Politiscripts, by Richard Roth

Political discourse consists of scripted, symbolic speech acts. The ends justify the memes and the memes justify the ends. Words become actions and actions become words.

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, dog whistles, canards, shibboleths and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other Grand Old Tea Party language factories, May 4-May 11, 2015

Posted on May 9, 2015 by suratsweet

broken-windows policing: often held out as a panacea for overcoming the “unrest” (see below) in black neighborhoods. As if maintaining the outward appearance of social orderliness can make us overlook the bottom-line fact that blacks are poorer, sicker, and falling further behind than ever before.

constraint: the inevitable outcome of government regulation. People, like markets, “want to be free”, so constraint is always interpreted negatively, synonymous with being shackled.

destroying wealth: any economic policy centered on cooperation and equality rather than competition and inequality, Tax increases for the wealthy–in fact, almost any government regulation–is thus described as wealth destroying.

enemies of America: gay marriage supporters, according to Ben Carson.

hate speech: any speech that questions Christianity, especially when Christianity discriminates against sexual or ethnic minorities.

“I’m not a scientist”: as Elizabeth Kolbert points out in The New Yorker, this is the standard Tea Party preface/apologia to draconian cuts in federal spending on scientific research. Astonishingly enough, claiming that they don’t know anything about a subject somehow rhetorically gives them license to legislate against it. Any researcher whose work runs counter to Tea Party ideology is now a “scientist”–like Obama, basically a fraud. The ultimate aim is to render all of blue America somehow illegitimate.

routine investigative steps: chasing and arresting unarmed people without probable cause; subjecting detainees to “rough rides”; assuming black people are acting suspiciously.

run amok: any regulatory or taxing apparatus

social justice warriors: Lefties who are out for the scalps of “everyday Americans.”

tut-tutting: derisive term for any Dem moral argument. Akin to when Obama is said to get on his “high horse. or complaint about social, economic or political realities.

ugly aside: any Obama remark that directly calls out the Tea Partiers on issues of inequality, social justice, or poverty. When Obama isn’t said to be being just plain “ugly,” he’s called by Peggy Noonan’s favorite scold term: ungracious.

unrest: a euphemism for what Jelanie Cobb calls “a symbol of an entire web of failed social policies, on education, employment, health, and housing.”

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, dog whistles, canards, shibboleths and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOTP language factories, April 26-May 2, 2015

Posted on May 2, 2015 by suratsweet

anti-family pathologies: black “thug” culture in America. Part of a whole rhetorical word family that portrays blacks as immoral social leeches, likening them to animals, vermin, and disease. Makes the poor wholly responsible for their own poverty.

black anger: when Obama tells the truth, or else all that the Baltimore “thugs” are about. As a dog whistle term, this subliminally means “they’d kill all of us whites if they got the chance”.

bromides: any liberal ideas or solutions to pressing political, social, or economic issues.

conservative populism: anti-immigrant nativism, disguised as the vox populi. This is a tricky issue because big business actually opposes limited immigration–one of the few times that tea party sentiment diverges from that of big business, despite the Tea Party’s ostensibly populist rhetorical claim to represent Main street rather than Wall Street.

consumer choice: in Tea Party parlance, the net effect of deregulation. In their mind, the opposite of “consumer choice” is “government regulation”, especially any government regulation protecting or increasing consumer choice. Another example of the Tea Party Rhetorical Hall of Mirrors.

the Cult of Sexual Autonomy: includes anyone supporting marriage equality or gray rights. aka, “The American Jacobins.”

“explanations aren’t excuses”: when Tea Partiers are too ashamed to overtly state their animus against black demonstrators, they are forced to fall back on some version of the “root causes argument,” though they always undercut the argument entirely, as seen in this classic example from Jonah Goldberg in The National Review:

First of all, it’s not only plausible, but obviously true, that many of these punks had rough starts in life. Unlike the largely bogus claim that poverty and powerlessness is what creates terrorists, the root-causes argument has explanatory power for street criminals. No serious conservative disputes that poverty, joblessness, crime, family breakdown, crappy schools, etc. help explain why young men make bad choices.

