luntz pays cash for conversation that he uses to find trigger words that he can use to run the grift.
The Luntz listens not to understand, but to learn how to deceive.
Remember: The Angry Dem Flim Flam uses the "I Listen to People" gimmick to create authority. When we hear this con, we cannot respond.
Just keep walking.
"I Only Take Money From People I Believe In": There comes a time in every grift--in every Luntz--when the con man tells the mark, "I do not want your money." In fact, that is all he wants: your money.
But the con is built on that tension between the true goal of the con and the script. A street con will say, "Do not give me any money. I don't want it.
Take this for free and if you want to pay for it, pay me what you think it's worth." In the Angry Dem Flim Flam, this line typically comes near the end of the con: after an angry spat has been sparked, after the authority of "I listen to people" has been set. At this point, the Luntz then says, "I am not saying this to make money.
..I only work for people and causes I believe in.
" Slippery, but easy to spot. The truth is that the Luntz believes only in the Luntz--takes money from anyone. Money, money, money.
Every scam, every flim flam, every Luntz is about the cash, the dough, the cheddar. You have it. He wants it.
Remember: The Angry Dem Flim Flam is about one thing and one thing only: money. So when the Luntz says, "I only take money from people I believe in," do not listen. Walk away.
Follow the Lady: Now, the heart pumping in every Luntz is misdirection: we are asked to look here so we do not notice the scam going on over there. Three-Card-Monte is the classic. "Watch the lady!
" shouts the Luntz. The end result is that we do not think that everyone standing on the street is in on the game, that we cannot win even if we appear to be winning. That is the game.
In the "Angry Dem Flim Flam," the conversation about politics is "the Lady" we are supposed to watch. In fact, the game is about book sales. We are not supposed to think about why the Luntz is on the talk show or why the Luntz is talking about politics in the first place, which is: to make money.
Lots and lots and lots of money. We are told the flim flam is about truth, honesty, understanding, issues, clarity--and that is what we want to believe. Because we really believe in a politics that is about truth, honesty, understanding, issues, clarity.
We even work to make it so. But the Luntz is not concerned with any of that. The real subject?
Book sales. Want to know what number really concerns the Luntz, head over to Amazon.com and check out the sales rank following the Maher scandal.
Remember: The Angry Dem Flim Flam is not about what the Luntz says it is about. It is about selling not communication.
The tricky truth about flim flam artists is that they inhabit a world we firmly believe they should be free to roam.
We believe that laws should protect citizens from scams, but ultimately we also believe that citizens must educate themselves so as not to be suckers. So flim flam scam artists cannot just be banned by law. We have to make the choice to walk away from them.
So that is what we should do.
We hear the Luntz, we keep walking.
Money stays in our pockets.
But even if we walk away, we have to stay on guard. The Luntz is good at what he does and the next con, the next scam, the next boo-boo, the next flim flam--is always just around the corner.
I wonder what would happen if someone actually led with this: "I am an Angry Democrat - in fact, if you call yourself an American and you're not yet angry, you're not paying attention!
"
We (Dems and Americans - and the distinctions grow smaller every day) need to be angry, need to be publicly fed up with the corruption, cronyism, and incompetence of the Republican claque that has held sway through fair means and, more often, foul, for far too long.
Well-meaning intellectualism and litanies of fact tend to bore people. Get their emotions involved first, then give them the facts, and you create a much stronger call to action.
And strong action is what we need right now.
I am an Angry Democrat. And an Angry American.
I want my country back. And I don't care who doesn't like that I said it. Try and get in my way.
You won't like what happens. By: criminallysane on May 14, 2007 at 12:30pm
Flag: [ ] I see, but you being a Liberal..
.I guess we should just believe every word you say. Because of course, you don't make money off of politics.
...
do you? By: jimpryor99 on May 14, 2007 at 12:30pm
Flag: [ ] "Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship.
Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger.
"
By: MFoxCambridge on May 14, 2007 at 12:50pm
Flag: [ ] By: criminallysane on May 14, 2007 at 12:30pm
Exactly. How about "I'm mad as hell and I'm not not gonna take it anymore!" As in: stop ruining our country!
By: lisakaz on May 14, 2007 at 12:52pm
Flag: [ ] Yeah ...
that's the ticket. Get angry, because that is sooooooooooooooooooooooo much better than be scared. How about stop the childishness and get serious about our future?
Anger is an emotion thatmerely allows the humiliation of losing and suffering the results to be thrown back. The abused becomes the abuser. Don't get angry .
.. get worried when someone tries to get you angry.
...
.. or scared.
Fear and loathing leave us all in the same mess. Mature behaviour will go a long way in these times of arrogant "Because I said so" followed by tantrum foot stomping when things don't go their way, that we get from the current administration. By: stanley on May 14, 2007 at 01:03pm
Flag: [ ] Thank You!
