[Rantman] A very important message... and funny...Colbert.

[rPauli]

"One shot to deliver a simple truth"

(New global warming slogan - It's too late to be nice)

Oh this is so funny and so true.

Frank Luntz is quite a pro.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/08/gop-spinmaster-stephen-colbert-oil-drilling-global-warming-video.php

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Frank Luntz is arguably one of the biggest reasons the United States has 
been able to dodge taking action to address climate change for so long 
-- in an infamous memo (which was leaked and obtained by a green group), 
he revealed the rhetorical tricks and talking points conservative 
politicians should employ to confuse the public about the state of 
climate science. Politicians still rely on these talking points today, 
and they've been infuriatingly effective.

Today, we get a glimpse of the man behind the curtain, in this segment 
from last night's Colbert Report, where Luntz explains the tricks of the 
trade to everyone's favorite faux-right wing pundit. Watch:Colbert is 
consulting the top GOP spinmaster for advice on promoting his new 
satirical-but-very-real Super PAC. Notice how Luntz explains how "oil 
drilling" became "energy exploration" -- a term that still persists 
today. And you've got to love Colbert's riff after the global warming 
bit: "that's brilliant, not manipulative."

Here's the Guardian on Luntz's now-infamous memo, back when the 
confidential document first leaked in 2003: "the leading Republican 
consultant Frank Luntz, concedes the party has "lost the environmental 
communications battle" and urges its politicians to encourage the public 
in the view that there is no scientific consensus on the dangers of 
greenhouse gases."

And here's the meat of the memo itself:

"The scientific debate is closing [against us] but not yet closed. There 
is still a window of opportunity to challenge the science.
"Voters believe that there is no consensus about global warming within 
the scientific community. Should the public come to believe that the 
scientific issues are settled, their views about global warming will 
change accordingly. Therefore, you need to continue to make the lack of 
scientific certainty a primary issue in the debate."

The phrase "global warming" should be abandoned in favor of "climate change"


Why? Because, as Luntz explains, "the party should describe its policies 
as "conservationist" instead of "environmentalist", because "most 
people" think environmentalists are "extremists" who indulge in "some 
pretty bizarre behavior... that turns off many voters". Notice all those 
"key words"? It's the genesis of an effective strategy to marginalize 
environmentalists as fringe radicals and weird hippies. And in the video 
above, Luntz shows, step by step, exactly the ways in which politicians 
communicated those talking points.
And it worked. Look around -- anyone that continues to believe that 
there is no consensus amongst scientists that human activity is warming 
the planet was duped, and continues to be duped, at least in part by 
this man.