Frank Luntz is a political consultant, pollster, and “public opinion guru” best known for developing key messages for Republican causes.
Watch Luntz’s candid, full interview conducted with FRONTLINE during the making of the May 2019 PBS documentary “Supreme Revenge.”
This interview is part of FRONTLINE’s Transparency Project, an effort to open up the source material behind FRONTLINE’s reporting. View a version of this interview that includes an interactive text transcript, and explore dozens of other interviews shedding light on three decades of Supreme Court confirmation battles, on FRONTLINE’s website: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interview-collection/supreme-revenge/
Watch the full documentary, Supreme Revenge, here: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/supreme-revenge/
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When Joe Biden was President from 2021 to 2024, he picked a new nominee for the supreme court justice. He picked and nominated a black American woman named Ketanji Brown Jackson. And in Biden’s point of view, he saw her as a well suited person for the job as a Supreme Court justice. And on the days of her confirmation hearings, the Democratic state senators were overjoyed and happy about. So they voted yes for her confirmation. But the Republican state senators like Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, Lindsey Graham and so on didn’t see her as a well qualified person for the job. So they voted no. And why did they vote no? Because she didn’t have enough qualifications at all. And in my mind, I honestly think that she’s well qualified for the job and I’m glad that Biden nominated her. And if Kamala Harris had won the 2024 election, she would’ve nominated more qualified nominees for the Supreme Court. But that’s not happening because Trump is President and he’s likely going to nominate more Supreme Court justices that’ll only do whatever he says.
Being a Supreme Court judge is definitely not for me. Can anyone imagine if the US President Republican or Democrat selected and nominated me to be the next Supreme Court judge, I can honestly say that if I was a Supreme Court justice nominee, I sincerely would hope and pray that both US Senators on both sides would be kind, understanding, respectful and not question me about my personal beliefs and not attack me either verbally.
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Bro…2024 and you are still wearing that ridiculous wig.
Personally it distracts me to the point that I don’t hear anything you say!
Excellent interview and this take on the Bork confirmation is absolutely correct.
“McConnell takes the long viewâ€. Really?
For his party, perhaps.
For the institution, not hardly.
For the country, not even close.
Luntz tries to appear nonpartisan but his lean to the right always shines through. He’s a hypocrite if I’ve ever seen one. The support for MConnell’s treatment of Merrick Garland is just one example.
I always watch the extended interviews with Frank. Such a great speaker.
Now, the only thing you get out of nominees is "Senator, thank you for the question."
Frank and his 'no one understands angry America' and how it's all because of Obama and Trump was the result. And not calling Trump a traitor to this country because 'he's a business man and didn't understand politics' like that makes it OK to have broken the law in the manner that he did, and we should disregard the treasonous acts of Trump and his 'loyal supporters'. It's all everyone elses fault they stormed the Capital and tried to stage a cou. Frank, get a clue. They're responsible for their behavior, they're responsible for going along with The Lie and they damn well should be held accountable. They are not children who did not know any better or did not understand what they did was WRONG. I'm so fed up with the weak excuses for such heinous acts. If there is any excuse for any Trump Loyalist I'll accept it's that they're well and truly stupid.
Such a great interview.
Mr. Luntz may "credit" McConnell for his denying the right of the President of the United States to have his Supreme Court nominee be questioned by the Senators individually and by a hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Luntz correctly states that McConnell has, indeed, been more consequential as a Senator than any other Senator in Luntz's lifetime. But Luntz will go no further towards the question as to the health of our democratic system after McConnell has worked his way. And the consequence for our democracy is that it is imperiled not only by McConnell's unconstitutional foray into dictating which nominee may get a fair hearing but also in his accommodating 45 at nearly every turn. Reflect on the fact that McConnell directly implicated Trumpistan's treason committed up to and including January 6, 2020 and within a few days taking all that back. So the Big Lie lives on. And we as a democratic country are in decline and in jeopardy.
giving Luntz a platform IS part of the problem. look at his career. he's responsible for the paranoid state of 50% of the citizenry.
Great comments by Luntz. He’s right—it’s chaos.
Frank Luntz is making up his allegations as to why the Dems so despised Bork. As fact, when President Richard Nixon ordered the firing of Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox following Cox's request for tapes of his Oval Office conversations. Nixon initially ordered U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Cox. Richardson resigned rather than carry out the order. Richardson's top deputy, Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus, also considered the order "fundamentally wrong and resigned, making Bork acting attorney general. When Nixon reiterated his order, Bork complied and fired Cox. Nixon promised Bork the next Supreme Court nomination as a quid pro quo (reward) but resigned before he could fulfill that promise. At his first chance, Reagan attempted to follow through on Nixon's pledge. The Dems understandably reacted viscerally to Reagan's nomination of Bork. Nixon's promise was abhorrent to our democracy and Reagan's attempted follow through, even worse.
