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 Frank Luntz, the media-friendly Republican consultant and word wiz, told a group of college students this week that Rush Limbaugh and right-wing talk radio are “problematic” for the GOP and partly responsible for the stark polarization within the nation’s political discourse. He only dared to speak so candidly about Limbaugh and other conservative hosts off the record. A secretly recorded video, though, captured Luntz’s remark. 
 
 On April 22, Luntz was holding a talk at his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, and providing his essential take on political communication: “It’s not what you say that matters. It’s what people hear.” At this event sponsored by College Republicans, Luntz (class of ’84) cracked a joke about Nancy Pelosi and face-lifts and acknowledged his party needs to interact more effectively with a wider swath of Americans: “We can’t talk to 51 percent of America. It just doesn’t work.” And, he emphasized, words matter. (In 2009, Luntz urged GOPers to decry President Barack Obama’s health care reform proposal as a “government takeover” in order to defeat it.) Voters, Luntz told the students, respond more positively when a politician refers to “hardworking taxpayers” than to “the middle class.” He warned that if his party did not resolve its internal divides, it could lose the House of Representatives next year. 
 
 At one point, Luntz was asked about political polarization. He replied that he had something important to say on this matter but was apprehensive about speaking openly; doing so, he explained, could land him in trouble. Members of the audience groaned; some called out for Luntz to continue off the record. Luntz asked if anyone was recording the event, and Eric Kaplan, a reporter from the college paper, the Daily Pennsylvanian, indicated that he was. Luntz requested that he turn off his recording device. Kaplan did so and agreed that this part of Luntz’s talk would remain off the record. But one of the students present, Aakash Abbi, a junior majoring in philosophy, politics, and economics, started to record Luntz on his iPhone (without letting Luntz know), and Abbi has provided that recording to Mother Jones. 
 
 Believing he was speaking privately to the dozens of students present, Luntz proceeded to gripe about conservative talk radio and its impact on political polarization: 
 
 And they get great ratings, and they drive the message, and it’s really problematic. And this is not on the Democratic side. It’s only on the Republican side…[inaudible]. [Democrats have] got every other source of news on their side. And so that is a lot of what’s driving it. If you take—Marco Rubio’s getting his ass kicked. Who’s my Rubio fan here? We talked about it. He’s getting destroyed! By Mark Levin, by Rush Limbaugh, and a few others. He’s trying to find a legitimate, long-term effective solution to immigration that isn’t the traditional Republican approach, and talk radio is killing him. That’s what’s causing this thing underneath. And too many politicians in Washington are playing coy. 
 
 Here’s the video: 
 
 As he continued, Luntz, according to Abbi and two other attendees (who wish to remain anonymous), asserted that it had been irresponsible (and bad for the GOP) for right-wing talkers to pontificate about women’s bodies and birth control—an obvious reference to Limbaugh’s attacks last year on Sandra Fluke, a law student invited to testify before Congress on health insurance coverage of contraception. (Abbi didn’t catch this part of Luntz’s reply on his recording.) 
 
 Luntz was blaming polarization and the GOP’s problems partly on conservative media, but he didn’t want his criticism of Limbaugh, Levin, and the others to reach beyond this classroom. He was clear on this basic point: Right-wing media is not serving the national debate and not helping the GOP widen the party’s appeal beyond its declining base. (Luntz declined to comment on his remarks at the event.) 
 
 Luntz hasn’t been shy about pointing out the Republican Party’s problems. In January, he wrote a Washington Post op-ed contending that Republicans have dug themselves deep into an image hole. (“Just saying ‘no’ to the president has its limits.”) Regarding immigration, he observed, “Hispanic voters don’t think Republicans like, welcome or respect them. So how can they vote Republican? Immigration reform that brings people out of the shadows is the last, best opportunity for the party to reset its broken relationship with Hispanics.” 
 
 Luntz did not include Limbaugh and right-wing media in this op-ed critique. And in years past, Luntz has showed respect—even deference—toward Limbaugh. In 2004, he appeared on Fox News and acknowledged that he had conducted a poll pitting John Kerry against Hillary Clinton because Limbaugh had suggested he do so: “In fact, he had talked to me about it a couple times on the air, and I wasn’t paying attention. And he even suggested that if I didn’t do the poll that there might be consequences…Nobody wants to have to respond to 20 million people that they’re listening to on the air.” That certainly didn’t prevent Limbaugh from fiercely attacking Luntz two years ago after the consultant, speaking at a meeting of the Republican Governors Association, said he was “frightened to death” of the the Occupy Wall Street movement and advised GOPers that they should not talk about “capitalism” but “economic freedom.” On the radio, Limbaugh assailed Luntz for trying to “dumb down” the conservative message. 
 
 Abbi, the student who recorded Luntz, says he switched on his iPhone video recorder because he was surprised that Luntz asked to go off the record: “His request rang with a sense of disingenuity.” Abbi, who says he came to the lecture because he had previously been impressed by Luntz, explains: 
 
 This question came up after almost 40 minutes of Luntz’s inane and obviously pandering presentation. He had already offended multiple audience members with his cavalier flippancy. At one point, he cut off a student who was saying that his family is one of immigrants and loudly asked, “From Chechnya?” Raucous laughter followed from the College Republicans in attendance, but uneasy looks were exchanged by most others. To me, a man whose career is built on being viewed as the “Master of Words” should be willing to always stand by what he says. If he can say it to a hundred-plus Penn students, the rest of America deserves to hear it. 
 
 At Penn, Luntz was egged on to disclose his view that Limbaugh and conservative talk radio are harming the GOP’s prospects and the national interest. Yet these are probably the sort of words he would counsel his Republican allies and clients not to use. 

