Category Archives: rhetoric

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, euphemisms, sneers, innuendos, and metanarratives in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, June 1-8, 2014

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American hero: not Bo Bergdahl, who, in Tea Party snap cnsensius opinion, should be summarily executed. Can we please place a moratorium on calling all soldiers “heroes”? After all, if everyone is above average, then being “above average” is just the average. Could we live in a world without “heroes”? Can the media exist in a world where they have to do something rather than either lionize or demonize?

apparatchiks: all government workers and Dem campaign operatives.

Benghazi 2.0: the Bo Bergdahl prisoner release. To the GOP, another smoking gun on the road to impeachment, revealing how Obama is somehow simultaneously  a master plotter, scheming to close Guantanamo, and the most incompetent president ever.

blather and sanctimony:  anything and everything Obama says.

course choice:  euphemism for vouchers

democratization: euphemism for Citizens United & the Koch Brothers’ takeover of the electoral process. In this counter-intuitive argument, unfettered corporate campaign spending translates into greater transparency and more widespread political participation.

domestic politics:  what every one of Obama’s policies and actions “pander” to, as if the GOP is above concern about electability.

extreme regulation: basically, any regulation.

healthcare portability: code language for freeing up insurance companies from state regulation.

gentry liberals: a recycled current version of the old “Chardonnay and brie” label for liberals and Democrats. Implies that the Dems have long since abandoned the working class, and have been captured by the preppy elite. The Tea Partiers describe the lives of these Dem elites with so much intense hatred (and detail), that they seem to be engaged in a form of class envy.

honor: one of the “daddy words” in the moral matrix that the GOP claims ownership of, along with sacrifice, glory, duty, patriot, loyalty, authority, sanctity, etc.

reform: a misnomer and a misdirection, because the GOP doesn’t in any way plan to change anything. A keyword for GOP repositioning and reinvention of the same old principles of market-driven public policy, deregulation, massive tax cuts, and making government small enough to, as Grover Norquist put it,  drown in a bathtub.

usurpations:  any Obama executive order or regulatory policy. Has come to stand for anything he does without Congress.

victory lap: what Obama did in the Bo Bergdahl case. Basically, now used to characterize Obama whenever he takes credit for anything.

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, euphemisms, sneers, innuendos, and metanarratives in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, May 25-31, 2014

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activist attorneys: like “activist judges”, these lawyers have the audacity to try and change public policy or laws by advocating for social change.

anointed: a mocking term for the self-congratulatory liberal elites, who only hold their positions due to cronyism or political correctness. (aka, “self-appointed”). (see also, “grandees,” below).

forfeited gains:  the rebirth of the “who lost Vietnam?” meme, in the context of Iraq and Afghanistan. The gist is “we had it won, but blew it”. As if.

grandees: liberal elites.

intrusion: what government does, by nature. Implies  that there is no “public” interest, but only “private” freedom, which government intrudes upon, like a home invader. Almost criminalizes the whole concept of government.

isolationist: Obama, except when he’s being a “multilateralist”.  (see below)

level playing field: euphemism for the lowest common denominator–the race to the bottom.  Assumes that regulation should be based on the short-term best interests of those being regulated,  not on that which, from the viewpoint of public interest,  is prudent, reasonable and morally necessary.

multilateralist: Obama, except when he’s being an “isolationist”. “American Exceptionalism” is essentially one-sided.

over-educated (liberal elites): too much of the wrong kinda larning, like them humanities and social sciences.

the muscular successful classes vs. the hyphenated classes: immigrants as losers.

racializing: even mentioning race or putting anything into a racial context. We should all be Colbert-like and not even see race, which would magically make racism disappear.

socialist paradise: sneering characterization of the VA, or any guvment social safety net or redistribution program

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, euphemisms, sneers, innuendos, and metanarratives in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, May 13-18, 2014

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exercises in self-esteem:expressions of sympathy or compassion, according to George Will.

government schools: formerly known as public schools.

harrassment: government regulation of Koch industries.

inquisition: a Dem-controlled Congressional hearing

interventionism:  attempts to stymie the free market. Thus, government regulation and taxation are characterized as interventionist, whereas intrusions into women’s reproductive health, gay rights, or union organizing are framed as being pro-life, pro-marriage, or a blow for worker freedom.

liberal fascism:  latest tagline denoting curtailments of free speech or other civil liberties. Implies intolerance and reverse racism or discrimination. Intolerance thus becomes not tolerating racism, sexism or bigotry.

