This Frank Luntz clip (via ThinkProgress) shows the republican phrase guru distancing himself from the Bush administration on global warming despite personally devising the conservative strategy to obfuscate the truth on the subject with clever wording. Luntz states that he has changed his mind because now almost everyone would agree that global warming is caused by human activity. While this is true, Luntz's statement is ridiculous because this was also true six years ago.
Also, the implication behind the statement is that Luntz cares about the truth behind his Orwellian phrases which is impossible to believe since he is also credited with coining the “Healthy Forests Initiative” which was a blatantly pro-industry law that would kill forests.
But I'd rather gossip about Luntz than bash him. During my senior year of college I took a politics course taught by Luntz and found him to be an excellent teacher. And I specifically remember him predicting that Bill Clinton had an excellent chance of winning the 1992 Democratic primaries and the presidency long before most people even knew who he was.
Luntz was also an extremely accessible professor, often making himself available to students while they were out partying. One night Luntz even came over to the house I shared with eleven others to play beer pong. He quickly got drunk and very loud. So loud that a studying housemate (Dan) took away our sole ping pong ball which put a stop to the game. But Luntz would not hear of it and, without hesitation, submitted to Dan's demand for the return of the ball by getting down on his knees, kissing Dan's feet and begging for forgiveness. He got the ball back and the game continued.
Since graduating I have seen Luntz at six or seven random events over the years and have on multiple occasions reminded him of this story. And each time his response was the same -- 'was I in Pika or Sammy' (two fraternities)? I was not in either which leads me to believe that, on at least three occasions, Luntz got crazy drunk playing beer pong with college students he was teaching.
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