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Jon Stewart took the GOP and their propaganda arm, Fox "News" to task for their recent effort to rebrand the Republican party after their losses in the last election. After showing clips of some pundits complaining that their "messaging was bad" Stewart wondered if this might solve their problems:

STEWART: If only people knew what the Republicans were about. What the Republicans need is some kind of twenty four hour a day, seven day a week perpetual messaging refinement and distribution resource. Preferably one cloaked in the trappings of journalistic authority, but without any of its ethical constraints.

What would we call such a place? Elephant News is too obvious. Insane Clown Posse is already taken. Ferret! Ferret News! I'll work on it.

Yeah, it's just too bad they haven't had a chance to adequately get their message out to the voters. After noting that the Republicans don't want to actually change any of their policies, but just make them sound more palatable to the public instead, Stewart told his viewers that there's just one person left that they could turn to in order to save them, which is their wordsmith Frank Luntz -- or there's that other option, which is rigging elections if they can't win over the voters.

Stewart's got their number alright. Lie, obfuscate, "rebrand," pretend you give a damn about representing your constituents when you don't, propagandize and when that doesn't work -- cheat.

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What is it with these Republicans who just can't stop themselves from coming just a hair shy of calling the President of the United States "uppity?" Last week, Bill-O was calling him "cocky" during his Talking Points Memo segment on Fox. Now we've got Lady McCheney Mary Matalin on Mrs. Greenspan's show calling him too "self-reverential" and "self-righteous" and that he wants Republicans to go along with him and pretend they care about doing their jobs and legislating, he'd better start acting nicer to them.

Andrea Mitchell reminded her that he didn't exactly have much good will from the other side, what with them immediately plotting on how to obstruct everything he tried to do from the day he got elected --during that now-famous meeting with Frank Luntz and Newt Gingrich. We also had Mitch McConnell out there just stating openly that his "single most important" goal was to make Barack Obama a one-term president. Matalin feigned ignorance and pretended she had no idea what Mitchell was talking about. She said the GOP leadership didn't attend meetings and the last time she checked, neither Luntz nor Gingrich were in office at the time of that meeting.

Thankfully, Mitchell did remind her that a good deal of the leadership was there, but that didn't stop her from going right back after President Obama and complaining that he wasn't talking nicely enough to those poor sensitive Republicans.

Here's a little reminder of just what went on during that meeting from James Wolcott: The Conspiracy to Commit Legislative Constipation:

In a scene reminiscent of the summit meeting of mob bosses in The Godfather, Republican House leaders were summoned by evil marshmallow and message-crafter Frank Luntz to hash out a strategy to cope with the defeat of their party in 2008 and the election of the newly inaugurated President Obama, according to Robert Draper's just published book Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives.

From a report on Draper's revelation by Ewen MacAskill in the Guardian UK (the bolding is mine):

During a lengthy discussion, the senior GOP members worked out a plan to repeatedly block Obama over the coming four years to try to ensure he would not be re-elected.

In his book, Draper opens with the heady atmosphere in Washington on the days running up to the inauguration and the day itself, which attracted 1.8 million to the mall to witness Obama being sworn in as America's first black president.

Those numbers contributed to a growing sense of unease among Republicans as much the defeat in the White House race the previous November. The 15 Republicans were in a sombre mood as they gathered at the Caucus Room in Washington, an upscale restaurant where a New York strip steak costs $51.

Attending the dinner were House members Eric Cantor, Jeb Hensarling, Pete Hoekstra, Dan Lungren, Kevin McCarthy, Paul Ryan and Pete Sessions. From the Senate were Tom Coburn, Bob Corker, Jim DeMint, John Ensign and Jon Kyl. Others present were former House Speaker and future – and failed – presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and the Republican strategist Frank Luntz, who organised the dinner and sent out the invitations.

