Frank Luntz Rolls Out His New Talking Point for Republicans: 'Checkbook Tax'
Since his recent talking point conflating resolution authority with a "bailout" didn't seem to work out so well, Frank Luntz has a new talking point for Republicans which Sean Hannity happily allows him to pass along; Chris Dodd's financial services bill is going to result in a "checkbook tax".
Apparently Arriana Huffington didn't mind allowing him a format to peddle this garbage as well. From his post at the HuffPo Why the Dodd Financial Services Bill Is Bad... For Democrats:
But here's where it gets really interesting. The Democrats supporting the current legislation have assured an anxious electorate that whatever funds are used to create whatever regulatory scheme created will come from the banks, not the taxpayers. Let me emphasize that so that even casual readers will catch it: the Democrats promise that you won't pay for their legislation, banks will.
Really?
Since when have corporations ever paid taxes, fees or penalties? Employees end up paying in the form of lower salaries and benefits. Customers end up paying in the form of higher costs.
And in this case, every account holder will be forced to pay higher fees on their checking account and savings account. That's you, my friendly reader. Can you say "checkbook tax"? I can, and I think lots of candidates will be saying it come November. Is that what you really want to do to your constituents, Senator Lincoln? Is that what you really want to explain on the campaign trail, Senator Bennett?
From the looks of the comments section over there, Luntz's latest script for the Republicans isn't going over so well. We'll see how many of them start repeating it like mindless drones in the next week or so.
Why do the republicans need this guy? Aren't they smart enough to come up with their own lies or is that just one more thing they can't do right?
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Perhaps he's contributing his lying skills voluntarily, for mutual gain.
up with soundbites anymore than IDEAS/SOlutions for reform! But this one will fall flat as well..It is a tongue twisted...that needs definition--which repubs do not know how to do! Luntz the lie author...
with fresh new lies
me-oww!
One of the things that drives me crazy about posts is the one-line bumper sticker nastiness.
Those of us who want the country to succeed would do well to listen to Luntz. Here's two good reasons: 1. Even he gets stuff right. In this instance, corporations pay no taxes, fines, penalties, and the like. They simply pass on costs. 2. Talking points are not up for debate among right-wingers. Talking points are their de facto identification cards. There is no in-depth communication for these folks, a simple short stream of invective identifies the collective. Consider Palin's "lamestream media", "drill, baby, drill" and other such incredibly inane comments.
These people are incapable of grasping anything beyond dogma, and it is to our benefit. There is absolutely no point in attempting to engage them. They can, should, and must be ignored. They'll post a vacuous comment awaiting some sort of recognition. Do not give it to them.
Listen to Luntz. He's most often wrong, but you know where the reactionaries are going to go.
Very funny. A new bumper sticker: "Trust Luntz. Sometimes he's right."
**NEW NOMENCATURE**
frank luntz will now be known as
the **TURD SURFER**
Banks pay FDIC insurance. That cost is passed on to the consumer. Don't see too many people complaining about their deposit insurance.
Look, either you're going to break up the big banks or you are going to create a fund to cushion their collapse. The fantasy of bankruptcy being enough is nice, except Lehman totally put a lie to it.
And someone is going to have to fund that fund. And it's either going to be us or it's going to be the banks.
And no, this isn't a "checkbook tax" because it will be the BANKS deciding to pass those costs on to the consumer.
And if any consumer doesn't like paying those costs, they can move their money to a bank that's too small to need to pay into the fund.
Or we can pass a law that says next time, no matter HOW bad it is, no matter HOW many people end up unemployed, no matter HOW much credit dries up, we will never, ever, ever, by constitutional amendment, ever infuse any financial institution with government money ever again.
What do you think, Republicans? Gooooood idea?
You're welcome.
Excellent idea. Just wish there were some near me. There are smaller banks though.
NOBODY 2012
Oh my, Luntz is showing his age. Younger folks don't have "checkbooks" they have an account but use plastic debit/credit cards.
His language is that of the passing generation and his wordsmithing will fade away. He sounds old and outdated to me. There is a expiration date on his crud.