But explanations aren’t excuses, even if they overlap at the margins from time to time. Bad choices are still choices, and if we don’t judge people by their choices we can’t judge people at all.

If a sane man rapes and kills a little girl but, when caught, explains how terrible his own childhood was, the civilized response of the criminal justice system must be “we don’t care.” Some crimes are moral gray areas — the man who steals bread to feed his starving family, etc. But, other crimes aren’t.

Nonetheless, a society that refuses to distinguish between people who behave criminally and people who don’t won’t be a society for very long.

And by the way, how exactly it helps the black community to say that th*gs cannot be singled out from the rest of the black community completely mystifies me. I thought the antidote to racism was judging people individually, based upon their behavior. I don’t discriminate against people because of the color of their skin, but I will freely admit I discriminate against people who burn down senior centers. But that’s just me.

Equating political demonstrators with child murderers is just an everyday version of the casual toxicity of Tea party rhetoric.

the Gaystopo. See “liberal fascism,” below.

get-out-of-jail-free card: being black and poor, at least according to Tea Party rhetoric that equates racial equality with increasing crime rates. Part of the Tea party effort to criminalize equality-seekers, and stigmatize them for a “lack of personal responsibility.” Or, as Bill O’Reilly put it this week, “With all due respect, the government cannot create opportunities for young people who are uneducated, disrespectful and unmotivated.” aka, “thugs”.

grandstand and demagogue: nouns turned into verbs to villify any public figures who come out forcefully for civil rights, human rights, economic equality, or racial justice.

hectoring: what Obama does any time he issues a moral injunction or expresses an ideal or principle. (When he does so, he’s also said to be on his “high horse”). When the Tea party does so, it’s called “defense of traditional American values”.

liberal fascism: according to Ted Cruz, any Dem defense of marriage equality or gay rights is the equivalent of fascism; any call for tolerance an injunction to intolerance and social control. Aka, the “Gaystopo”.

no antitrust problem: because Time Warner and Comcast don’t compete in any specific market, the argument was that their proposed (but now abandoned) merger would pose no antitrust problem. This is an example of the usual conundrum of Tea Party political theory that an increase in the concentration of power axiomatically leads to keener competition because the pie expands. Never mind that such proposed monopolies scare off all potential competitors, so there’s no one else left to eat the pie. (See “consumer choice,” above)

racist bogeymen: always said to be “lurking around every corner”. This is the Tea Party denigration of anyone claiming racial injustice or bigotry in America. A variant on the “there are no racists left in America except the blacks” meme.

real marriage: the diametrical opposite of gay marriage.

religious persecution: the enforcement of any anti-discrimination law against a church or religious institution. Apparently they don’t feel obligated to either pay taxes or follow the law.

Robin-Hoodism: sneering denigration of redistributionist political and economic policies.

root causes argument: see “explanations are not excuses,” above.

self-denying lifestyle: recycling, reducing water usage and waste, sustainability

“violence will not be tolerated”: except violence against black people in the form of harassment, discrimination, incarceration, and stigmatization, what N.D.B. Connolly calls “the daily violence of poverty”. or, as Ta-Nehisi Coates put it:

When nonviolence is preached as an attempt to evade the repercussions of political brutality, it betrays itself. When nonviolence begins halfway through the war with the aggressor calling time out, it exposes itself as a ruse. When nonviolence is preached by the representatives of the state, while the state doles out heaps of violence to its citizens, it reveals itself to be a con. And none of this can mean that rioting or violence is “correct” or “wise,” any more than a forest fire can be “correct” or “wise.” Wisdom isn’t the point tonight. Disrespect is. In this case, disrespect for the hollow law and failed order that so regularly disrespects the community.

voting rights protection: in the continuing “logic” of Bush v. Gore, this argument claims that various voter suppression tactics are designed to “protect” the rights of white voters.

