Category Archives: glossary

Glossary, June 1-23, 2013

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answers: what the populace is supposedly “demanding” from the Obama administration in regards to the Four Scandals. In the GOP infinite regree machine, the more “answers” the Obama administration provides on any of the four topics, the more questions are raised. (see also: “demanding”)

cap and trade: stalking horse for redistributionism and shackling energy producers and corporate “job creators”.

court packing: any Obama judicial nomination. Synonyms with “regulatory overreach”.

demanding: (verb): the American public’s quenchless thirst for “accountability” from Obama. The more they get, the more they seem to “demand,” like some deranged beast. The “demand” side always exceeds the supply side.

distracted: any talk of economic recovery, all intended to veer attention away from the sacred Three Scandals. At some very recent point in the GOP rhetorical bubble, improving economic data became the distraction, but “Benghazi” is never seen as a distraction and dry hole.

shakedown: what HUD does to banks to get them to lend more to minorities.

shamnesty: GOP shorthand for any “pathway to citizenship” for current immigrants.

the truly needy: the wedge term to justify the exclusion of hundres of thousands of food stamp recipients. Synonymous with “the truly desperate”.

upward mobility: the American Dream, always hamstrung by the “welfare state” and “government regulation,” never by corporate greed or economic stagnation.

Glossary, May 17-27, 2013

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an anatomy of key memes, phrases and obsessions in Wall Street Journal editorials and other precincts of the GOP blogosphere, May 17-27, 2013

accountable: what Obama’s “imperial”and “detached” Presidency isn’t, even though he’s been elected twice and has high favorability ratings.

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Glossary, May 7-16, 2013

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an anatomy of key memes, phrases and obsessions in Wall Street Journal editorials and other precincts of the GOP blogosphere, May 7-16, 2013

and don’t forget the four people who died in Benghazi: insert in almost any story about the IRS, the AP, Obamacare, Iran, Syria, etc.  Now the rhetorical equivalent of adding “in bed” to the end of a fortune cookie message.

concerns are rising: passive voice and passive-aggressiveness combined in one opening rhetorical gambit.

Hamlet: Obama’s Syria dithering.

I don’t mean to be negative, but….: a typical Fox News correspondent’s rhetorical move after savaging Obama for a minute or so. This is usually a transition to even more savaging. Beyond passive aggressiveness. See also “concern is growing”.

overreach: any Obama administration initiative. Anything beyond a libertarian view of extremely limited government.

real facts: whatever the prevailing GOP meta-narrative is about any given issue of the day. These are always concealed by Obama, and whatever he says he can never “come clean,” both literally and symbolically.

scandal: anything the GOP finds questionable about the Obama administration. Benghazi, for example, is now always called a “scandal”, even though—like Whitewater—there is no apparent crime.

skills-based immigration:  state of the artHeritage Foundation dog-whistle term for screening immigrants by projected productivity & IQ. For a devastating chronology of how this term -basically a eugenics-based argument-has evolved, see Charles Blow’s 5/9/13 NY Times column, “Terms of Art.”

Glossary, April 20-27, 2013

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an anatomy of key memes, phrases and obsessions in Wall Street Journal editorials and other precincts of the GOP blogosphere, April 20-27, 2013

assimilation:the first casualty of the Boston bombings. (See also “food stamp jihadists” and “the ethnic grievance lobby”).

character: (see also, “moral compass”).  A trump-card virtue, considered to be exclusively possessed by Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, and, lately and astonishingly, Bush 43.  Lacking this virtue, Obama is always merely “calculating” and bent upon his collectivist, totalitarian, redistributionist makeover of the United States.

entitlement culture: the source of all ills in America; the nation of “takers, not makers”; Food Stamp America.  Evil spawn of earlier “moocher” memes such as “hippie” culture and myths of Negro laziness. Apparently, though, corporations are entitled to tax breaks, legal immunity, and subsidies.

the ethnic grievance lobby: along with Big Business and Big Labor, the main political force behind immigration reform.

food stamp jihadists: The Boston Massacre bombings are looking to be a trifecta for the GOP: immigrant-bashing,  welfare bashing, and a renewed war of eternal vigilance against “terror”.

people control: the real aim of the “gun control” (aka, “gun grabbers”) crowd.

sequester scare strategy:  any furloughs or budget cuts that are dire enough to nudge public opinion toward the Kenyan Pretender. The GOP always suggests alternative budget cuts, usually  for ridiculous-sounding (but sound) research projects, office supplies, travel budgets, or Acorn (“community organizing”)-style funding. These alternatives are always referred as “smart spending”.

socialist degeneration, cycle of: creating a reduced, weakened private sector that can’t generate enough jobs to raise the working poor out of poverty.