McCarthyism:  now the default modifier/describer of anything related to science, climate change, or political speech. See above, “liberal fascism”.

orthodoxy: any Dem policy or political agenda item. “Progressivism” is always said to be an “orthodoxy”. Implies intellectual straitjacketing and a faith-based belief in the abstract principle of equality.

pals: any Dem “special interest” group (aka, constituency), as in “the Democrats’ labor pals or school teacher pals”.

payback: any Dem policy or legislation–bailout money, Freddie & Fannie. etc.All Democratic politics are cronyism. (see “pals” above)

post-modern and sensitive: sneering characterization of academics.

reparations:  Rush Limbaugh’s shorthand for the Affordable Care Act

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, euphemisms, sneers, innuendos, and metanarratives in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, May 4-12, 2014

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alarmism: any Dem projection of current trends into the future. More or less the same kind of demeaning speech act as saying to a woman, “don’t get hysterical”. Most common usage” “climate alarmism”. When the GOP warns of the corrosive effects of tax cuts or federal regulation, they are being “realistic” or “pragmatic,” but never “alarmist”.

Beltway Boys: any Dem political insider. Part of the GOP spin that the Dems are a permanent DC political class, feathering their own nests whilst pretending to car about the poor.

class hatred: any Dem claim about social justice, redistribution, equality, etc. aka, ‘envy”.

eroded liberty: A self-fulfilling prophecy. Liberty here is taken as a kind of utopian state that has been steadily and persistently undermined by liberal ideology. As an absolute, non-negotiable demand for civil society, any attempts to regulate individuals within that society are seen as “erosions” of this absolute. A permanent state of war between the individual and the state is thus pre-ordained.

exaggerations: any positive claims made for OCare. Such claims, by definition, are thus “inaccurate”.

guarantor: the ultimate effect of Obama administration policy that supports any social services, social safety net or entitlement programs. The gist of this usage is that the Obama administration underwrites and maintains a permanent culture of poverty and dependency.

industry:  any widespread Dem policy support or advocacy–as in “the campus rape industry” or “the ‘climate change’ industry”. Implies a permanent conspiracy of lobbyists, think tanks, pols, and government officials who care more about their careers than about the issues.

mobility: the preferred word choice to “inequality”.  Instead of talking about difference, tries to shift the talk to possibility. Of course, framed this way, the only mobile part of the population are the rich. With stagnating wages and eroded job growth and quality, most Americans are in fact downwardly mobile.

playing the political process: Dems’ way of framing any issue–Benghazi, OCare, immigration, etc. The Dems always “pander to the base”, “politicizing” everything. In reality, by announcing early on that their chief aim was to make sure the Obama Presidency failed, the GOP are actually the ones who made EVERYTHING political.

“scientific consensus”: the fright quotes are the new way to sneer at all science as a liberal “hoax”. Not understanding what consensus means in this case, the Tea Party folks are ushering in a pre-Enlightenment, faith-based orthodoxy.

unleash: what happens when the Dems write a new law or policy, inflicting it on individuals, and thus “eroding” their liberty.

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, euphemisms, sneers, innuendos, and metanarratives in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, April 26-May 3, 2014

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American possibilities (or promise): The root narrative of America as the “exceptional” City on the Hill–what Obama either doesn’t “get” or is indifferent to.  Apparently, approving the the Keystone Pipeline is the current sure-fire way to promote American possibilities and overcome Obama’s “Opportunity Gap”.

“assault weapons”: Never used without fright quotes, which always mean “so-called”. Maybe “assault” will be the next verb slapped into fright-quote handcuffs, as in “standing your ground” rather than assaulting someone.

base-pandering: what Democrats unfailingly–and primarily– engage in when they issue any policy, opinion, or regulation.

cerebral: one of Obama’s many fatal flaws. Strangely enough, he is simultaneously accused of being “simple-minded” (see below).

cynical promotion of fears:what Dems really do do whenever they attack right-wing ideas or policies. It’s cynical because it’s calculated, disingenuous, and self-serving: no one in their right mind could believe in climate change, the stifling of political speech, racism, or income inequality. Never mind that it’s actually the right wing that is totally dependent on a permanent culture war, enduring political enemies such as Hillary, and the steady blue flame of outrage and fear of “losing the country”.

economic gimmicks: what Dems have to resort to whenever they report (see below, “eke out” ) good economic numbers. The biggest economic gimmick of all is demand-side economic policy.

