Today Mitt Romney went to the Brian Williams Education Summit. I thought, for the most part Romney said some pretty strange things like: "there should be a cap on how much Teacher's Unions can donate to a political party" etc.
But, what struck me was when Romney was answering a question on Early Education, pre-K, and cited "Government take over."
MSNBC Video time stamp 31:42
ROMNEY: As you look around the world at the places where the schools are doing the very best and young people are ... are achieving they found ways to prepare children for school which does not always associate with having the government takeover .. um .. ah ... of early education but instead - in some cases it does - but on some cases as well it focuses on the parents.
Government takeover of early education? huh?
Speaking of the fearmongering words, "government take over," Talking Points Memo reports that Paul Ryan used similar language today in his Cincinnati Townhall where he raged about the "government take over" of Guaranteed Federal Student Loans.
Government take over of Guaranteed Federal Student Loans - huh?
Government take over comes from Frank Luntz, the propaganda minister the Republicans pay to come up with words to scare people with.
Remember when Politifact labeled Frank Luntz's "Government take over of healthcare" as the biggest lie of the year?
Frank Luntz wrote "The Language of Healthcare 2009" Republicans should use the following lies in subheading "Washington Take Over of Healthcare":
Lie 1: Call it government take over
LUNTZ: They don’t want to hear that you’re opposed to government healthcare because it’s too expensive (any help from the government to lower costs will be embraced) or because it’s anti-competitive (they don’t know about or care about current limits to competition). But they are deathly afraid that a government takeover will lower their quality of care – so they are extremely receptive to the anti-Washington approach.
Lie 2: Just lie about Obama
LUNTZ: if you find that you must challenge the president, we suggest the following.
“President Obama wants to put the Washington bureaucrats in charge of healthcare. I want to put the medical professionals in charge, and I want patients as an equal partner.”
Lie 3: Luntz calls this his "Best Anti-Democrat" Lie
Luntz wrote say, “No Washington bureaucrat or healthcare lobbyist should stand
between your family and your doctor. The Democrats want to put Washington politicians in charge of YOUR healthcare. We can and must do better. Say no to a Washington takeover of healthcare and say yes to personalized patient-centered care.”
- The best anti-Democrat message
Lie 4: Intentionally
Scare people with lies.
LUNTZ: It is essential that “deny” and “denial” enter the conservative lexicon immediately because it is at the core of what scares Americans most about a government takeover of healthcare. Then add to it the source of that denial and you have the perfect anti-government, anti-Washington and anti-Democratic message:
Lie 5: Lie some more
LUNTZ: The issue needs to be Americans vs. Washington. So here are the words to use:
“Washington Takeover” beats “Washington Control.” - Takeovers are
like coups – they both lead to dictators and a loss of freedom. What Americans fear most is that Washington politicians will dictate what kind of care they can receive.
My obvious point, Republican Propaganda Minister Frank Luntz has trained his minions to scare 'the People' with lies about "government take over."
So I guess Romney's campaign is going to try to scare 'the People' into being fearful of a "government take over" of per-kindergarten classes and Guaranteed Federal Student Loans.
We must not let them get away with their "government take over" lie this time.