Third World experience: part of the growing GOP Politiscript lexicon for Obamacare. (See also “train wreck” ).  In this case, shorthand for FUBAR. The Republicans can never admit that any aspect of Obamacare is anything other than a catastrophic meltdown of the entire health care system and the inevitable result of government trying to do anything.

tolerance: liberals giving into sentiment about suspending civil liberties—no one is tolerant in a foxhole or when it comes to approving secret domestic wiretaps.

Glossary, April 12-19, 2013

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an anatomy of key memes, phrases and obsessions in Wall Street Journal editorials and other precincts of the GOP blogosphere, April 12-19, 2013

angry: any expression of emotion from President Obama.

anti-antiterror: so-called media bias against racial profiling. In the wake of the Boston bombing, racial profiling is on the upsurge.

common sense: akin to natural law, human nature, or gravity, and bearing a surprising overlap with Tea Party position The DNA of instincts and values. (see “moral clarity.” Below).

the “do something” caucus: those intent on any form of gun control. The do-nothings carried the day.

“gun control”: always in fright quotes. Gun controllers= “gun grabbers”. Similar to “so-called “assault’ rifles”.

elitist: any Obama moral position, whether on gun control, immigration, climate change, etc. In GOP rhetoric, it is virtually impossible for Obama to take a moral stand on anything without appearing “insufferably condescending”, “superior-feeling” and engaging in “meddling and moralistic overreach”.

The Homeland: still a battlefield, thank God, thanks to the Boston bombers. Even though Dzhokar Tsarnaev  is an American citizen, he does not deserve any  Miranda rights

moral clarity: The missing gene in the DNA of Obama foreign policy. Moral clarity, on the other hand, is the key gene in the DNA of invasion, war and occupation.

moral relativism: the Boy Scouts yielding to the “homosexual agenda” by allowing gay members.

obsessives:  anyone suggesting alternatives to carbon energy

train wreck: mandatory synonym for ObamaCare. The Tea Party faithful eagerly anticipate “the coming train wreck,” and will do everything they can to make it happen. ObamaCare is doomed to sink under its own regulatory obesity until it becomes a purely lean and mean “market-based approach”.

Glossary, April 5-12, 2013

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an anatomy of key memes, phrases and obsessions in Wall Street Journal editorials and other precincts of the GOP blogosphere, April 5-12, 2013

distortions: what happens when markets aren’t “unleashed”. Tax breaks & loopholes, heavily-lobbied regulatory loopholes, legal immunity and similar market-rigging measures are never considered distortions, but “adjustments”.

economic freedom, national self-respect and personal virtue: the triumvirate of virtues represented by Margaret Thatcher. sold them to a skeptical public and then demonstrated their efficacy.

gender equity: not measured by comparable wages or working conditions, but by deregulation, legal immunity and free markets.

giveaways.  Any federal subsidies of “green energy”.

housing bubble. Always created by the federal government’s loose money, over-reliance on ratings agencies, and reckless promotion of home ownership. Private sector malfeasance or deception never a factor.

entitlement programs: the subsidizing of one-third of the adult lives of all baby boomers.

Medicare; a failed program with bargain-basement reimbursement payments and bureaucratic regulations that lower the quality of overall care.

Obama budget: “a national economic suicide pact”.

productive citizens. Those who work and save.  The antithesis of Occupy activists. The makers, not the takers.

projecting weakness: in foreign affairs, any multilateral reaching out to build coalitions. See, for example, the US turning to China to help with North Korea. aka “decline”

risk premium: the all-purpose GOP defense of businesses’ refusing to hire and banks refusing to lend. As if they will never hire or lend if any risk is involved. Akin to “uncertainty” as an all-weather GOP explanation of slow economic growth. These terms are also very likely to appear in any analysis of ObamaCare.

Socialist England: like Obama’s America, any middle-left administration that emphasizes anything except self-reliance and free markets. In Socialist regimes, the working and middle class “award themselves lifestyles they aren’t willing to earn”.

spending cuts.  If projected by the Obama administration, then not actual cuts so long as any money is being spent anywhere on new programs. Most only be net, not gross.

unleash: what Thatcher & the GOP does to markets; rampant deregulation.

