frank luntz

Mon, 2010-04-05 09:08Jim Hoggan
Jim Hoggan's picture

The Smoking Guns and Blue Dress Moments of Climategate

In the days and weeks following the theft of climate scientists' emails from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit in November, climate change skeptics and deniers flooded the blogosphere and mainstream press with reactions suggesting that the 'scandal' had proven global warming was a myth. 

In many instances, the reactions sounded like a choreographed choir singing from the same sheet of talking points, or at least the same sheet of of well-worn memes and cliches, like 'smoking gun' and 'final nail in the coffin.'

The Desmog team took a look at several unique phrases that flew around the denier echo chamber in the aftermath of the CRU email hack, and how those memes were often adopted by the mainstream media as a result.  Here is a sampling of what we identified:

Read more: The Smoking Guns and Blue Dress Moments of Climategate
Fri, 2009-11-06 04:43Kevin Grandia
Kevin Grandia's picture

What Would Frank Luntz Do with the Copenhagen Climate Treaty?

When I'm trying to unravel public relations spin, I frequently find myself asking WWFLD (What Would Frank Luntz Do)?

As you'll recall Frank Luntz is a chief Republican spin-doctor famous for his memo on climate change.

We have seen a lot of spindoctoring at the Barcelona climate talks underway this week in the run-up to the Copenhagen climate treaty summit to be held in mid-December.

As I've pointed out in previous posts, the most egregious spin has been the attempts by politicians to re-frame a successful outcome in Copenhagen as being a "politically binding" deal as opposed to a "legally binding" one.

"Politically binding" is great Luntz-speak. The term looks impressive, but is completely meaningless.

So WWFLD?My guess is that his communications memo would look something like this:


MEMO: Copenhagen Agreement “legally binding” language recommendation

Situational Analysis:

There is heavy pressure on the United States and other countries like the EU, Denmark, Canada and Australia to deliver a “legally binding” agreement at the upcoming UNFCCC summit in Copenhagen, Denmark scheduled for mid-December.

Read more: What Would Frank Luntz Do with the Copenhagen Climate Treaty?
Wed, 2009-10-28 10:32Richard Littlemore
Richard Littlemore's picture

Frank Luntz: Can you trust this man?

Hint: No

It would be easier to dislike, distrust and dismiss Republican pollster Frank Luntz if not for the evident quality of his work. But the most recent leaked example of that work shows again both his capacity for intellectual excellence and his willingness to rank tactical advantage above forthrightness.

Luntz achieved fame in the environmental community when someone leaked a 2002 report that he prepared for the Republican party. Although he has since backed away from the odious positions in that document, he was not shy at the time about instructing his political masters on how most effectively to continue denying the truth of climate change.

In the current example, Luntz is updating his "Global Language Dictionary" for the Isreal Project. There is nothing climate related in the content, but there are many lessons for any student of linguistic manipulation.

Read more: Frank Luntz: Can you trust this man?
Tue, 2007-04-17 22:46Kevin Grandia
Kevin Grandia's picture

The Frank Luntz Mea Culpa

"My own beliefs have changed from when I was tasked with that project," and "today I would not have that paragraph in a document about the environment."

And with those words (and a couple more) Frank Luntz, considered by many (including DSBlog) to be one of the godfather's of the PR spin machine attacking the science of climate change, offers up his most frank admission of error to date. Here's the clip:

 

Read more: The Frank Luntz Mea Culpa
Subscribe to frank luntz