eked out: very grudging GOP description of any positive economic news–used only when they aren’t disparaging or ignoring  the news altogether, as when they refer to jobs lost rather than jobs gained.

encroachment on states’ sovereignty: any federal law or policy that doesn’t defer to the states.

ensconced: the quality of being any Dem office holder or employee. Subtly undermines the legitimacy of holding a job in public service, as if it’s all due to patronage and (see above), base-pandering.

grandees: especially “ensconced” Dem office holders, lobbyists, lawyers, commentators, etc. Clearly implies that they “think they’re better” than average folks. Republican grand poobahs are instead called “leaders”.

hostage to lobbyists: said to be the defining characteristic of the entire Democratic D.C. establishment; Republicans, on the other hand, are said to be “responsive to constituencies” and respecters of The Market.

obsessions: any Dem policy position that is stated more than once.

one-size-fits-all: the Dems’ ideological strait-jacket and political orthodoxy that is imposed on the American People

simple-minded: part of the tragedy of our fatally-flawed, “cerebral” President is that his ideas are one-dimensional and simplistic: markets are evil and inherently unfair; economic growth is only for the rich and should be regulated and choked at the source, the only way to lead is “from behind,” etc.

“wage gap”: exactly like “the war on women,” this phrase now must always be used with fright quotes because it is purely fictional Dem propaganda. After all, everyone knows there are no glass ceilings, except when there are, and that’s because of obvious “structural” or “inherent” reasons that maybe only men can grasp. Other phrases that right wingers consider insulting or risible: “living wage,” “income inequality,” save the earth”.

 

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, euphemisms, sneers, innuendos, and metanarratives in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, April 19-25, 2014

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arcane dogmatics: (see below, “ideological screeds”). What counts as evidence in liberal policy analysis, especially climate change “science”.

crushing:mandatory modifier for “regulation”.

greens as the new reds: the reign of terror of “radical environmentalist” Commissars, with their “diktats”, sense of privilege, and elitist snoberies.

ideological screed: any liberal speech, policy analysis, op-ed piece or research. See below, “nostrum,” “overheated”.

minimum-wage laws: creeping socialism

nostrum: any Dem rallying cry, policy position, or slogan–e.g., “afflict the rich”. Republicans are said to have reasonable, market-driven  ideas, not overheated nostrums or screeds.

overheated: mandatory modifier for any principled or impassioned Dem speech or analysis.

“poverty”: increasingly being undermined with fright quotes, indicating that, as some commentators have put it, the term itself is relative, and that even poor people have indoor plumbing. Poverty is only in the eyes of the statistician.

race, endless fixation on: the Tea Party’s fixation with the Dem’s so-called fixation. Just bringing up the subject now is either evidence of a “fixation” or of “playing the race card”.

regulation, litigation, political consensus: the DNA of liberal politics; the opposite of efficiency.

sluggish and lackluster: automatic modifiers for any improvement in economic recovery numbers in the Obama administration.

statism: pejorative term for government regulation.

tax breaks: cronyism at its worst, these bonanzas are always said to be “carved out”. When the GOP does it, they’re called “tax relief,” and offered as a public service rather than a “carve out”.

war: a force that gives Republicans meaning, thus their constant need for enemies: Obama, Putin, the Clintons, Iran, etc.

welfarism: a noted “Negro” lifestyle, according to new Tea Party icon Cliven Bundy. Apparently he thinks the “slavery” lifestyle was a better deal.

 

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, euphemisms, sneers, and innuendos in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, April 12-18, 2014

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comes for: black helicopter talk for any assertion of federal power, as in the Bundy Ranch brouhaha. They’re a-comin’ for ya!

envy vs. opportunity: one of those stark, apparently inevitable, yet ultimately false, dichotomies at the heart of Tea Party logic, along with “live free or die” and “liberty vs, collectivity”.

failure:  by definition a given, an inevitability when it comes to any Obama policy, especially the ACA. This circular logic is based on the assumption that the policy can’t work, under any circumstances.

grievances: pejorative for any Dem claims to justice, or, really, any Dem criticism of the status quo.

hysterics: any liberal defense of social justice, redistributionism, the social safety net, or opposition to war or invasion.

identity politics: pejorative used to describe any liberal political alliance, cause or faction. On the other hand, when the Tea Party, for example, comes together to oppose, say, taxes, it’s just plain “politics” (a term that in itself can be a pejorative, as in “playing politics” with an issue).

imperiously: the adverb of choice when referring to any Obama administration response or policy announcement.