 

Glossary, March 16-April 4, 2013

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an anatomy of key memes, phrases and obsessions in Wall Street Journal editorials and other precincts of the GOP blogosphere, March 16-April 4, 2013

accumulated social capital: everything the “dependency, decadence” and “demographic decline” will undo.

background checks: the camel’s nose under the tent for the intrusion of the government into every aspect of life

built environment: federal government plans to force development away from the suburbs and into the cities (see also, “smart policies”)

continuing resolution: perhaps the only way to stop ObamaCare

economic growth: once you get when you remove “fairness” and “rights” as guiding principles

infanticide: Planned Parenthood

juggernaut: always modified “gay marriage”

grandiose: ObamaCare and taking credit for the Arab Spring

greedy: the inevitable modifier of “bosses” and “unions”. Also, the “goons” responsible for Stockton’s bankruptcy.

inflexible: Congressional Democrats (aka, “Obamabots”)

marriage culture=traditional culture

panic: what the climate change folks are all about

Predator In Chief

punitive political correctness—a totally secular state

the sacred procreative essence of marriage. Without it, all we get is human rubble

Scandinavians: shorthand for godless believers in procreation without marriage or marriage without procreation

self-insulating elite

smart policies:The Obama administration wants to force so-called smart growth policies on the country: get out of your car, stay out of the suburbs, move into small, tightly-packed urban apartment complexes, and walk or take public transportation instead of driving. http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/343242/obamas-plans-suburbs-and-how-stop-them-stanley-kurtz

ultimate security guarantor: what the US is and always will be. This is not in any way to be interpreted as a “burden”.

US military: Obama’s cultural laboratory where social change can be fast-tracked without the messiness of dealing with Congress

Glossary, March 4-15, 2013

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an anatomy of key memes, phrases and obsessions in Wall Street Journal editorials and other precincts of the GOP blogosphere, March 4-15, 2013

anti-carbon agenda Obama administration’s energy policy. aka, “Walden Pond”. See also: “manufactured hysteria”
balanced budget, budget gimmicks “balanced budget” is what the GOP uses as a smokescreen to avoid talking about the details of the latest Ryan budget; every Dem budget proposal is a “gimmick”.
campaign mode Whenever the administration asserts itself. Always contrasted to “governing,” which is what the GOP House does when it asserts itself
comprehensive cost-sharing in Medicare Means-testing
confidence What the business sector lacks; can only be supplied by trickle-down economics and tax cuts
crony government Dems’ web of Wall Street/Green Sector/Hollywood connections
faith in the people The heart of the new GOP with a human face; always contrasted to the Dems’ “faith in government”
inflexible Obama on the budget: no matter what spending cuts he proposes, GOP claims he is “inflexible” and offers no cuts
manufactured hysteria Climate change; The Church of Global Warming
overreach All-purpose word for gun control, carbon tax, affirmative action, Obamacare
risk premium Cart blanche for insurers to charge whatever they want due to Obamacare’s mandate of universal coverage
The One Continuing meme of Obama The Supreme; aka, the Obamaborg, Caesaropapism; The Prince of Pennsylvania Avenue, a “distilled Alynskyite”, a “utilitarianism that would make Machiavelli shudder”

Frank Rich’s “Dictionary of New Republican Usage”

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Hat’s off to Frank Rich’s seminal unmasking of GOP revival rhetoric, “Lipstick on an Elephant,” in the March 3 issue of  New York magazine. Rich’s accompanying “Dictionary of New Republican Usage” is worth citing in its entirety:

American path. The right way for America to proceed. Antonym: Government path.

1. “We can either go down the government path or the American path. The left is trying to turn the government path into the American path.”
—Bobby Jindal, 1/24/13

Axis of enlightenment. Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, George P. Bush.

1. “[They] create what I call that axis of enlightenment when it comes to immigration. I mean, [Rubio]’s got the policy. He’s in touch with, I think, the lives of ordinary people. And he’s a very accessible guy. He talks about being a working dad and juggling his own priorities.”
—Nicolle Wallace, 2/10/13

Children, the. The way to talk about immigration.

