Category Archives: glossary

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

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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

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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, Feb. 10-20, 2015

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bad behavior: (racial authenticity; black pathology). What blacks do naturally.

climate change skeptic: climate change denier

death grip: as in “the EPA’s veritable death grip” over all US businesses.” An exaggerated way of saying “regulation.”

desperation and bad faith: basically, the underlying motivation and moral bankruptcy of any Obama policy position.

divisive: any Dem policy or regulation that the GOTP disagrees with. The logic of this rhetorical ploy is that any division in the country comes form the Dems, and thus the only way to “heal” the country is for the GOTP to entirely get its way.

European-style regulation: any regulation, in the eyes of the GOTP. Synonymous with tyranny and guvment control over people’s lives (see “imposing values on individuals,” below). Never mind that in virtually every major quality-of-life ranking, European nations come out at or near the top.

imposing values on individuals: the ultimate violation of personal sovereignty. In this Ayn Rand moral universe, there are no social norms or laws that need be followed if they conflict with one’s personal values. Any social or moral standard is thus an unwarranted imposition.

intone: what Dems do when they make a speech or statement.

moral authority. = leadership, engagement; moral claim, moral self-confidence. Can only come from the individual, since everyone is apparently self-authoring. It’s hard, however,  to reconcile this concept of any “authority” whatsoever with concepts of individual autonomy.

power grab: any Dem law or policy.

reChristianize Europe: what the GOTP would do to counter the ISIS Caliphate. Look for a second Crusade if they get into power.

temporizing: any Obama foreign policy. Other things he does: prevaricates, dithers, avoids, placates, apologizes, ponders, equivocates.

terror denial: any Dem. policy that calls for anything less than a belligerent, aggressive military response to ISIS. Any attempt to point out that most all Muslims are peace-loving is now called “terror denial.” Soon enough, any tolerance for Islam whatsoever will be the equivalent of supporting Germany or Japan in WW II.

vandalism: Obama v. US Constitution.

victimhood: what the “politically correct” claim whenever possible, aka “the grievance industry.” This term masterfully turns the tables, transforming those being persecuted into prosecutors, thus doubly victimizing anyone who claims discrimination.

work force needs: what Scott Walker wants to be the main mission of the University of Wisconsin, replacing the idea of “the search for truth.” Part of the assault on academic freedom, this mandate naively assumes that the primary purpose of a college education is to get a job afterwards. Turns R-1 universities into voc-tec institutes.

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

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(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

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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”.

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, phrases, canards, shibboleths and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOTP language factories, Dec. 29, 2014-Jan 6, 2015

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note: GOTP=Grand Old Tea Party

adherence to the rule of law: like “Constitutional originalism” or “American exceptionalism,” this is a GOTP appeal to so-called natural law.  By definition, any GOTP law or policy is orderly and supportive of “common sense” values, whereas any Dem law or policy is by definition unruly, irrational, and socially destructive. Just another instance of “how the GOTP saved civilization” rhetoric.

balancing : lip-service phrase for seeming to compromise when you actually have no intention. Somehow, the “balance” always seems to tip in favor of the GOTP. For example, fracking proponents argue that they are willing to “balance” (or “take into account”–another weasle phrase) their position against “environmental concerns.” But they always have their finger on the scale: when the “balancing” is done, the fix is in.

first principles: GOTP bedrock: Constitutional originalism (always “strictly adhered to”), limiting the federal government, and protecting individual liberties. Dems, by contrast, don’t have “principles” so much as “dogmas” or “ideologies”. GOTP “first principles” serve “the people,” whereas Dem policies serve “cronies and special interests.”

gridlock is a good thing: only GOTP Congress members–people with government jobs, being paid with taxpayer money–has the audacity to say that Washington gridlock is a good thing because it means no governmental acts are taking place.  Using their usual form of reverse English, where everything means its opposite, their highest principles are thus realized when they get paid for doing nothing.

judicial engagement:  when the GOTP agrees with court decisions; judicial “activism”, on the other hand, is when courts implement Dem laws & policies, or overturn GOTP laws & policies,. (see “adherence to the rule of law,” above)

malign: what libs do when they criticize the police.