The dinner table was set in a square at Luntz's request so everyone could see one another and talk freely. The session lasted four hours and by the end the sombre mood had lifted: they had conceived a plan. They would take back the House in November 2010, which they did, and use it as a spear to mortally wound Obama in 2011 and take back the Senate and White House in 2012, Draper writes.

"If you act like you're the minority, you're going to stay in the minority," said Keven McCarthy, quoted by Draper. "We've gotta challenge them on every single bill and challenge them on every single campaign."

The Republicans have done that, bringing Washington to a near standstill several times during Obama's first term over debt and other issues.

Their locked-shut buttocks will unclench of course should Mitt Romney be elected, at which point they'll be passing legislation like street hawkers handing out strip-club flyers. Every bill will be named after Reagan or some other sentimental favorite.

I don't know about anyone else, but I've about had it up to here with these Republicans and their supposed hurt feelings as an excuse for obstruction when they've disrespected President Obama and called him every name in the book for years. Matalin's pearl clutching is growing tiresome --to put it mildly.

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The GOP's leading wordsmith and propagandist, Frank Luntz, made an appearance on CBS News this Wednesday morning and stated the obvious to anyone who has watched how the NRA reacted to the tragic shooting in Newtown, CT and who understands who the organization actually represents -- they're not paying attention to public opinion.

Of course they're not Frank. They're representing the gun manufacturers. Luntz's own polling has shown that the NRA's membership doesn't even agree with them.

GOP pollster: "I don't think the NRA is listening":

Luntz said that based on his polling and conversations with lawmakers in Washington, "the public is asking, if not insisting that something be done so that this does not happen again."

"The public wants guns out of the schools, not in the schools," Luntz said, speaking to the NRA's response to the Newtown shooting, in which the organization advocated for armed guards in schools across the U.S.

"I don't think the the NRA is listening. I don't think they understand," Luntz said. "Most Americans would protect Second Amendment rights and yet agree with the idea that not every human being should own a gun, not every gun should be available at any time, anywhere, for anyone - that at gun shows you should not be able to buy something right there and then without any check whatsoever."

Luntz added that what Americans are looking for from gun control legislation is "a common sense approach that says that those who are law-abiding should continue to have the right to own a weapon, but don't believe the right should be extended to everyone at every time for every time of weapon."

And when it comes to public opinion on the looming "fiscal cliff," Luntz said his polling indicates that Americans believe the GOP is primarily fighting for "the rich" and "big business" over "hardworking taxpayers," but added that on the other side of the aisle, "what the Democrats don't understand is the hostility towards how much Washington spends."

Luntz might be right when you talk in broad generalities about that spending, but when you break it down to specific issues like whether they want to see Social Security or Medicare cut, you're going to see some different results.

h/t Raw Story

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Our friends over at News Hounds flagged this segment from Fox News with Frank Luntz and another one of his focus groups, giving Allen West some cover by playing dumb about West's recent remark that President Obama and Democratic leaders should "get the hell out of the United States."

As we've covered here at C&L, West has a long history of making inflammatory remarks, but Luntz chose to treat the one woman on the panel who was obviously aware of them as though he didn't have the faintest idea what she was talking about when she brought them up, but failed herself to be specific about the things she's heard West say.

If Luntz needs a refresher, here are a few for him.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz refutes Allen West's lie that he apologized to her

Allen West thinks Obama supporters are "a threat to the gene pool"

Wingnut Allen West Slams Obama's Statesmanship While Calling Him A "Low-Level Socialist Agitator"

GOP congressional candidate Allen West tells Tea Partiers: "make the fellow scared to come out of his house"

Allen West defends 'sexist' comments by implying Democrats are racists

I'd say that Luntz should be ashamed of himself for misleading these people in this focus group and the audience at Fox, but we all already know he doesn't have any sense of shame.

Here's more from News Hounds -- Frank Luntz Runs Interference For Allen West’s divisive rhetoric. Go check out their post for a detailed description of the exchange.