1. “I think that a good place to start is with children … We’ve got families who are here that have become part of the fabric of our country, right? And we want to make sure that we’re compassionate and sensitive to their plight. I mean, these kids know no ­other place as home.”
—Eric Cantor, 2/10/13

Controlling spending. Replaces “capping spending.”

1. “What angers Americans more than how much politicians spend today is how much more they know Washington will waste tomorrow. A ‘cap’ can be lifted, but ‘controls’ are constant.”
—Frank Luntz, 1/11/13

Fantastic four, the. Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, Bobby Jindal, and Eric Cantor.

1. “While calling them the ‘fantastic four’ might seem hyperbolic—and unfair to a few other politicians left out of the mix—[they] are a pretty good counter-argument to those who think the Republican Party is doomed. Excellent politicians all, three out of four are minorities: a Hispanic, an Indian-American, and a Jew—which sounds like they should be walking into a bar for a joke.”
—Jonah Goldberg, 2/11/13

Great Opportunity Party. Replaces “Grand Old Party.”

1. “From this day forward, the GOP will be known as the Great Opportunity Party.”
—Marsha Blackburn, 8/28/12

Variants: Growth and Opportunity Party; Government of the People Party.

2. “We’re the growth-and-opportunity party. We are the government-of-the-people party. And that needs to be the point of view and the perspective that we come from and that we carry our message forth.”
—Blackburn, 1/27/13

Judeo-Christian approach. The other way to talk about “illegal immigration.”

1. “I think the word ‘illegal immigration’ is a false name. You are talking about two separate issues. One is sovereignty … The media trying to make America feel guilty because we want borders—that, to me, is complete bullshit. Immigration is a separate issue … We should all defend sovereignty, then take a Judeo-Christian approach to immigration.”
—Roger Ailes, 2/11/13

More efficient and effective. Replaces “smaller” in discussions of government.

1. “Instead of smaller government, [Republicans] should talk about more efficient and effective government. The former is ideological language of the eighties; the latter is practical language of today.”
—Luntz, 1/11/13

Prudence. What is required for a Republican rebirth.

1. “Prudence is good judgment in the art of governing. Abraham Lincoln called it ‘one of the cardinal virtues’ … The prudent man is like a captain at sea. He doesn’t curse the wind. He uses it—to reach his destination … If we take the prudent course, we’ll be in good company. Our founders were men of prudence … Our country is worth the fight. With your help—and with a touch of prudence—we will win it.”
—Paul Ryan, 1/26/13

Simpler, flatter, and fairer tax code. Replaces “tax reform.”

1. “ ‘Tax reform’ is about the process, what they’re looking for is the result.”
—Luntz, 1/14/13

Variants: Lower, flatter, simpler tax code; Fairer, simpler tax code.

2. “When it comes to the tax code, we as the Republican Party have to make it very clear: We are for a lower, flatter, simpler tax code.”
—Jindal, 11/18/12

3. “Everyone agrees a fairer, simpler tax code would give all of us more time.”
—Cantor, 2/5/13

Welcoming in. A new kind of Republican tent-building. Replaces “reaching out.”

1. “Republicans want to be a party for every American in every neighborhood in every state … That’s why we must stop talking about ‘reaching out’ and start working on ‘welcoming in.’ ”
—Reince Priebus and Ashley Bell, 2/6/13

Glossary, Feb. 26-March 2, 2013

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an anatomy of key memes, phrases and obsessions in Wall Street Journal editorials and other precincts of the GOP blogosphere, Feb. 26-March 3, 2013

balanced cuts spending cuts replacing any tax hike
campaign mode whenever Obama leaves Washington to make a speech; what Peggy Noonan calls his “soft-voiced pugilism”
flexibility, moving money between accounts allowing the GOP to brandish their own line-item veto on the entire federal budget
government workers Krauthammer: “nepotistic incompetents”
mainstream media “house-broken” by Obama
Medicare premium support means-testing.
muscle and fat ; (aka, “non-essential fluff”) any federal programs for: job-training, nutrition assistance, teacher quality, financial literacy, homelessness alleviation or teen pregnancy
private world (aka, “imperious overreach”) continuing meme of Obama’s weirdness, aloofness,  haughtiness, superiority complex
squander what happens when Democrats spend money on anything; 85% of gvt. spending is “sinfully wasteful and corrupt”
Voting Rights Act, Section V a politicized weapon. Scalia: “a perpetuation of racial entitlement”. Any reference to race is now called “racialism”.