Crazy that 30 years on the likes of Luntz can't get over the major L of the Bork defeat. He would have been the biggest ideolog on the court who was open about being an activist judge. going after blacks, women, gays, and labor unions and they just can't accept that democrats and moderate republicans in a Democrat-held Senate were just not gonna roll over and give up a moderate seat to an ultra-conservative like Bork. As the GOP love to say elections have consequences and they lost the 1986 senate election consequences of which they don't get to dictate who gets on the court without democratic approval and for some reason, by nominating Bork they were refusing to admit they had lost the election and that somehow everyone just had to surrender to the vision of a lame-duck Regan.
Hey Frank, this hasn't aged well. Tell me again about Republicans and the Constitution and Evangelicals not supporting Trump because of judicial appointments.
Luntz is absolutely positive about absolutely everything.
Wayne Malcolm, you are so correct. Luntz know a lot and Luntz is entirely without morals. Bork should never have been nominated. Doing the illegal bidding of criminal POTUS Nixon during the whole Watergate scandal coverup is entirely disqualifying. But, it appears that the Republicans wanted to reward Bork's lack of integrity.
Robert Bork did Nixon's dirty work. After the Saturday Night Massacre he was appointed and he fired Archibald Cox. He was willing to undermine democracy to serve his master. That wasn't forgotten. Or forgiven. He was complicit and did not belong on the SCOTUS
Frank is applauding all wins of the right and blaming all efforts by the left to fight for their agenda for the American people.
The GOP and conservatives have taken our republic hostage. They have fomented the hatred of the left by the right, divided the American people and pushed conspiracy theories for year. Americans have had it with them as they have destroyed our middle class with their complete lack of interest to govern, lack of care for labour rights, social services, infrastructure, while being only interested in low taxes for the wealthy, and laser focus on push hyper conservative judges everywhere to overturn roe vs wade. That summarises the GOP and conservative movement for the last 40 years.
The election of Trump was the cherry on this cesspool that is the GOP. The GOP is a cancer at this point.
What a fraud! dump this trash!
This guy is a hack and has an agenda. I don’t believe anything he has to say. He is the one who is projecting his hatred because someone put him in his arrogant place and he didn’t like it. Who cares what this pollster has to say. Who the hell is he???
Mitch McConnell is the devil.
the statement that they went after kavanaugh for his alleged sexual misconduct because that is all they could go after says it all-they were against him because of his beliefs and they had to make up something to be outraged about. such allegations are terrible if made against trump or kavanaugh, but if against biden or (bill) clinton then they can be ignored. such is the blue double standard and pbs and other american journalists are right there with them.
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He wants to distance himself from his participation in the ruination of the republican party.
THANK YOU…!!!
WE HOPE THE USA AND THE WORLD WILL LEARN A LESSON FROM 2020 US ELECTION AND JUDGE CAVANAUGH' S CONFIRMATION HEARING , THAT A WOMAN'S RIGHTS TO TAKE THE DECISION OF HER BODY MUST NOT BE TAKEN FOR POLITICAL DEBATE AND DISCUSSION…OR FOR MEDIA RATING NEWS PURPOSES…!!!
WE SHOULD NOT USE PRO CHOICE OR PRO LIFE …FOR RELIGIOUS POLITICS OR RACIAL POLITICS…AND SEXUAL POLITICS…TO GET VOTERS APPROVAL AND MEDIA RATINGS… !!!
MONEY AND POWER OVER A WOMAN'S TEARS AND PAIN BECAUSE OF UN THOUGHTFUL AND UNCARING SELFISH MEN…WILL BE DISASTROUS…!!!
THAT IS WHY THE CIRCUS OF JUDGE CAVANAUGH HEARING AND RIOTS & CRUEL ATTACK ON CAPITAL HILL HAPPENED…!!!
We have more serious issues and problems in the country and the world…!!!
Let the women have her rights and let her family and physician lead her to choose the right decision and let SCIENCE GUIDE THEM…NOT RELIGION…POLITICS…MEDIA NOR PUBLIC…!!!
IT IS THE FAULT OF BOTH DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS…HUNDRED PERCENT…!!!
THE VOTERS ARE UNABLE TO VOTE FOR THE RIGHT CAUSE AND RIGHT CANDIDATE…BECAUSE OF THESE THREE ISSUES , THAT
PREVENT THE DEVELOPMENT AND PROPER LEADERSHIP IN THE COUNTRY AND THE WORLD…!!!
