The straight scoop from Romney's favorite Foxhole?

I'm not enough of a political junkie to know all the details about Frank Luntz and his background. However he certainly seems to like Mitt Romney. A lot. So much so that in a post yesterday I questioned Fox's claim that he's a professional and objective pollster:

I thought Fox was shamelessly plugging Romney (the Luntz stuff with the charts was especially irritating), and I didn't hear Romney say anything new at all.
What bothered me last night was his enthusiastic exclamation that Romney had hit a "home run" with the debate, and when he cited his "exclusive Fox overlay" meter (lines and numbers in the air), I grew suspicious.

Anyway I think I may have stumbled onto something, because tonight I found a video of him doing the same thing in August. Same "overlay," same enthusiasm, same candidate:

(In short, another Romney plug.)

While I had assumed Luntz was an independent pollster hired by Fox, last night there was something about his "focus group" of "undecided voters" and the way it suddenly switched to overwhelming support for Romney that aroused my suspicions.

Looking around, I see that Luntz is accused of doing campaign commercials for Mitt Romney on Fox, and although the source is an anti-Fox, presumably left wing site, they seem to have done their homework.

Luntz has been caught red-handed using the same kind of tactics for which I and many others condemned CNN. As it turns out, one of last night's "independent" undecided voters" is the same guy Luntz used in another panel of undecided voters on September 5.

Check it out.

The video describes the man as a paid actor. More details in this YouTube video.

OK, so maybe that's just one guy on this independent focus panel. But if they're blatant enough to get caught passing off the same guy twice, what does that suggest about the "independence" of the other "ordinary voters" in the "focus" group?

I'd say the whole thing is tainted.

In fairness, Frank Luntz has every right to plug Romney and use his techniques to influence voters on Romney's behalf. That's what campaigns are for, and that's why they hire guys like Luntz.

This stuff wouldn't bother me except that it's supremely dishonest for Fox News to do it and try to pass it off as objective journalism. Biased polls, sock puppets, professional actors posing as ordinary people...

Once again, I have to ask, "Who in the hell does Fox News think they are, anyway? CNN of the right?"

MORFE: Another Luntz-awarded "home run" for Romney last month (same setup, of course):

This is so repetitive it's getting tedious... I'm wondering about something, though.

Is the Romney campaign at least being forced to pay for it?

Of course, what's new to me is quite old.

Penn and Teller debunk Luntz's methodology here:

posted by Eric on 01.07.08 at 11:21 PM





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Comments

Good work!

Bob Agard   ·  January 8, 2008 12:07 AM

When you have for all practical purposes unlimited campaign funds, it makes it much easier to 'show support' for your cause. I have found that the political class (and their parasites) to be uniform (both Dem and Repub) in their disdain for the American people and their apparent belief in the fundamental stupidity of the electorate.

Why this wouldn't surprise me, I don't know.

Tracy Coyle   ·  January 8, 2008 04:29 PM

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