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From this Monday night's live version of Sean Hannity's show immediately following the Fox South Carolina primary debate, pollster Frank Luntz had nothing but praise for Newt Gingrich and his racist dog whistles. As Karoli already noted, Gingrich knew the audience he was dealing with and so does Frank Luntz. It's just a bit jarring to hear such blatant race baiting praised out loud because of the applause it got rather than what should be an appropriate reaction, which is disgust that we've still got a party that's so openly willing to use racial resentments to win elections.

Lee Atwater and his Southern Strategy are sadly still very much alive and well both within the Republican Party and at Fox News for that matter, and Luntz and Hannity couldn't be happier because of it.

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Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum's wife, Karen, on Monday accused the gay community of vilifying her husband.

At an event with mothers in South Carolina, a woman, who said her son was gay, told the candidate that she felt guilty for supporting him due to his opposition to gay rights.

"I still have that sense of guilt because his friends react to what they hear," the woman explained. "Help me. How do I deal with that?"

Karen Santorum spoke up in defense of her husband.

"As Rick's wife, I have known him and loved him for 23 years," she said. "I think it's very sad what the gay activists have done out there. They vilify him. It is so wrong. He loves them. What he has simply said is marriage shouldn't happen."

"As far as hating, it's very unfortunate that has happened," Karen Santorum added. "A lot of it is backyard bullying, where people will come up to us and they'll say something. And we'll ask them to give us an example, and they can't even provide one example as to why they took the position they took."

After Santorum compared homosexuality to "man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be" in an interview with The Associated Press in 2003, gay activist Dan Savage created a website redefining the former Pennsylvania senator's last name as "the frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the by-product of anal sex."

For years, Google has returned Savage's website as the top search result for "Santorum."

"The Internet allows for this type of vulgarity to circulate," the candidate complained to Roll Call last year. "It’s unfortunate that we have someone who obviously has some issues. But he has an opportunity to speak."

Speaking to CafeMom's "Moms Matter 2012" on Monday, Santorum said he was "doing what I'm called to do, which is to love everyone and accept everybody."

"This is a public policy difference," he said. "And I think the problem is that some see that public policy difference as a personal assault, that because I believe that marriage, which has existed before governments existed -- marriage existed from the very beginning of time -- it's the way we were meant to be."

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From Frank Luntz's event in Iowa this Friday hosted by CafeMom, here are one of the less warm and fuzzy moments from Gingrich that did not result in him being moved to tears as he did later in the event when asked about his own mother.

It wasn't quite as bad as him saying that poor children have no work habits, or that get rid of the child labor laws and have poor kids cleaning schools, but it wasn't a lot better. Basically more worshiping at the throne of St. Ronnie, pull yourself up by your own bootstraps and the tax cut fairy is going to solve all of our problems and make our society equal for everyone and don't dare raise taxes on the rich because they're all going to leave the country if you do.

Here's how Gingrich claimed he'd take care of the economy, poverty and job creation:

LUNTZ: So what are the three priorities? You gave a general response. For them who are looking for specifics, what are your three priorities?

GINGRICH: Well, you have to fix the economy.

LUNTZ: By doing what?

GINGRICH: By cutting taxes, cutting regulations, building an American energy plan... exactly what Reagan did. I was very delighted yesterday to have Dr. Art Laffer come and endorse me because he helped to develop the Reagan plan in the '70's, I worked with him. We took that Reagan plan that worked, it created millions of jobs. We did the same thing when I was Speaker, created millions of jobs.

LUNTZ: Cutting taxes for everybody.

GINGRICH: Cutting taxes for everybody.

LUNTZ: Everybody.

GINGRICH: Everybody.

LUNTZ: Including millionaires?