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, phrases, canards, shibboleths and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOTP language factories, April 12-17, 2015

Posted on April 18, 2015 by suratsweet

anti-human: any environmental regulation, or policy mentioning such terms as “sustainability” or “environmental justice.” An ultimate reductio ad absurdum, equating human well-being with employment statistics. Any use of the word “sustainability” is thus stigmatized as anti-human. (used interchangeably with “job-killing” as a modifier of environmental regulation.)

baby talk; all feminist blather about gender equality, glass ceilings, etc.

the federal maw: aka, Leviathan, the “bloated state,” the force that aims to “do away with individual liberty.”. Hyperbole, anyone?

bread and condoms: what the Tea Partiers say are all that matters to Obama supporters.

free trade: as represented in the Trans Pacific Partnership, the new world economic order this treaty would enshrine is hardly free and has everything to do with corporate profit. By the same token, it hardly has to do with trade, and in commerce and tariffs, but has a lot to do with relaxed environmental, labor, and reporting standards. As Senator Bernie Sanders put it this week:

What this is about is not just trade. It is about whether this United States Congress begins to work for the middle class and working families of this country or whether it is totally owned by billionaires and their lobbyists

government power. Typical Tea Partier statement: The Left wants this controversy (police shootings of unarmed suspects, inequality, racist remarks, etc.–fill in the blanks) to be about racism, but it is in fact about the nature of government power. Any race-related issue is always caused by government, and government is always part of the problem and not part of the solution because

The institutions and the people that we deputize to secure our liberty are — it is inevitable — the most significant threat to that liberty. This is evident at all levels of government.

hyperventilating: what Dems are said to be doing when they either criticize Tea Partiers’ policies or talk about morals and ideals. Morality talk is always characterized as either dissembling and self serving, total fantasy, or a hysterical reaction (especially when it comes from women).

the Pantsuit Posse: Hillary’s supporters (see also above, “baby talk”)

preemptive capitulation: the Dems’ foreign policy doctrine. Any negotiation or strategic concession is always characterized as a “capitulation,” as if foreign policy is a zero-sum game in which we get everything or nothing

the proverbial “people”: any time the word “people” is put in fright quotes, you know it’s being mocked or belittled. In this case, not only is the very concept of populism dismissed as only “proverbial,” but so are any claims Dems make to representing the powerless.

worth: as Robert Reich points out, the notion that people are “paid what they’re worth” is a “meritocratic tautology” because the political and legal institutions that define the market “rig” the market in favor of the rich, so the moral claim that people are paid “what they deserve” is based on an immoral market, and naively separates definitions and possibilities of “worth” from the realities of power. The “market” doesn’t speak; rather, it is a ventriloquist’s dummy, manipulated by Wall Street and the banks.

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, phrases, canards, shibboleths and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOTP language factories, April 5-11, 2015

Posted on April 11, 2015 by suratsweet

anti-business: any regulation of business that gives consumers more rights, forces more transparency, outlaws fraudulent or misleading practices, regulates emissions, prohibits monopolies, etc.

anti-Christian pogrom: the “culture war against Christians”, promoted by the “pc gulag” (see below), continues unabated in the minds of the Grand Old Tea Party (GOTP). Christian soldiers have to fight to be able to discriminate against blacks and gays.

brute power: the coercion the federal government uses to regulate, or that Congressional Dems use to steamroll a bill or silence their internal critics. When GOTP members exercise power, it’s not “brute” power but, instead, “persuasion.”

casuistic reasoning: any Dem policy arguments. This term implies that only highly tortured Jesuit-like reasoning can justify outrageous Dem policies, and that Dems will stop at nothing to stop from doing anything muscular and aggressive in foreign policy

freedom: denial of service to gays and minorities

looking the American people in the eye: what Obama either can’t do because he’s spineless, or is especially prone to doing when he’s lying. In a re-maned America, this is what Scott Walker promises he’ll do to defend the wimmin & chilin’ agin the mooslims. ( see below, “taking the fight to them before they take it to us”)

militancy: any espousal of human rights equality

mob mentality: any popular Dem policy, such as gay rights, voting rights, or gun control. Note that when a Dem position is popular, it’s called “mob mentality,” but when it’s unpopular is called “being out of step with the American voter.” So all are either demagogues or elitists

nuance: snidely described as “a favorite word of the terminally precious.” Nuance is for wussies. Putin and Assad don’t do nuance, and only understand blunt force.