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
someone should put s tax on that horrible piece of Astroturf that he wears.
and threatened to yank it off his head the next time I saw him in public. He stopped wearing it and not only improved the way he looks, but improved the view for anyone who had to look at him. He's still a jerk, though.
If you think about it, Luntz is probably targeting seniors and older folks, the groups who turn out in the largest numbers to vote.
too.
You are right and it's more than semantics or age-showing. It's tone-deafness. It's why this latest talking point is falling flat - it makes no sense. And because it sounds awkward, people who hear it actually take a second to see if the argument behind it makes any sense. And, as all his talking points do, Luntz's latest has nothing behind it.
I haven't written a check in years. I do all of my banking online, or use an ATM card.
Frank Luntz is showing his age. This sorta reminds me of when George HW Bush marveled about barcodes at the supermarket checkout. Another GOP technology FAIL. Poor dears are still stuck in the 1950s, aren't they?
Eggggzactly!
And it is so perfect they don't even notice.
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
I write two cheques a month, one to the VA Hospital for my meds, and the other to my Home Owners Association fee.
The rest either hit my account automatically, except for my credit card which I pay online...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
The only checks I write on a regular basis are to my landlord and my son's preschool. Everything else is electronic at this point.
is going away. His BS not only disregards the fact most don't use checks anymore but they have been talking about getting rid of that provision in the bill for the last week.
.....when he says "lots of candidates will be saying it come November". Whatever bile comes out of his lips will be repeated ad naseum by candidates and Hannity and Lameballs and.....
all it takes is all of us
There's no problem so large or crisis so immediate that they can't work harder at clever soundbites than actual solutions.
"Buy the ticket, take the ride."
Hunter S. Thompson
Off topic but again goes to the point of the GOP being outdated and not knowing it. . .
Is Glenn Beck’s shtick just a ‘Kids in the Hall’ rip-off?
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
an idiot in the asylum. And it's no rip-off.
Makes him a genuine, bona fide American, you know.
What a sack of shit.
BID
all/most of us will be experiencing higher taxation. i realize many want the services but don't want to pay for them........... well that's not going to work anymore. this is just more creation of talking points/negative linguistics by luntz. your average joe republican may not know a thing about the financial crisis/reform but will be able to repeat...."checkbook tax".......politics for simpletons..pathetic.
this is an attempt to put negative on obama's achievements. a double dose of pathetic.
Frank Luntz is as trustworthy as Lee Atwater, Karl Rove or Dick Morris. He can be depended on to formulate a lie to support any position. Now on the Huffington Post he's giving advice to Democrats. Perhaps David Duke has some helpful ideas for the NAACP.
Well, Ariana Huffington used to be a republican. Played Al Franken's foil on Strange Bedfellows.
Maybe she's come full circle.
I'm sick and tired of people who are paid to come up with catchy phrases or slogans that are used in place of facts and reasonable debate.
Touche'
Amen, brotha...
"I could give a flying crap about the political process.... We're an entertainment company."
- Glenn Beck - Forbes interview; April 26, 2010
I'll buy that for a dollar!
Before enlightenment - chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment - chop wood, carry water.
Jive turkey...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daoV-LsINiA
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
what I'm talking about! No ideas, facts or solutions. Just soundbites to stir the pot and get people angry.
Frank Luntz and Fox News hate America.
NOBODY 2012
and take it out on us. So bow your heads and learn to love your corporate betters!"
Winning message, Frank! I love it!
Although if you could square that with the banks' screaming that reform will cost them billions of dollars, I'd appreciate it.
cost them? They once tried to solicit business from working people, now such people are seen as money in the banker's pockets. Credit unions are a whole different ball game. Banks like to make people believe that they are necessary, especially the big ones, but they're not. Think about it.
Luntz BS posing as verified data = "factiness". The big banks have raised fees to their breaking point. But I don't doubt they wouldn't have the gall to raise them further. Just switch to local banks, S & L's, or credit unions that are customer oriented. Bank of America has a near miss with it's marketing slogan, "Bank of Opportunity". More factually, it should read "Bank of Opportunists."
they can't have it both ways; we KNOW most corporations pay almost no US tax on their income, yet the Repubs trot out the thing about Govt bein so mean to make big companies pay taxes, and they'll just take their company elsewhere...so which IS it? Are taxes a big burden on corporations, or do they pay them at all, passing along any 'tax' to their customers....(the Right has me SO confused!)