GINGRICH: Yeah. My interest is economic growth. I know how to create jobs. I'm not into redistribution. The best thing you can do to solve the distribution gap in America is get every poor person a job. And if they have a job (applause)... if they have a job and they learn the work ethic and they start getting better education, they'll fix redistribution because they'll rise and their children will be even better off than they are. Now politicians taking from one group to give to another group is disastrous. It teaches everybody who is successful to leave the country. And every country that's tried this has found, it just drives successful people out of the country. So that's the big difference.

Full transcript below the fold:

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In case anyone missed it, there was actually another Republican debate this Saturday, this time sponsored by Citizen Link (formerly Focus on the Family Action) and moderated by Republican pollster Frank Luntz. C-SPAN was initially scheduled to air the debate and apparently reversed its decision due to budgetary reasons.

Here's Newt beating the war drums for Iran and pretending we don't send mercenaries such as Blackwater, now called Xe to go fight our wars for us and that we're somehow the only country on earth that heaven forbid has family members dying in wars during this Saturday's debate.

h/t Dave for the video

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Republican pollster Frank Luntz said Sunday that there was "no room" in the Republican presidential race for Sarah Palin, but there was space for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI).

"Karl Rove has said that he thinks Sarah Palin is going to run," ABC's Jake Tapper told Luntz. "Do you think Sarah Palin is going to run?"

"I don't think she can," Luntz replied. "Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin operate in the exact same space. They have similar personalities. They attract similar voters. There's no space for her right now. There's a space for Chris Christie, if he decided to do it, or for Paul Ryan. But I don't see it for Sarah Palin."

"Chris Christie has the advantage he's basically a blue-collar Republican. He says what he means, he's in your face and Republicans love that. They see what he's doing in New Jersey and they want to see that happen in Washington. And Paul Ryan's case, they regard him as one of the smartest candidates, the intellectual capacity, and he's got a plan."

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During Sean Hannity's special last week, featuring Republican propagandist and professional turd-polisher Frank Luntz, South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint joined the show and took questions from Luntz and audience members in one of his focus groups.

During this segment DeMint repeated what has become one of the right's big lies they like to tell on taxes, that half of Americans don't pay any federal income tax, as though that's the only tax anyone pays.

This reminded me of an article I recently read at AlterNet where Joshua Holland did a nice job debunking that talking point last year.

Fox and Drudge Sucker Tea Partiers with a Big Lie About Taxes:

Here’s how Fox Nation and the Drudge Report were fanning the flames of their readers’ simmering tribalism last week, courtesy of Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog:

Here are Drudge and Fox Nation right now:

Those banner headlines led to an AP story that might make wingnut blood boil, but was in reality about a rather irrelevant bit of Tax Day trivia:

Tax Day is a dreaded deadline for millions, but for nearly half of U.S. households it’s simply somebody else’s problem.

About 47 percent will pay no federal income taxes at all for 2009. Either their incomes were too low, or they qualified for enough credits, deductions and exemptions to eliminate their liability….

Many people continue to labor under the false belief that the United States has a progressive tax system.

Here’s the reality: after decades of assault on the taxes that fall disproportionately on the wealthy, we now have an effective flat tax.

Poor people in this country pay around 40 percent of their incomes in taxes, give or take 5 percent.

Rich people in this country also pay around 40 percent of their incomes in taxes, give or take 5 percent.

And folks in between pay around 40 percent of their incomes in taxes, give or take 5 percent.

The idea that most working people don’t pay taxes — an incredibly popular talking-point on the right — is the product of a rather easy-to-understand Big Lie.

You simply pretend that the most progressive tax in the United States, the federal income tax, is the only tax that Americans pay. You move the goal-posts, beginning the discussion with a statement of fact — ‘many people pay no federal income taxes’ — and then shifting to an egregious falsehood: ‘many people pay no taxes.’ It’s a simple but incredibly effective lie of omission.

Here are the facts (as I lay ‘em out in my upcoming book, The Fifteen Biggest Lies About the Economy (And Everything Else the Right Doesn’t Want You to Know about Taxes, Jobs, and Corporate America)).

Read on...