LACK OF PLANNED…ACCOUNTABLE AND RESPONSIBLE PARENTHOOD AND LACK OF PROPER EDUCATION IS THE ROOT CAUSE OF RAPE …ABUSE…ALCOHOLISM…AND DRUG ABUSE…AND HOMLESSNESS…!!!
ALSO THE ORPHANS AND FOSTER CHILDREN…ALL OVER THE WORLD…!!!
IN TODAY'S GOOD SCIENTIFIC WORLD IT SHOULD NOT HAPPEN …!!!
RELIGIOUS POLITICIANS AND LAW MAKERS ARE THE ONES TO BLAME FOR SUCH ATROCITIES STILL IN THE WORLD…!!!
HOPEFULLY COVID 19 ALSO WILL TEACH ALL OF US THAT LESSONS…!!!
NOTHING IS ABOVE THE FORCE OF THE UNIVERSE…!!!THAT FORCE OF GOODNESS IS SCIENCE AND GOD –THE GOODNESS… !!!
NO RELIGION IS ABOVE IT…!!!
OTHERWISE LET RELIGION RULE THE WORLD WITHOUT SCIENCE AND WISDOM…!!!
NO SCIENCE EDUCATION…NO MEDICAL CARE AND TREATMENT…NO TECHNOLOGY…NO DEVELOPMENT…LET ALL LIVE IN THE FOREST AS UNCIVILIZED…!!!
PRAY …AND PRAY…RITUALS AFTER RITUALS AND CEREMONIES…!!!
ALL RELIGION…!!!
DRINK …EAT AND MULTIPLY UNTIL THE UNIVERSE TAKES MATTERS IN TO ITS OWN HANDS TO DESTROY ALL OF US …NO MORE FUTURE…!!!
IT WILL BE THE ULTIMATE REWARD FOR RELYING ON RELIGIOUS POLITICS…!!!
Whelp, I guess its over, folks.
Bork doesn't believe you and I have a right to be left alone (that's what the right to privacy is).
He says the 9th amendment is a useless "inkblot"
Bork wasn't qualified from a legal disposition.
The Right chose to go to war on social issues that are nearly impossible to fix using political tools. The Right knew it would never win on its core political message, so it chose abortion, and it chose to use religion for its fundraising and head-counting framework.
Thoughtful perspectives. Appreciated the insight and perspectives until the revenge argument. I was honestly offended. The insurrection was an extreme insult to the underpinnings of our entire democracy. He is not done. He is still having a profoundly toxic influence on our government. This is mot about revenge. There needs to be accountability. Bottom line. We can not continue to enable this behavior
It’s just so bizarre to see someone think this way and have this understanding of how the world works and thinks, etc. He’s in his own little world and has no concept of the false dichotomies and equivalencies that he builds up and knocks down.
How truly awful it is to have been born an American citizen.
Strange that he left out WHY the democrats had such a problem with Bork. I mean…it's not like he fired the special prosecutor looking into Watergate after Nixon had asked the head of the DOJ to fire Cox…..and when he didn't….fired him…then asked the second in command to fire Cox……and when he didn't…..fired him…..and then asked Bork to do it. And what did Bork do????? Fired Cox.
Frank Lunz……Spinner in Chief
Frank Lutz Roy Cohn Bork was a danger .
Eat shit frank luntz.
What an amazingly smart man
Bork carried out the Saturday Night Massacre and thereby showed he was not able to live within the independence of the judiciary. That is why the Left hated him.
We have a younger and much more insecure version of Carl Rove talking smack…your brown shade is off, your expensive jacket is newer than the one you had on two days ago on your PBS interview. This person is a very corrupt manipulative person who reduces people to numbers and data in attempts to manipulate you. This interview is no exception. Sick bureaucrat Looser!
You could say the same about the Right: The Right also likes a Black man or woman that they can put on a pedestal as an example to other Blacks as "See, I'm not racist, if you agree 100% with me, I can even love you." So all you get are hard Right Black Conservatives on the Republican side, no room for dissent…and most certainly no President Colin Powell!
"Republicans did not obstruct the Obama presidency.." How he said that with a straight face I don't know…
Frank Luntz is a marketing guy. He is lying here. He is good at it. Bork as first example of the politics of destruction – in so many ways just not true. Not the first by a long shot. Dems fight back for a change and got blamed as the disruptiers . Luntz helped to create the vile political divisions in this country along with Gingrich in the 90's.