the pc gulag: the source of the “war on religion.” This is the “liberal elites” who tow the ideological line and use “casuistic reasoning” (see above) to toe the ideological line and never question Dem doctrine.

race relations: in GOTP terms, this means getting along with the black guy at work; in Dem terms, this means critically acknowledging and redressing the economic, social and political effects of racism. Historian Jelanie Cob actually argues that “there is no such thing as race relations in the United States”:

There is only the relative presence or absence of racism and beyond that the fuzzy euphemisms that are just a notch better than inflammatory code words (welfare, crime) in our stilted racial dialogue. Good race relations meant that hundreds of thousands of diverse Americans could huddle together against the arctic cold on the National Mall to celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama. Racism, however, meant that those black celebrants would disproportionately face police brutality, foreclosure, health disparities, and unemployment after the festivities were over.

secular seminaries: American colleges and universities.

shrill: any female or liberal critic of GOTP policies and positions.

staggering costs: the axiomatic outcome of any Dem legislation or regulation. Thus the costs of environmental regulation or social safety net programs are always “staggering,” but the costs of military spending are always not high enough.

taking America down: what Dick Cheney says may be Obama’s ultimate agenda.

taking the fight to them before they take it to us: dog-whistle code language for building support for a US re-occupation of the Middle East.

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, phrases, canards, shibboleths and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOTP language factories, March 28-April 4, 2015

Posted on April 4, 2015 by suratsweet

conscience: a cardinal virtue in GOTP terms; when Dems make conscience-based claims, however, they are called “fanatical and coercive rights.” (see below)

desperation: GOTP shorthand for Dem’s hope. See also “freakout” and “scorched earth policy” and :furious and unhinged,” below.

equality: stomping on religious liberty

fanatical, coercive rights: Democrats can’t help themselves–and become “furious and unhinged” (see below)–when they sanctimoniously claim special rights based on conscience. A moral imperative in a Republican becomes a deranged imposition on others when coming from a Democrat.

fealty: the pejorative form of loyalty. Only fit for vassals, slaves, and Dem ideologues.

fix: what the GOTP wants to do to a law when it becomes unpopular (as in the case of the Indiana and Arkansas religious freedom laws); but when the Dems want to “fix” , say, Obamacare, the GOTP says “end it, don’t mend it.”

freakout: any Dem moral or political stance; one of the ways that Dem ideals are belittled and diminished and made to appear freakishly out of touch with the “average” American.

furious and unhinged: any Dem claims of conscience or assertions of principles. This is basically akin to calling a woman “hysterical” whenever she raises her voice even an octave–a way of dismissing all arguments the GOTP finds discomfiting. Dismissal by hyperbole.

homofascism: Mike Huckabee’s spin on the backlash from Indiana and Arkansas “religious liberty” law. The revenge of the gays on lamestream culture.

indispensable nation: American exceptionalism, writ large. Let’s see, what “axis of evil” -type nations might the GOTP find “dispensable”? If a nation is truly “dispensable,” then annihilating it is morally permissible.

on paper: the pending agreement with Iran, for example, “sounds good on paper,” but when you spin out all the things that could go wrong or all the possible avenues for deception, no agreement is worth the paper it’s written on. Sometimes it seems that if Obama had written The Federalist Papers, the GOTP would say “it sounds good–on paper.”

prisoners: what orthodox Christians have become in an era of “intolerant” “political correctness” aka, pariahs, outcasts, the vilified, the smeared, the bullied, the crucified.