 The most-dated celebrity profile of 2013 was published just 15 days ago. Mother Jones's D.C. editor David Corn was about to accept several journalism awards, all for his 2012 publication of the "47 percent tape." Paul Farhi, profiling Corn, got an unexpected hook: Corn had just published a "secret tape" of a strategy meeting for Mitch McConnell's re-election campaign. "David Corn says one good scoop may have led to another," wrote Farhi. 
 
 David Weigel David Weigel is a Slate political reporter. You can reach him at daveweigel@gmail.com, or tweet at him @daveweigel. 
 
 Of course it wasn't that great of a scoop. It was exclusive, sure, but the tape allegedly recorded by Progress Kentucky, the most chuckleheaded Super PAC of recent vintage, revealed only that political staffers laughed at a bunch of on-the-record oppo about Ashley Judd -- all things that the actress/activist had written or said. CREW and Mother Jones attempted to salvage the story by asking whether non-political staffers had violated the law by working for McConnell's re-election. That was another goof, based on a mishearing of the phrase "thank them for their free time" (you can work for your Senate boss's political operation in your downtime, as known by anyone who has watched Capitol Hill empty out in the autumns of even-numbered years) as "thank them three times." 
 
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 Even as he praised the scoop, Farhi enlightened readers as to how much of this dross Corn was sent, post-47%. "Corn has received a mini-flood of would-be audio and video leaks about Washington figures," wrote Farhi. "Some of these have looked promising, but none have become public — yet. Corn said he hasn’t been able to vet them to his satisfaction or work out terms for making them public. He has 'passed' on several of the offers for a variety of reasons." 
 
 Corn's latest SECRET TAPE is newsier, but I feel like the SECRECY buzz oversells the story. Frank Luntz, the "media-friendly Republican consultant" (unlike McConnell, who does not regularly spill to the press), spoke to University of Pennsylvania students about his career and current politics. "At one point," writes Corn 
 
 Luntz was asked about political polarization. He replied that he had something important to say on this matter but was apprehensive about speaking openly; doing so, he explained, could land him in trouble. Members of the audience groaned; some called out for Luntz to continue off the record. 
 
 
 
 He did so, but a student sent Corn the answer. According to Luntz, "Marco Rubio's getting his ass kicked... by Mark Levin, by Rush Limbaugh, and a few others. He's trying to find a legitimate, long-term effective solution to immigration that isn't the traditional Republican approach, and talk radio is killing him." 
 
 How incredible is the quote? Actually, as Corn points out, Luntz has never hidden his position on immigration reform. He's written and talked about the need for a Republican reform plan ever since the end of the election. The Internet is actually surfeited with video of Luntz making fun of Republicans who don't get this. At (of all things) the Commercial Vehicle Outlook Conference last year, Luntz told his audience that he accidentally yelled "What the fuck?" when Mitt Romney endorsed Kris Kobach's "self-deportation" immigration framework. "Imagine telling a Hispanic: This is my solution to illegal immigration. Deport yourself!" said Luntz, incredulously. 
 
 
 
 Some of the quotes flagged in the UPenn Luntz appearance are actually Luntz standards. Corn reports that "cracked a joke about Nancy Pelosi and face-lifts," and that's actually one of his favorite jokes. "Nancy Pelosi's living proof you get one chance at a facelift," he tells audiences. "If it doesn't work, let it go." 
 
 But, okay: Luntz never goes on the record criticizing Limbaugh and Levin. Corn has scored a serious shit-stirring victory today, because Levin and Limbaugh have healthy egos and never, ever miss it when people criticize them. They'll respond today, I'm sure. 
 
 
 
 I'm just not sure that Luntz was right. Rubio has assiduously courted Limbaugh, Levin, and the rest of talk radio, in full view of the media. In January, during the first Rubio blitz, Limbaugh credited him for doing something "admirable." Last week Rubio's staff let reporters (including me) tag along as the senator did a murderer's row of radio shows, five in one hour, getting accused again and again of backing "amnesty." There's not much evidence that the opposition has slowed down the bill. In a conference call this morning, Grover Norquist pointed out that there's a new beachhead of pro-reform conservative talkers, led by the Salem Radio line-up -- Hugh Hewitt, Dennis Prager, etc. Sean Hannity, who opposed reform in 2007, now tentatively supports it. One of the guests he brings on to test the issue is... Frank Luntz.
– David Corn of Mother Jones is out with another anti-Republican secret recording, this one of prominent GOP consultant Frank Luntz dissing Rush Limbaugh and others on right-wing talk radio. In a talk at Penn, Luntz took a question on political polarization. After taking pains to try to make sure his comments weren't being recorded, Luntz said the hosts were "problematic" for the Republican party and used the example of Marco Rubio and immigration: "He's getting destroyed! By Mark Levin, by Rush Limbaugh, and a few others. He's trying to find a legitimate, long-term effective solution to immigration that isn't the traditional Republican approach, and talk radio is killing him. That's what's causing this thing underneath. And too many politicians in Washington are playing coy." That Fox contributor Luntz is on the record criticizing the likes of Limbaugh and Levin is a decent scoop and worth reporting, but it's by no means a bombshell, writes Dave Weigel at Slate. The story is getting some buzz because the remarks were captured by a student on an iPhone. "I just wonder if the 'secrecy' sauce, like the over-use of anonymity in D.C. politics stories, leads people to overrate certain information," writes Weigel. Click for his full post. (Corn's biggest such video was, of course, Mitt Romney's 47% remarks.)