This is just infuriating. PBS has hired Republican pollster/consultant/Fox contributor Frank Luntz to “analyze” the Democratic debate to be hosted tomorrow on PBS. Who is Frank Luntz? Along with being a former employee of Rudy Giuliani, Luntz has been hired on numerous occasions by the Bush White House to come up with artfully crafted lies to fool people into supporting bills they would otherwise reject. For example, Luntz coined the term “death tax” to replace “estate tax”, making people think that anyone who dies has to pay it when, in reality, it only applies to people whose estates exceed $2,000,000 (definitely not anyone). He created the name “The Clear Skies Initiative” for a policy that increases pollution and “Healthy Forests” for a policy that increases logging on federal land. Crooks and Liars dove into their archives and found a frightening clip of Luntz on the Daily Show describing how his “strategies” (meaning lies) work. Example: “What is your manipulation is my education/explanation.”

So to analyze the Democratic debate, PBS hires a guy who has worked for one of the Republican presidential candidates and whose job is to lie, mislead, twist words, propagandize and manipulate to put Republicans in power. And who will be there to balance Luntz? No one. Anyone else think this is a bad idea? If you do, give PBS a call at 323-666-6500 (LA) or 703-739-5000 (VA). But don’t dawdle — the debate is on Thursday! Media Matters has more about Luntz here.