For years I've wondered what in the hell prompts ANYBODY to think this blowhard has ANY political forecasting skills. I can remember his ludicrous town hall meetings of "representative" voters
in the 2004 political campaigning. He would alternately restate, manipulate, and equivocate the participants' responses to substantiate whatever snakeoil point he was selling at the time.
By: ProgressivePartisan on May 14, 2007 at 01:10pm
Flag: [ ] When are liberals going to learn that conservatives don't want to live in the country that they envision anymore than they want to live in a country run by conservatives? Seems to me if conservatives hadn't voted for Bush, and liberals hadn't voted for Clinton, we wouldn't be living in such a polarized nation.
Perhaps if both sides were to shed their armor and talk, things might get done.
But as long as both sides hate each other, being in the middle isn't safe. By: DLB on May 14, 2007 at 01:12pm
Flag: [ ] Interesting reading. Not the best you might have done with the material, but good.
There are =lots= of similarly-constructed flim-flams at work in politics these days. It's what Karl Rove is best at; in fact, he's a genius at political misdirection and he has taught his minions well.
On almost every front, we see people being lured into expressing what THEY believe passionately .
. it could be "we need to stop this war in Iraq," it could be "global warming is a real and very bad thing," or it could be almost any religious topic or so-called "moral issue" at all.
The politician or bureaucrat sets-up the game by agreeing with the mark.
Instantly, the mark accepts these words, because they are HIS words, and jumps to the erroneous conclusion, "you are 'one of us!'"
The flim-flam now continues by casting whatever the politician has recently done, only in terms of what the mark believes in, and omitting all the rest. For example, the Democratic Party sold its recent budget bill (unsuccessfully) as an "anti-war" bill.
On a more general level, the entire Congress has been selling itself as "(1) we good Democrats are fighting the bad Republicans .. and (2) we are too weak to do so.
" Bunkum!
Truth is much harder to find, much harder to sell. But you can find it, right here in the greatest worldwide research library ever invented, open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Yessir, the world of "media" is right in the middle of a profound change. And, so is "politics." By: sundialsvc4 on May 14, 2007 at 01:17pm
Flag: [ ] as the bumper sticker 'appropriately' states, "If you're not angry, you're not paying attention" By: cheerleaderBush on May 14, 2007 at 01:23pm
Flag: [ ] excellent.
..totally true and presented in a fun way.
incidentally, you missed one of his beauts. He established special authority for Democrats with "I learned what I know from watching Bill Clinton." By: traveler501 on May 14, 2007 at 01:45pm
Flag: [ ] Lunktz was on a panel which showed on C-SPAN Books over the weekend.
He's clever but a lady in the audience caught him being clever and took him to task. Lunktz pulled the neocon trip of changing the subject to Bill Clinton's penis, the lady caught on immediately and pointed it out to the audience what he was up to. Lunktz, of course, tried to weasel out of admitting this trick which he created for use by the Republican Party whenever they are challenged use the BLAME CLINTON'S PENIS mantra to deflect the topic being discussed.
Keep the dialog emotional no facts allowed, control the topic and keep it meaningless. By: predator3x2 on May 14, 2007 at 01:50pm
Flag: [ ] Very amusing post, Feldman, but you left out another of Luntz's tricks, the one that goes, "We need to find common ground. This is becoming a bipolar country.
.."
I saw him trying to run this hustle on C-Span's coverage of the LA Times book fair yesterday.
The huge, mostly liberal audience for the panel discussion on "spin" was stunned into slack-jawed silence when they heard the master divider of all time trying to work this scam--the reaction shot looked like the audience in "The Producers" when the chorus launches into "Springtime for Hitler." Finally, one of the other panelists said, "Funny how Republicans want to find common ground whenever they lose an election," and the audience dissolved into laughter. For perhaps the first time in his life,Luntz had no comeback.
Maybe the best way to silence a con man is to laugh out loud at his tired old bullshit. By: 3fingerbrown on May 14, 2007 at 01:57pm
Flag: [ ] I first heard this "meme" in 2004 when I was good-naturedly heckling some College Republicans (half my age) who were protesting an appearance by John Kerry.
I had meant to attend the Kerry speech, but I absolutely refuse to submit to being searched before being allowed to listen to a candidate asking for my vote.
So there were these young, able-bodied, military-age vociferous College Republicans. I twitted them a little bit, and in seconds they were shrieking: "You're so angry!"
One girl was so emotionally wrought up that she literally was rolling on the ground, screeching incoherent vituperation, and reiterating her assertion that I (and 2 other spectators) were "so angry.
"
She was beyond angry; she was berserk.
I second the emotion of criminallysane. I am angry, as ANY American ought to be.
But the advantage of age is realizing that if anger is to be useful, it must be harnessed, it must be controlled, not controlling. And I don't hate Bush/Cheney/Rove---I DESPISE them. They are too vile to deserve good honest hate---only contempt.