Selma envy: a particular malady of civil rights advocates protesting police brutality. The implication clearly is that any contemporary civil rights protests lack the moral weight of 1960’s civil rights demonstrations and marches. A particularly marginalizing and belittling smear, and a brilliant rhetorical way of turning using an iconic civil rights moment to argue against and current civil rights moments.

shield or sword?: another entirely manufactured distinction designed to undermine any liberal principle. For example, the GOTP says that the Indiana and Arkansas “religious freedom” laws are intended to be a a “shield” to ward off any interference with individual liberty, not a “sword” for bigots. yet merely saying that something is so doesn’t make it so, or, as The Onion put it, “Indiana Governor Insists New Law Has Nothing To Do With Thing It Explicitly Intended To Do.”

scorched earth policy: any Dem political tactic or moral stance. All Dem ideals are portrayed as absolutist and unyielding.

statist expansion: basically, any new law or regulation. Government is now called “statism”.

tolerance as a virtue: especially when it is invoked to defend intolerance, as in the Indiana and Arkansas “religious freedom” debate. We’re supposed to be “tolerant” of bigots.

true intent: Obama wants to make every Afro-American a welfare king or queen; Obama secretly promotes the interests of Iran over those of the US; Obamacare is a smokescreen for the “statist” takeover of all aspects of American life, etc.

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, phrases, canards, shibboleths and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOTP language factories, March 16- 20, 2015

Posted on March 20, 2015 by suratsweet

black pathology: The culprit in any killings of unarmed black people. Not only blaming the victim in general, but blaming black behavior for white racism. Also used to characterize any black criminal (“all those people”): when whites commit crimes, it’s always called an “isolated incident.”

covering ourselves in dishonor: in the Iran negotiations, this means any compromise whatsoever. To “give a little to get a lot” is to permanently stain one’s honor. They’ve been calling Obama dishonorable since the day he took office, so why stop now? “Honor” itself is one of those “daddy words” that the very patriarchal right wing has appropriated and seem to think they have custody of. (also see “giveaway deal,” below)

crushing weight of Washington: see “massive expansion,” below. The fact of the matter is that most Americans don’t feel “crushed” by Washington. After all, the most intrusive things the federal government has done is regulate clean air and water and offer health insurance.

fashionable notions: any Dem policies or issues (see “symbolism,” below). Another way of saying “politically correct,” a dismissive sneer of a phrase.

flexibility to innovate: this is the rhetorical smokescreen for block grants (which are euphemistically now called “Opportunity Grants” or “State Flexibility Funds.”). In many states, the only “innovation” will be the ways they come up with to restrict Medicaid eligibility or cut Medicaid spending.

giveaway deal: any compromise with Iran, Russia, etc.

individual choice: this is one of the main euphemisms for the privatization of Medicare and turning Medicaid into block grants to the state. This insidious term uses the old Karl Rove technique of naming something by its complete opposite. In this case, to the extent that individual choice over health care shrinks, the more choice “individuals” will be said to have.

massive expansion of Washington: it’s never just an expansion, but always has to be “massive.” The pejorative connotation of “expansion” has itself become a stand-in for any federal regulatory or taxing power, however benign, however promoting the common good.

modernizing Medicaid: Vouchers (see “premium support” below). Why do they think that it’s more “modern” to put patients entirely at the mercy of insurance companies, Big Pharm, and hospitals?

overheated: any report or public statement that blames or criticizes Republicans, the militarty, the police, or the business community

playing the race card: as Charles Blow of the NY Times puts it, “The truth is that the people who accuse others — without a shred of evidence — of ‘playing the race card,’ claiming that the accusations of racism are so exaggerated as to dull the meaning of the term, are themselves playing a card. It is a privileged attempt at dismissal.” This is another variety of “racism without racists,” or race-denying as the new racism (while it is also a very old form of racism.) Whites are quick to claim “reverse racism” when they feel threatened or discriminated against, but deny the same when the victims of discrimination are minorities.

premium support: converting Medicare from a defined benefit program, in which beneficiaries are guaranteed coverage for a fixed set of benefits, to a defined contribution or “premium support” program, in which beneficiaries are provided a fixed federal payment to help cover their health care expenses. Aka, vouchers, which, as we all know, never quite go far enough to pay for any meaningful health coverage.

