Leadership Quote by Frank Luntz

Luntz is doing what he’s famous for: laundering a hard-edged view of political messaging through a soothing moral distinction. By setting “ideology” against “principle,” he smuggles in a hierarchy that flatters the communicator. Ideology, in this framing, is rigid, tribal, noisy - the stuff that “runs into” conversation like a shopping cart with a broken wheel. Principle, by contrast, is positioned as calm, portable, reasonable - something that can “work together” with communication because it’s presumed to be broadly legible.

The subtext is tactical. Luntz isn’t diagnosing a philosophical problem so much as granting permission to sidestep doctrinal commitments in the name of clarity and persuasion. “Ideology” becomes the culprit when messages don’t land; “principle” becomes the respectable alternative when you want to repackage the same policy priorities without triggering audience defenses. It’s a marketer’s move: don’t sell the label, sell the feeling of coherence.

The sentence-level choices matter. “Run into each other” suggests accident and conflict, not debate; “complement” implies harmony as an ideal the ideologue can’t reach. The repetition of “often” gives it the air of observational common sense, not a partisan argument. Contextually, this tracks with the post-1990s political environment Luntz helped shape, where winning meant discipline, framing, and emotional cueing. The line isn’t anti-ideas; it’s pro-message, insisting that the only ideas worth keeping are the ones that survive translation into palatable language.