What would the Republicans do if they didn't have Frank Luntz to tell them what to say? Here's House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA), parroting the talking points laid out by Luntz last week on how to talk about health care reform:
LUNTZ: "Acknowledge the ‘crisis’ or suffer the consequences. ... A better approach is to define the crisis in your terms. ‘If you’re one of the millions who can’t afford healthcare, it is a crisis.’"
CANTOR: "Listen Bill, there’s a health crisis. You know when you have, don’t have coverage, that’s a crisis for you and your family. We need to address it."
LUNTZ: "The arguments against the Democrats’ healthcare plan must center around ‘politicians,’ ‘bureaucrats,’ and ‘Washington.’"
CANTOR: "But the answer is not to lay it on Washington, to pump up what Washington’s role in this."
LUNTZ: "You’ll notice we recommend the phrase ‘government takeover’ rather than ‘government run’ or ‘government controlled.’"
CANTOR: "We all need to be standing up and saying no to a government takeover of our system."
Bear in mind, Luntz's memo is a road map on how to talk about health care reform, not to offer actual solutions to the problem. The only goal is to derail actual reform:
The status quo is no longer acceptable. The overwhelming majority of Americans believe significant reform is needed – and they see Republicans (and the insurance companies) as the roadblock. [...]
The best approach is to empathize with the fear, anxiety and financial pain people are clearly feeling right now. So instead of dismissing their concerns, acknowledge them – up front – and then pivot to your solution. Some conservatives will undoubtedly find this distasteful. But failure to connect on a personal level at the beginning will lead to communication failure at the end.
But of course, when Luntz says to "pivot to your solution," in true Republican-fashion, there is no solution, only the goal of maintaining the very status quo that Luntz acknowledges is not acceptable to the American people.