Frank Luntz, Dissected.

The Dailykos' Jed Lewison cuts up Luntz' new talking points about health care reform:

Now let's see what Luntz has to say about the public option:

Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid’s recent insistence on including a massively expensive "public" option (in reality, it is a "government" option) has been met with a resounding thud by a majority of Americans. For some reason, advocates of government-run insurance are intent on including it in health reform even if its inclusion brings down health reform altogether. Whether this insistence on public/gov’t option is driven by ideology or by a misplaced belief in some of the more recent superficial polling on this issue is hard to know – and it’s just plain wrong.

One thing is for sure – anyone who would place their political future in the hands of a single survey question purporting to show that Americans want Washington to jump into the healthcare business probably deserves to lose.

Um:

1. The public option is not "massively expensive." It cuts the deficit. In fact, the more robust it is (Medicare + 5), the more it cuts.

2. "Met with a resounding thud"? What planet is Luntz on? The public option is one of the most popular elements of health care reform. (See here, here, here, here, and here for just a few examples of the oodles of data showing the public option is popular.)

3. "Its inclusion brings down health reform altogether." Uh, he's right...in reverse. Multiple polls show that not only do people want the public option to be included in health care reform, they want it even if it means no GOP support. (See here, here, and here.)

4. Does Luntz really believe the popularity of the public option comes from "a single survey question"? If you don't believe the data cited above, how about this: the public option is so popular that Fox won't even poll on it.