A biography for Frank Luntzhasn’t been written yet.
“Sound science must be our guide in choosing which problems to tackle and how to approach them.”
“One of the things that you have trouble with politicians, particularly in Washington, is when you get mad at them and you can't touch them; you can't punch them; you can't yell at them.”
“The language of America changed with the election of Bill Clinton, because with all due respect to my friends on the Republican side, Bill Clinton is the best communicator of the last 50 years. He felt your pain.”
“I have seen how effective language attached to policies that are mainstream and delivered by people who are passionate and effective can change the course of history.”
“There are people still in the Republican Party that I believe practice the communication of anger, of disappointment, of regret, of pain, of sorrow, of suffering. That's not what the American people want to hear.”
“The fundamental problem for Republicans when it comes to the environment is that whatever you say is viewed through the prism of suspicion.”
“A compelling story, even if factually inaccurate, can be more emotionally compelling than a dry recitation of the truth.”
“Traditional market researchers are cold and calculating and scientific.”
“It's all emotion. But there's nothing wrong with emotion. When we are in love, we are not rational; we are emotional. When we are on vacation, we are not rational; we are emotional.”
“If you're a good numbers person, you're a bad language person.”
“In fact, in more cases than not, when we are rational, we're actually unhappy. Emotion is good; passion is good. Being into what we're into, provided that it's a healthy pursuit, it's a good thing.”
“There are words that work, that are meant to explain and educate on policies that work, on products that work, on services that work. I'm not going to ever try to sell a lemon. I don't do that.”
“Some people call it global warming; some people call it climate change. What is the difference?”
“The advantage of working for a corporation is that it has only one message, because a product or a service doesn't speak; it's just there, and you can advertise it.”
“I don't understand why people whose entire lives or their corporate success depends on communication, and yet they are led on occasion by CEOs who cannot talk their way out of a paper bag and don't care to.”
“When I started in this business, everybody said the Democrats were the better communicators because they sounded like social workers, and Republicans were awful because they sounded like morticians. In some cases. they actually dressed like morticians.”
“The principles behind explaining and educating the product or the elected official is similar, even though the actual execution of it is very, very different.”
“It is acceptable to bring someone to tears if it explains to them in an emotional way why a product, a service, or a candidate is the right person, is the right thing to do.”