Luntz on Pelosi: "You get one shot at a facelift. If it doesn't work the first time, let it go"

Summary: Echoing recent attacks by conservatives on House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Republican pollster Frank Luntz stated, "I always use the line for Nancy Pelosi, 'You get one shot at a facelift. If it doesn't work the first time, let it go.' "

On the October 31 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, Republican pollster Frank Luntz smeared House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA), saying, "I always use the line for Nancy Pelosi, 'You get one shot at a facelift. If it doesn't work the first time, let it go.' " In response, co-host Alan Colmes said, "That's a cheap shot," and U.S. News & World Report senior writer and Fox News contributor Michael Barone added, "I agree with Alan -- it's a cheap shot."

As Media Matters for America has previously noted, other conservative media figures have also attacked Pelosi in recent weeks; Pelosi is expected to be elected speaker if the Democrats win control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the November 7 midterm elections. In his October 26 "Real Free Speech" commentary on Hannity & Colmes, "comedian" and Fox News contributor Dennis Miller attacked Pelosi, calling her "intellectually ... not up to the task" of assuming the position of speaker of the House. Miller further assailed Pelosi as a "nimrod" and "a C-minus, D-plus applicant ... who no doubt would have been drummed out of the Mary Kay corps after an initial four-week evaluation period." On the August 29 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program, Hannity & Colmes co-host Sean Hannity sought to encourage Republican voters and candidates to ensure a Republican victory in the November elections by proclaiming that "there are things in life worth fighting and dying for, and one of 'em is making sure" that Pelosi "doesn't become the speaker."

Luntz's smear of Pelosi echoes a reported statement by former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D) Republican opponent in the New York Senate race, who, according to an October 23 New York Daily News report, said Clinton "used to be ugly -- and speculates she got 'millions of dollars' in plastic surgery."

From the October 31 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:

LUNTZ: I always use the line for Nancy Pelosi, "You get one shot at a facelift. If it doesn't work the first time, let it go."

COLMES: You know, that's a cheap shot. That's a cheap shot.

HANNITY: Ouch.

BARONE: Cheap shot, Frank.

LUNTZ: It's a joke.

BARONE: I agree with Alan -- it's a cheap shot.

—R.M.