religious liberty legislation: legal cover for being a bigot, racist or homophobe. Couched as a “liberty,” this concept actually means taking away someone else’s freedom and dignity.

smear: any criticism of GOTP policy positions.

symbolism: any Dem idealism, “symbolic” as in token, phony, or hypocritical.

tribal voting: the only way to explain 2008 & 2012: blacks reverting to their African tribalism. This phrase encapsulates all the rhetorical attempts to make Obama seem “un-American.” On the other hand, when large segments of the population vote for the GOTP, they’re called “voting blocks” or “the party base.”

useful political coalition: any bipartisan coalition that supports GOTP positions.

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, phrases, canards, shibboleths and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOTP language factories, March 9-15, 2015

Posted on March 15, 2015 by suratsweet

cooperative and coercive policies: according to neocon icon Doug Feith, “cooperation”, collaboration, negotiation and “multi-laterilism” are now pejoratives, stand-ins for a “radically negative” foreign policy. Much to Rand Paul’s horror, the GOTP is running on a foreign policy platform of aggression, confrontation, and unilateralism.

criminalizing political speech: actually, in a classic GOTP rhetorical sleight-of-hand, what used to be called “regulating” political speech is now characterized as nothing less than “criminalizing” it. Government regulators are thus turned into “thought police.”

culture of agitation: any left-wing protest, as in Ferguson. When the Tea Party rallies, it’s called “grassroots activism”.

fatuous idealism: according to the GOTP, is there any other kind? “Idealism” itself is now a sneer, characterized as a stand-in for naivete, weakness, and delusional self-aggrandizement.

moral framework: another of those seemingly universal, neutral terms that, when politicized, comes to mean its opposite. For example, when Charles Murray and others blame blacks for their own poverty, the implicit (and sometimes explicit) argument is that they lack a “moral framework,” as if they are amoral creatures, even sub-human. This argument has been around for a long time–the current shorthand code for it is when the wingnuts portray Obama as a monkey.

permissiveness: in the conservative moral lexicon, permissiveness is the root of all inequality. Blaming poverty, racism and inequality on the ’60s has never really gone away as a rhetorical trope, just as 60’s demonstrators are still secretly blamed for “losing” the Vietnam War. Permissiveness itself is actually of course a pejorative term for freedom: sexual freedom, gender and identity freedom, racial freedom, etc., but usually limited in conservative circles to being the opposite of the cardinal virtues of restraint, “monogamy, sobriety, fidelity, and thrift,” in the words of Russ Douthait. Oh, the profligate, spendthrift, animal instincts of those negroes, most of whom lack a “moral framework.”

political indoctrination centers: colleges and universities, especially in the social sciences and humanities, hyperbolicly said to be “worthy of the high Stalinist Era or the age of Mao’s Cultural Revolution.”

pull up your socks: the gist of the conservative framing of racial inequality in America: get over it, take personal responsibility, be an autonomous person, quit being a dependent, working on the neo-liberal “plantation.” This limited definition of freedom scants notions of public good and civic engagement. It’s a kind of Hobbesian Choice.

stabilize: in GOTP language, this means nothing less than US dominance. Any contested foreign area not under our direct influence is, by definition, unstable. Thus, for example, a kind of two state, federalist solution in Ukraine is unacceptable because the U.S. would not be the dominate power.

treaties: according to neocon icon Doug Feith, treaties are lumped with going along with the UN and other world bodies and massively cutting defense spending as the hallmarks of a “radically negative”, “cooperative” foreign policy. (see “cooperative and coercive,” above).