And for the naif who thinks Clinton was a "liberal"---what a fine example of the debasement of political discourse. "Clinton was a liberal" is another "Luntz"-style political con game. CARTER was a liberal--a moderate liberal.
Clinton was much less. By: Listen2me on May 14, 2007 at 02:03pm
Flag: [ ] "If you're not angry, you're not paying attention ..
.?"
On the other hand, it could just mean that "okay, you're a 'mark.
'"
If I can get you ANGRY, it only means that you are momentarily awake. It also means, if you are not careful, that I can now manipulate you and lead you anywhere I want.
You're angry .
. good for you. Billy Joel once wrote a song about "the angry young man.
" Being angry is not enough.
It takes shrewdness and strategy to force real, lasting political change. It takes information.
Facts. It takes staring through layer upon layer of artfully-arranged flimflam and making sure that the politicians and Career Washingtonians in question fully understand that you see clearly. It takes shoving their faces in that fact, over and over again, until they realize that you are not a statistical outlier.
By: sundialsvc4 on May 14, 2007 at 02:17pm
Flag: [ ] Luntz has been teaching elected officials how to lie more efficiently. I think anyone can see how bad that has been for everyone.
Tune these guys out.
Put new people in that are not listening to people like Luntz. By: project on May 14, 2007 at 02:25pm
Flag: [ ] "Thank You! For years I've wondered what in the hell prompts ANYBODY to think this blowhard has ANY political forecasting skills.
" By: ProgressivePartisan on May 14
I would agree he has no forecasting skills, but listen to what he says about how Repugs frame the issues with deceptive language. It's instructive. They've been winning elections with that scam for years and instead of decrying it, we should just start doing it.
Instead of reproaching the Chimp for saying "Mision Accomplished," progressives should say, "Yeah, you're 100% correct. We won already. So that's why we should get out of Iraq.
We won the "war," so what we're doing now isn't a war and that's why we can go home today." That sounds positive, not angry.
That's Luntzian.
And it's what we never do but maybe we should.
Interesting to see Luntz on a panel broadcast on C-SPAN this weekend (LA Book Fair) and he was saying nice things about Obama and trashing Hillary. Take note.
By: jukesgrrl on May 14, 2007 at 02:33pm
Flag: [ ] The "genius" of Lutz must be that with enough oil and weapons money- you can pay to repeat lies throughout the mass media enough so that a number of people who are either stupid or not paying attention will believe it.
you cons should be so proud. By: noamjunior on May 14, 2007 at 02:34pm
Flag: [ ] Luntz's story just BEGS a Penn and Teller episode of BULLSH*T!
By: underbear1 on May 14, 2007 at 02:40pm
Flag: [ ] None of this flim-flam would work without the cooperation of the MSM. By: AnotherMcIntosh on May 14, 2007 at 02:54pm
Flag: [ ] sundialsvc4 sends a conlicting message. Yes, uncontrolled anger puts one in the position of the bull in the bullfight---as Tom Lehrer said, "Half a ton of angry pot roast.
"
"It takes shoving their faces in that fact, over and over again. . .
"
More than a little subliminal hostility betrayed in that comment, yes? It's not simply a yes/no choice of biting or not biting on the bait. Let's give our anger its due and aim for the matador, not the capte.
By: Listen2me on May 14, 2007 at 03:03pm
Flag: [ ] "Dems are angry" = Dems are all the same.
Is there any thinking outside of "group think" in the Republican party?
If this administration hasn't done something to piss you off, you are definitely a Republican, no matter what you call yourself.
But "angry" goes well outside of "the Dems." They haven't cornered the market on reasons to be angry with this administration..
. Ask any "Fiscal conservative." They usually tend to link spending to corruption.
.. Bush dumped a bit of fuel on their fire, too.
By: BadChristian on May 14, 2007 at 03:06pm
Flag: [ ] Put another way: Don't trust advice from your opponents because they are on the other side.
This post is the least information expressed in the most words I've read on HuffPo to date. By: squirrel on May 14, 2007 at 03:08pm
Flag: [ ] Then the question becomes how do you respond to Luntz without becoming a "mark"?
Simply leaving the playing field only allows Luntz to continue playing the game. By: JohnnieB on May 14, 2007 at 03:11pm
Flag: [ ] Great post! I always enjoy when people perhaps on the other side of the country, in a different walk of life, come to similar conclusions on the punditry.
Luntz, in my opinion is an opportunist, he jumped on to the Perot campaign, then when advantageous, reverted to the Republican bosom, now anointed expert in politics. Soon if your not watching closely he'll allie himself with Democrats..
..most likely DLC
He's annoying as are many of them, but if I see he's a guest, I don't stay tuned.
..why get aggravated?
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