Can you identify each of the following two statements as either Democratic or Republican?

1. I think most of us would agree that, if we want to cover all Americans, we can't make the mistake of trying to fix what isn't broken. So if somebody has insurance they like, they should be able to keep that insurance. If they have a doctor that they like, they should be able to keep their doctor. They should just pay less for the care that they receive.
2. No one doubts that our nation's health care system is in need of reform, but we must strike the right balance that builds on what works and fixes what is broken. All Americans deserve access to high-quality, affordable care. But such coverage cannot come at the expense of their ability to choose their own doctor and have access to the right care, at the right time, in the right setting without waiting in line while sick.

The first comes from President Obama's opening remarks at the White House Forum on Health Care Reform. The second is taken from Congressional Republican's newly formed National Council for a New America.

That the two statements are remarkably similar—aside from the waiting in lines bit—is no coincidence. They reflect the fact that health reform is neither a Republican nor Democratic issue, but a goal shared by all Americans.

Frank Luntz's recent memo to Congressional Republicans on the language of health care recognizes and in many ways exploits these shared beliefs. Time's Randy James summarized Luntz's 28-page memo into the following "highlight reel":

 1. Luntz Tip No. 1: Scare people. Especially about their children. Luntz's memo includes a road map to how to most effectively scare the bejeezus out of the American public when it comes to health care. ...

2. You, too, can be anti-corporate populists. Americans don't like the insurance industry, Luntz writes to Republicans, and neither should they: ...

3. Choose the right words, and keep using them. As the Focus Group Shakespeare, Luntz's memo is packed with poll-driven, soundbite-friendly phrases to choose from. ...

 

4. Leave Obama out of it. Though he doesn't say so directly, Luntz makes clear that the President's popularity is too much for the GOP to counter right now. ...

Luntz presented his memo to a closed-door session of House Republicans on Wednesday, CQ's Drew Armstrong reports. Already, it seems to have been making the rounds.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), who's part of a bipartisan group of senators who have been meeting for months on health reform, used the "government-run" and "Washington-run" health care theme repeatedly at a newsmaker briefing sponsored by the Kaiser Family Foundation. "What we are all worked up about is placing a bureaucrat between patients and doctors," he said. Hatch contended that the left was using the public health insurance plan proposal to create a back door to a single payer health plan, and that support for the public plan concept was "withering away" even among Senate Democrats. Hatch also said that if the Democrats try to ram through health reform on a narrow partisan vote, they'Il "look like fools" and make a mess of the health care system. After their proposal went through the unpredictable process known as reconciliation—in which the Senate parliamentarian has a great deal of leeway—health care would "look like Swiss cheese," he added.

The problem with such messaging is that as Luntz told his fellow Republicans, "I could care less about matching the words to the policies." For Luntz, presenting a viable constructive alternative is less important than preventing a Democratic victory. With his memo. "You're not going to get what you want, but you can kill what they're trying to do."

THAT is the wrong message and those are words that won't work for the American people, who recognize that doing nothing is not an option. Republicans should engage on health reform, but they must do so on the basis of principles, not polls, with policies that represent conservative values, not just some consultant's vision.