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, phrases, canards, shibboleths and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOTP language factories, Feb. 21-28, 2015

Posted on February 27, 2015 by suratsweet

ambushing: asking Scott Walker a question. Actually, any challenging question is now called a “gotcha” question (see below), making the very act of even asking questions “divisive” (see below).

cheerleading for Islam: any defense of Islamic faith as anything other than bent on revenge and religious intolerance.

compromising: sending a bill to the President’s desk.

contextualization: complicating simple moral choices, like when to attack other nations. Obama is now being accused of “contextualizing,” which is now a synonym for prevaricating, stalling, or avoiding any decision. As the saying goes, if you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail–never mind any mitigating circumstances.

division: always “sown”, always by Dems. Somehow, in the rhetorical world created by Karl Rove and David Frum, everything is really its opposite: social safety nets are racist and keep blacks on a “plantation economy”; Obamacare is bad because it forces people off insurance; net neutrality is not away to stop monopolies from charging “fast lane” taxes, but actually a way for the government to take over the internet and hobble it. Dem policies are, by definition, divisive, not because they divide the country but because they undercut GOTP policies.

estrangement from America: of course, what Obama has been accused of since his inauguration: a stranger in our midst, the “other,” an outsider. Sort of like being an “estranged” husband: not really a husband at all. The ultimate estrangement, f course (see “division,” below) is between Americans (i.e. Republicans), and everyone else–a broad group that now includes, in Scott Walker’s moral political universe, liberals, terrorists, labor unions and school teachers.

“gotcha” question: according to the Urban Dictionary, any question that Sarah Palin is too stupid to answer.

heavy hand: of government (see “intrusion,” below)

human imperfection: therefore, according to GOTP dogma, there should be as little government as possible. Of course, a rational argument would be for the opposite remedy: the need for law, civil order and agreed-upon moral standards.

inquisition: any one question Scott Walker (see “ambushing,” above), climate change skeptics, or opponents of immigration. This smear connotes intolerance, bigotry and persecution; it is a defensive term, and the opposite of inquisitiveness, ort asking questions for their own sake.

intrusion: any governmental control over private life, This characterization turns government in general–the constitution, laws, regulations etc.– into some crazed home invader, someone intent only on stealing what isn’t theirs, threatening thw wimmin & chilrun, and inflicting lasting harm.

narcissism: the ultimate charge against Obama. As the argument goes, his outsized (and unwarranted) self-regard compels him to make speeches rather than act, to arrogate unconstitutional power onto himself via executive actions, and place everything in the context of his image and legacy. This reduction of every Obama policy position to an ego boost has the rhetorical effect of rendering any of his acts or statements adolescent and self-centered or “non-serious”. They often liken him to Holden Caulfield.

proving themselves: what welfare recipients need to do via drug tests. in fact, a ubiquitous blood testing regime is the only “humane” way to treat them.

takeover: GOTP language for any Obama policy initiative, especially any regulation over “free” markets. Policies such as net neutrality and Obamacare are never characterized as just regulations, but “takeovers,” as if Obama is building a Mussolini-style corporate tyranny. Such terms are key to the concentrated fury directed against net neutrality, which has been also been hysterically called a “power grab,” a “depressing moment for American innovation and economic liberty,” and outright Marxist control over the entire economy. Typical rhetorical overkill whenever profits are threatened.

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, phrases, canards, shibboleths and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOTP language factories, Jan 24-Feb. 9, 2015

Posted on February 9, 2015 by suratsweet

(GOTP= Grand Old Tea Party)

consumers: “the consumer is king,” but only as far as the “free market” allows. So when it comes to a regulatory crossroads such as “net neutrality,” (see “hoary regulations”, “innovation” and “micromanaging,” below), consumers are said the be the ultimate victims of government regulation. However, when it comes to tax breaks, set -asides, subsidies, lobbying, and the hobbling of financial reform, all the power flows to the corporations. The “consumer” card is only played when consumers are at the most risk from the private sector.

crony capitalism: how government works under the Dems, who are portrayed as totally corrupt. When the GOTP does it, it’s called “public policy” or “regulatory reform” or “tax reform.”

gambit: any Dem strategic move or policy statement. Worse than a “talking point.”

hoary regulations: any existing statute or policy that “throttles” the “animal spirits” of the “free market.” Regulation is thus seen as the old model of governance, deregulation as the future of governance.