No matter what the topic.
Every increase in expenses for corporations is passed on to consumers.
Is L'duntz' solution to eliminate all corporate taxes and put a freeze on all increases in costs to corporations from their suppliers or we'll pay a "checkbook tax" for it?
Then how shall we make up for the colossal shortfall in revenue that will inevitably follow, raise ACTUAL taxes on everyone else?
That's what Reagan did when faced with a similar challenge.
Who else would want to be?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Well, not exactly. Companies can't raise their prices without limit -- they tend to set them to the point that they believe maximizes their profits*. Raising their costs tends to push the profit maximizing price up, but generally by less than the cost increase.
*NB: they are frequently shown to be wrong about this.
****z. it's time he was told to stop sucking the oxygen out of the debate.
I really hate this doughy faced, useless, turd.
Lying is the only field in which Republicans show any imagination.
Begone Frank Luntz...begone...back to the nether regions of Karl Rove's rectum from whence you came.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
Yech,I get Ill every time I see his mug.
The banks ALREADY sneak in lame, dishonest, and unnecessary charges on checking accounts in the name of greed or CYA. If Luntz and his minions really cared about protecting bank customers from checking account fees they would have done it already.
That cannot be said often enough, as long as he is still given airtime to spread his LIES.
Doesn't this douchebag know nobody uses checkbooks anymore? Why not turn out a "buggywhip tax" talking point while he's at it?
"The Good and Great Must Ever Shun, That Reckless and Abandoned One
Who Stoops to Perpetrate a Pun," Lewis Carroll, 'The Three Voices.'
The reason Frank Luntz's high priced LIES are worth more than street corner LIES is that Luntz LIES have been focus group-tested for maximum efficacy.
for my checking account. I don't believe that is about to change any time soon.
"Since when have corporations ever paid taxes, fees or penalties?"
Look, people, Frank Luntz is admitting that corporation don't pay taxes, fees, or penalties. He's admitting that they don't pay their fair share of the load. He's saying they get a free ride. He's saying that corporations are deadbeats and free riders. He's saying they are blood-sucking cheats.
And the funny thing is, the data proves his point.
If Democrats were smart (I know, a vain hope), they'd use these kinds of admissions to churn a little anger in a more progressive direction.
As long as people are ignorant and dumb enough to keep falling for this crap , and there are millions that do , this shit will just go on and on , Limbaugh , Beck , Fox etc. , they don't have a thing to worry about . The right wing / Republican , Corporate sponsored fascist propaganda / lie machine is in over drive ... and guess what , it's working for them . In their insane greed and lust for more money and power they will not only do us in but themselves as well eventually , they are both evil and mad .I'm glad I'm older and in poor health .
"The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all."
First Arianna is hosting a dinner honor Joe Scarboro, what's next, a daily blog column for Pat Buchanan? She's going out there, maybe to her (Michael) Huffington roots.
After all, they print the rubbish of all sorts of quacks. It's where all the infectious disease supporters went to whine about how much Frontline maligned them in Vaccine Wars.
A Geek and his (R)ocket are soon ... oops! I am already too late.
In any case, you poke fun, but inject toxin ...
Snerd
I'm sure plenty of candidates will be out there on the trail this fall explainiing that regulating the banks and making them cover their own losses is a bad thing.
This reeks of FAIL.
When Luntz comes out of the closet with Ms. Lindsey, I will listen to him...not believe him but I will listen to him if he can be honest about what we all know but he hides.
Did Luntz have as unhappy a childhood as (R)ove? Or did he just have a lotta bad-Lunkz ... ? Did he have to wear the Luntz-cap in school ... ?
Really, with a history like that, I can see why he focused on the 'valuz' of words ...
Snerd
AZ's new immigration law is a "citizenship tax."
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