Frank Luntz, a top GOP communications strategist, tells NRO that John Boehner’s speech tonight will be an important moment for the potential speaker, an opportunity for him to reintroduce himself and his party.
“I was with Gingrich in ’94, and everybody was paying attention,” Luntz says. “Everyone will be listening to Boehner. His words will be reread and parsed long after he’s declared speaker. It’s different now. When you’re in the minority, you can say whatever you want and no one cares. When you’re in the majority, that ends — what you say matters.”
Luntz urges Boehner “to speak like a moderate and govern like a conservative,” to use “embracing and universal language while pioneering a conservative agenda. . . . Too often, Republicans speak like revolutionaries and govern meekly. I’d advise the exact opposite.”