market-driven and patient-centered: the paradox at the heart of the GOTP’s Obamacare alternatives. This mythical creature could also be called a griffin, minotaur or dragon: pure fantasy. As if anything that is purely “market driven” can be anything other than that.

mob: any public gathering opposing GOTP policies or positions. Sometimes, in a nifty bit of thinly-veiled racism, it’s called a “lynch-mob mentality”. When Teabaggers gather, it’s simply called a “crowd.”

self-government: since any government is axiomatically nothing but “meddlesome,” it’s useful for the GOTP to enforce this dichomy netween “free people” somehow governing themselves, and “Washington — its officeholders-for-life, its strangling bureaucratic sprawl, its incestuous network of staffers and lobbyists, its naked cronyism, and its invested media.” Apparently, every person is to be a government of one; radical self-reliance without any mitigating mutuality; freedom without responsibility.

the time for debate is over: what either side says when they are losing the argument.

 

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, phrases, canards, shibboleths and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOTP language factories, Dec. 15-24, 2014

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note: GOTP stands for Grand Old Tea Party

America hater: Obama, who loves the Cubans, Russians, Iranians, and illegal immigrants too much.

America’s moral standing: something Obama always talks about, but the GOTP actually does something about. This is the gold standard for GOTP criticism of Obama foreign policy because anything short of aggressive, unilateral action “tears down America” and “gives comfort to the bad guys”. Like the gold standard, only the GOTP seems to have the golden tablets on which are inscribed ways to gauge “America’s moral standing”.

anti-fossil fuel masochism: any opposition to fracking, coal production, or the use and consumption  of fossil fuels. Thus being “green” is not only to destroy the economy  but also to destroy oneself. Greenies are pathologically self-loathing.

comrades, cronies and pals: Obama supporters, especially any person or business getting a tax break or benefiting from a change in regulatory policy. The Grand Old Tea Party, of course, has “allies” and “supporters” rather than  comrades, cronies and pals.

demonizing the police: a prophylactic term intended to render the police immune from criticism. In this meme, freedom, as represented by the police, is equated with obeying authority, and order is privileged over justice. This all-purposecharge exemspts police from the social contract and the law.

hyena pack: journalists, progressive activist and trial lawyers (especially those pursuing class-action suits against corporations.

inappropriate: in the Peggy Noonan, moral scold, family of rhetorical sneers. An “adult” word, like “honor”, “dignity,” “duty,” etc. Somehow, Dems are always, like children, a little “inappropriate” and untempered in their public utterances. Any direct challenge to received GOTP pieties or shibboleths is automatically “inappropriate”. The idea of what is actually “appropriate” is lodged in the “moral bedrock” (see below) that only the GOTP seems to be born with.

to increase choice and competition:  Hold onto your wallet whenever you hear this ominous incantation. It’s axiomatic that decreased regulation and scrutiny invariably, over time, tend to lead to less choice and competition, but these two words are classic cases of what John Lanchester calls “reversification” of terms–when words become their opposites.

it’s only with hindsight: this is a deflective, prophylactic term, used to shield GOTP from especially effective challenges or criticism: e.g., it’s only “after the fact” or “with hindsight” that waterboarding and other “harsh interrogation policies” might be seen as amounting to torture. Invidious moral distinctions that run counter to GOTP dogma are thus portrayed as impossible to imagine in real time. (see also, “reasonable people can disagree,” below).

let the courts figure it out: another immunizing meme, intended to stifle public debate and free speech. Don’t criticize the legality of police actions because you aren’t “qualified” to speak out on subjects of justice, social equity, and morals or ethics.

moral bedrock: any GOTP ideology. Dem morality rests on the shifting sands of “moral relativism” and permissiveness. Playing this rhetorical card goes toward establishing one’s ethos. It is on this very bedrock that civilization itself rests.

norms of public speech: what deBlasio and Obama violate whenever they speak about race relations in America. This is a rhetorical term of scolding, based on high moral dudgeon that such “bleeding heart” Dems are irresponsible and “inappropriate”. (See above). This charge is typically couched in rhetoric around the notion of “truth,” which itself becomes relative when weighed against “appropriateness”.