innovation: in the GOTP rhetorical imaginary, a sanctified term, standing for everything that the guvment wants to either control or stifle. Innovation only happens when individuals are left alone–never mind the advent of the internet, the space program, the federal highway system, etc.

micromanaging: any statute or regulation that affect business. Guvment cannot “manage,” but only “micromanage,” because it simply wants to run (=ruin) everything.

nebulous: any Obama statement of idealism, hope or social justice. To believe the GOTP, Obama is incapable of making a principled or idealistic statement that has any coherence whatsoever–he lives in a fogged-in rhetorical fairy land.

the political class: any Dems in power or in the public eye. GOTPers in the public eye are called “reformers” or “political leaders.”

populism, Koch-style: like “consumers” (see above), in the topsy-turvy world of GOTP rhetoric, words mean the opposite of what they’re assumed to mean, and the very people meant to be protected are left at the mercy of the corporations and super-rich. So, for example, the Koch Brothers have the audacity to claim the mantle of “populists” when they talk about how they’re going to spend a billion dollars influencing the 2016 Presidential election because they speak “for the people” and “free speech,” (though obviously paid political speech is obviously far from “free” in any sense of the word.)

power grab: any Dem law or regulation

unending spectacle: shorthand for the ragtag combination of unending scandals and ineptitudes of the Obama administration that the GOP has invented as a kind of general miasma that envelopes everything Obama does. This universal field theory links uop everything Obama does or that has happened in his administration. It gets recited as an ever-growing inventory: from Fast and Furious to Benghazi to the :reset” with Putin.

weakened US security: anything Obama says or does, especially any foreign policy. By definition, he can only do damage to America as Commander in Chief because he is on a perpetual “apology tour.”

weird and unbecoming: any criticism of America, persecutions by Christians, etc. Obama is thus “othered” in exact proportion to the severity of his criticism of any so-called “core American values.”

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, phrases, canards, shibboleths and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOTP language factories, Jan 7-15, 2015

Posted on January 16, 2015 by suratsweet

Note: GOTP=Grand Old Tea Party

canonization: what Dems do when they praise anyone for political or moral acts. See, for example, Edward Snowden. Also implies that anyone the Left champions is immune to criticism because of phony sainthood.

displayed: When a particular image becomes controversial or toxified, it suddenly isn’t just “shown” any more, but “displayed.” The very use of this pejorative to restrain free speech raises the question of the sanctity of absolute “free speech.” (see “tolerance,” below).

dynamic scoring: the GOTP’s latest ploy to get the CBO to cook the books to mitigate the apparent fiscal impact of tax cuts.

environmental fastidiousness: any form of environmental protection or regulation. In fact, any environmental policy is now called a “catechism”–the strengthening of dogma through ritual and language.

the fundamental transformation of America: what then entire Obama administration has aimed for: to change all necessary laws and traditions to redistribute wealth, promote racial divisiveness, and undermine the wealthy and middle class.

governance: any public policy that cuts taxes and reduces regulation.

lecture: what Obama, in all his pomposity and self-superiority, does whenever he makes a public statement.

limited government: in GOTP terms, “the government that governs least governs best”–unless it comes to tax breaks, abortion bans, electronic snooping, price supports, oil subsidies, etc.

obsession: any consistent Dem policy; see especially climate change.

peace through strength: an old rhetorical Cold War warhorse now being saddled up again to prepare for an aggressive new War Against Terrorism.

pro-free market: NEVER to be confused with pro-business”.

racism: anything that makes white people feel bad about being white; any use of the word “privilege” in this context.

Reducing Small Business Burdens: the highly euphemistic and misleading title of a recent House bill to deregulate the securities industry. Like any GOTP that purports to “make technical corrections” in tax or regulatory law, follow the money to understand the true effects of these “technical adjustments.”

tolerance: this term has become politicized in the wake of the Paris massacres. Just which statements of Islamic faith are “too radical?” Is the Left too careful (actually, too “craven”) to not “offend” Muslims? The GOTP asks, how much more can we mollify Muslims before we recognize them for who they are: America’s mortal enemies? In their terminology, tolerance is now called a “fetish”.