Frank Luntz's Flying Circus

Completely by chance I flipped on my TV last night and caught avuncular poll guru Frank Luntz asking a focus group what they thought of the Democrats' debate, aided by… John Cleese. Yes, Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, Erik the Viking John Cleese. The video of this is on YouTube, but so is the even better video of Cleese's performance with a Republican focus group. They seem oddly nonplussed about his suggestion for improving American democracy.

LUNTZ: What about the advertising? We were talking about…

CLEESE: Really, I mean, you won't believe this. There's no paid political advertising on British television. We don't have those 30-second things. They…

LUNTZ: Would you like that, by the way, to cut out all the ads?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

LUNTZ: No?

CLEESE: It means that everything's got to be condensed into 30 seconds, and that means that it's just sound bites, so that nothing substantial—you just sort of put across a slur or, "Mmm, I like that person," or (RASPBERRY SOUND) "I don't." That's about it.

COLMES: Hey, Frank…

CLEESE: I love the fact that, when we have politics on British television, it's paid for by the television companies.

LUNTZ: And that's got to be the last word.

Until he guest hosts for Greta Van Susteren.