political operatives, cowards, and apologists: anyone still supporting Obama. (see also, “comrades, cronies and pals,” above)

the political unrest of the 60s:  pejorative description of The Civil Rights Movement

pro-growth policies: like progress, “growth” is said to only be possible in an environment of such “free market” policies as right-to-work legislation, private school vouchers, and pension and tort reform. In other words, the only way to promote growth is to cripple unions, reduce retirement benefits and make corporations basically immune from litigation, especially class action suits.

reasonable people can disagree; you can disagree with those rules or facts: another prophylactic term, and a false claim to rationality, and a misleading, startegically concessionary term. When the GOTP prefaces their rhetorical attacks on Dems with this phrase, they are really saying that even if the facts work against them, they are morally in the right.

stifling: what government inevitably does to innovation and competition. the “animal spirits” of business yearn to live free and unfettered.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, euphemisms, sneers, innuendos, and meta-narratives in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, Nov 29-Dec. 9, 2014

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(it’s) all about the country: (see “civilization”, below). This meme is trotted out in times of civil unrest or widespread dissent. Too much dissent undermines America, “tears at its very fabric,” etc. These dissenters put America into “retreat” (see below).

America in retreat: the mastermeme characterizing the Obama administration. Barry may have put us into “retreat,” according to this conceit, but we never go into “decline,” thanks to the free market and the forces of “liberty”.

anti-police ideology: any criticism of policing tactics. Such criticism is not fact-based but ideological (see “facts,” below), and is always characterized as “poisonous” or “toxic” to “civilization” (see below).

bureaucratic bloat: all government workers. The best government is the “thinnest” one.

civilization: this c-word gets played whenever there is civil unrest or mass dissent. Those in possession of the “facts” (see below) are the keepers of the flame of civilized behavior; everyone else is a “savage”. Read Huck Finn for the best critique of this position.

conspicuous compassion: all the Dems have to fall back on, instead of standing for the daddy words: truth, duty, honor, justice, security, liberty.

facts: whatever the GrandOldTeaParty says, since they are the “daddy” party. Thus in the cse of the Ferguson grand jury, the only “credible” “facts” or witnesses were those that exonerated Wilson. Dems don’t have “facts” (as in the case of climate change), but only opinions or “lies”. The basic argument underlying this position is that Dems only espouse “values” because they want power, not out of ethical principles. (See “conspicuous compassion,” above).

pitchfork justice: populism. When Dems demonstrate, it’s likened to a mobocracy, an irrational avenging army of self-righteous hypocrites; when the GOTP takes to the streets, it’s called “grassroots democracy”. Any current on-campus demonstration for the prosecution of rape charges is currently being tarred as “pitchfork justice”.

rampaging mobs (aka, “savages”): any protestors “playing the race card”. Typically portrayed as “other”: druggies, welfare freeloaders, barbarians, etc.

robust competition: only possible after massive tax cuts and the essential suspension of all regulation of business and finance.

superior attitude: what Dems are accused of practicing whenever they defend a moral position or attack any GOTP position. A version of being “uppity”.

taxes: always a “burden” or “barrier”; a force of “harm” or “damage”.

victimology: said to be at the heart of Dem ideology: the phony, false compassion for those suffering from racism, sexism, inequality, etc. To the Dems, “victims” are the real “heroes”.

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, euphemisms, sneers, innuendos, and meta-narratives in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, Nov 21-28, 2014

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anticarbon putsch: any attempt to regulate coal or other fossil fuel emissions.

climateers: the GOTP’s infantalizing characterization of anyone worrying about climate change.

common sense: like “hard-won experience” (see below), this GOTP master trope is always deployed in contradistinction to “feelings” (a stand-in for the much sneered at concept of idealism”). These “feelings” are at the core of the slow rot, or “deterioration” (see below) of America.

deterioration: the decline and fall of America, as presided over by Obama and the “Snobocrats”. What’s deteriorating: everything from culture to sexual norms to decency, honor and “common sense”.  This is the master jeremiad trope.

