Hmmm. That’s interesting.
Down at the very bottom <$NoAd$> of the GOP Social Security playbook we just posted, there’s a sample speech for pitching phase-out to audiences 50 and over. It starts on page 83 of the PDF document. Then if you go down to the end of the speech there’s a footer that says …
This speech was developed by
Presentation Testing, Inc.
For more information about how this speech was developed, please contact Rich Thau at Presentation Testing, Inc. at 212-760-4358.
(Before that sample speech, there’s another for young voters which includes the same authorship note.)
Well, TPM reader GD typed Mr. Thau’s name into google and found this PDF document in which Thau describes one of the seminars he does. And right there at the top of the document, Thau quotes himself saying: “I’ve testified on Capitol Hill. I have worked with many members of Congress. They are not committed to passing laws to give your employees retirement security.”
This is the guy who’s teaching congressional Republicans how to pitch private accounts? The guy who says he knows from experience that members of Congress — or at least the ones he deals with — aren’t serious about retirement security?
He’s quite a character reference …
Late Update: In this recent article Fred Barnes notes that Thau and Frank Luntz have worked as co-muddlers. The two, it seems, have been comrades-in-arms in the Social Security speech code racket. Thau’s company, Presentation Testing, Inc. would appear to be colocated with his Gen-X pro-phase out group Third Millenium. And if you’d care to hear Mr. Thau’s views in person, you can hear him on the afternoon panel on day two of the Cato Institute Social Security conference which runs February 8th and 9th.
