Frank Luntz, master of political communication professional liar, told a meeting of Republican Governors how deeply concerned he was about the impact Occupy Wall Street is having on political discourse and American’s view of capitalism. Imagine having people realize that capitalists don’t always have their best interests at heart. That would do serious damage to that ‘job creators’ image conservatives have so carefully crafted over the last while.

Luntz outlined his strategy on how conservatives should best deal with lie to and about the movement.  Chris Moody has the full list.

• Don’t say ‘capitalism.’:  “I’m trying to get that word removed and we’re replacing it with either ‘economic freedom’ or ‘free market,’ ” Luntz said. “The public . . . still prefers capitalism to socialism, but they think capitalism is immoral. And if we’re seen as defenders of quote, Wall Street, end quote, we’ve got a problem.”
• Don’t say ‘taxes the rich’:  “If you talk about raising taxes on the rich,” the public responds favorably, Luntz cautioned. But  ”if you talk about government taking the money from hardworking Americans, the public says no. Taxing, the public will say yes.”
• Don’t say ‘middle class’:  “They cannot win if the fight is on hardworking taxpayers. We can say we defend the ‘middle class’ and the public will say, I’m not sure about that. But defending ‘hardworking taxpayers’ and Republicans have the advantage.”
• Don’t say ‘entrepreneur’:  “Use the phrases “small business owners” and “job creators” instead of “entrepreneurs” and “innovators.”
• Blame Washington for everything:  Tell them, “You shouldn’t be occupying Wall Street, you should be occupying Washington. You should occupy the White House because it’s the policies over the past few years that have created this problem.”

Noam Chomsky, co-author of the 1988 book – Manufacturing Consent, understands only too well propaganda of this sort.

The question is whether privileged elite should dominate mass communication and should use this power as they tell us they must — namely to impose necessary illusions, to manipulate and deceive the stupid majority and remove them from the public arena. The question in brief, is whether democracy and freedom are values to be preserved or threats to be avoided. In this possibly terminal phase of human existence, democracy and freedom are more than values to be treasured; they may well be essential to survival.

It all comes down to corporate interests (by way of media and politicians) manufacturing knowledge as a means to shape public opinion.  With the help of shameless politicos like Luntz, Republicans have mastered the art form.

On the bright side, the fact that Republicans feel they need a plan as manipulative and deceiving as the one outlined by Luntz tells you that OWS is making a difference.  The big boys are worried…and that’s a good thing.

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