emasculation: what the internationalist wing of the GOTP (see below)  say has happened to US power under Obama. The next surge will be a bellicose, aggressive, confrontation, full-frontal phallic thrust into Iran, Ukraine, China, etc. etc.

internationalists: the McCain/Graham/Lieberman/Cotton wing of the GOTP. See “emasculation”, above.

grandee: any liberal member of the so-called “Snobocrats”, or the “Bossypantsocrats”.

hard-won experience:  the trump card of the GOTP, in its guise as the “Daddy Party”; contrasts to Obama’s perpetual “disappointed idealism”. Boy, is the GOTP a buzzkill these days!

perceptual/factual: in the words of Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, in response to Obama’s immigration speech, “The president ought to walk into this a lot more slowly, especially after an election. This idea, the rule of law, is really concerning a lot of people where I come from. And whether it’s factual or perceptual, it really doesn’t matter.” The GOTP finally admits that it’s indifferent to facts. Facts are stubborn things and only get in the way.

sermon (or lecture): any Obama moral statement. The GOTP, being “realists” using “hard-won experience,” act as if they are revealing the eternal verities of human nature, and not filtering everything through a moralistic filter.

tenderfoot Talleyrands: Obama’s foreign policy team, the ones who have “emasculated” (see above) America.

traditional state authority to police…..(just about anything): this mythical and mystical reserve clause for states obviates any federal regulation,and is a perennial trump card the GOTP plays whenever they don’t like a federal policy. Note, of course, that the “traditional state authority to police” elections wasn’t relevant back in 2000 in Florida.

vouchers: Republicans’ version of redistributionism. With their ascendancy in Congress, look for a lot more “voucher” talk in 2015.

working alongside/not getting in the way: the m.o. of red states when it comes to environmental regulation. “Working alongside” industry means never getting in their way–thus only “working” to further corporate interests.

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, euphemisms, sneers, innuendos, and meta-narratives in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, Nov 16-20, 2014

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climate hysteria: any environmental control regulation.

confiscatory: any taxes the GOTP (Grand Old Tea Party) opposes.

dictator, authoritarian, statist: The GOTP declension, accusing Obama of being everything from a Stalinist to a believer in government.

failed Presidency: the GOTP’s central self-fulfilling prophecy.  Within a month of Obama’s inauguration, Mitch McConnell was already talking about blocking every White House initiative and making it his “number one goal” to doom Obama’s re-election.

feminist bullies: just as anyone who questions racial justice is accused of “playing the race card,” anyone who defends women’s rights is now accused of bullying. It’s somehow Ok to call all feminists “bullies” now, since calling them “bitches” became socially and politically toxic.

free phones: one of the GOTP’s enduring urban myths: that Obama is giving all the “takers” free cell phones.

inequality warrior: denigrating label for anyone talking about social justice, economic disparities, higher taxes for the wealthy, or minimum wage. In fact, how long will it before anyone even addressing these issues is accused of “playing the class card”?

job killer: any government worker.

lawyerly: what the GOTP has to concede when Obama does something legal that they disagree with. This word is always a concessionary one, since they are saying that, in a “technical” legal sense, Obama has the right to take certain actions.

micromanage: argument for getting the federal government out of the states’ rights to self-govern. Regulations that are deemed onerous are also said to be “micromanaging,” such as nearly every provision of Dodd-Frank. The opposite of “micromanaging” is NOT just plain managing, but not managing at all.

perspective, gaining some: coming around to the Grand Old Tea Party’s positions and policies.

politicization: any Dem policy opposed to GOTP dogma. When the Dems address an issue, they “politicize” it; when the GOTP does it, it’s called “getting things done”.

power grab: any act of Presidential power; see “shredding,” below.

shredding: what Obama is doing to the Constitution with his immigration amnesty. Any executive action from now on will become an act of “shredding” the Constitution, and any policy opposed to the GOTP will be a sign of “disrespect” for the Constitution.

slap in the face:  latest metaphor for GOTP umbrage, especially over immigration. Really, a synonym for any perceived affront from the Dems.

Venezuelan caudillo: what else do you call a Preisdent who slaps people in the face, shreds the constitution, and is in contempt of Congress? Likening him to Hugo Chavez is also a political master trope.