ingrates: welfare queens, said to be the victims of the poverty Pentagon and race hustlers.

liberal bias: any statement of fact (e.g., overwhelming consensus on climate science) inconvenient to Tea Party dogma.

missing information:  a catch-all loophole word to explain away ant Obama policy success, or to prolong any “scandal”. A kind of perpetual motion machine, because some piece of “information” will always be “missing”.

phalanx: e.g., the liberal “media phalanx” that always supports he Obama administration. Implies an unstoppable, conspiratorial social movement.

the politics of personal destruction: the argument against ANY disclosure of political donations. A kind of shield law for big donors, removing any trace of transparency in the democratic system. Just revealing donors’ names, let alone criticizing them, is now being framed as “personal destruction”. Disclosure as a hate crime!

questions remain : insidious way of undermining any Dem success, by suggesting that “questions remain”. This “questions remain” ploy is in current heavy rotation in relation to Obamacare, which (see “failure,” above), which, despite mounting signs of its success, is always portrayed as an abysmal failure because “questions remain”.  In Benghazi Derangement Syndrome, of course, questions will “remain” unto eternity. (see also, “missing information”).

Snowden’s accomplices: anyone opposed to secret data-gathering on US citizens.

unnecessary: any policy or regulation the Tea Party opposes. Apparently any court decisions, such as Citizens United, they support is “necessary”–another act of purely circular logic. (see above, “failure”)

 

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, euphemisms, sneers, and innuendos in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, April 4-11, 2014

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collectivist: the opposite of “American,” according to Charles Koch.  Wonder where that “We, the People” stuff came from?

confiscatory tax policy: redistribution of capital returns rather than wider distribution of capital ownership. (The latter, of course, an ever-elusive panacea).

disincentives:  Anything that doesn’t promote individual rights or private property. Any form of social solidarity or democratic structures. Any regulations, taxes, notions of common property or resources, or public utilities.

economic growth: the best environmental policy; the best social safety net policy; the fastest way to social justice; the best rationale for tax cuts.

the gaystopo: see also, “thought crime,” “totalitarian liberalism”.

indoctrination: college courses, especially in the humanities an social sciences.

moral clout: super-aggressive foreign policy.

obsession: any principles of Democrats: inequality, social justice, environmental protection, women’s rights and equal pay, gay rights, racism.

playing politics: what the losing side on a policy issue always accuses the winning side of doing.

Soviet-style repression: what the supposedly clueless and limp Obama administration is also somehow said to be capable of. (see also, “totalitarian liberalism”). Yup, Obama’s Amerika is exactly like the Soviet Union, except no one is jailed for political dissent, the economy has little or no central planning, we are not annexing any surrounding countries, and the government does not control the media. Believe me, we’ll all know totalitarianism long before we actually get it.

totalitarian liberalism: a near-cousin of “Soviet-style repression”.  See also, “thought crime,” The New Intolerance.

 

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

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analysis paralysis: Obama as Hamlet–unable to act, lost in the labyrinths of his thoughts and ideals. (see also, “humiliation”).

civilization standards–always in decline. “Norms and habits” are said to be in a “moral decline”. (see also: “tearing down mores”).

eradication of biological parenthood: the ultimate outcome and agenda of gay rights.

humiliation: the result of “analysis paralysis”.

the poor are better off than ever: every day in every way being poor gets better and better.

real world solutions: (aka, “common sense solutions”). For women, NOT equal pay for equal work, day care, or reproductive health. Apparently the only “real” world is the market. Anyone who complains about its outcomes is a “whiner”.

revanchism: one of several archaic terms taken out of the Cold War archives and dusted off to beat Obama over the head about Putin and the Ukraine, joining such other oldies-but-goodies as satrap, atavistic, and vassal state.

tearing down mores: the Obama administration’s ultimate affect and agenda. Moral catastrophe looms.

thugs: spelled EPA, IRS.

tyrant: Obama, though he might be a sissy instead.

unchecked: a mandatory modifier for any “power” exercised by the Obama administration. (see also “tyrant” and “thug”)

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, euphemisms, sneers, and innuendos in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, March 9-15, 2014

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corporate career success: aka, “giving up your womb”

culture of work: Paul Ryan’s code language for “lazy black folks”. (see below: “inner city,” “human society”, “middle class” and “real conversation about race”.

decisive: another of the qualities Obama is said to be lacking. His indecisiveness “emboldens”(see below)  the Russians, Syrians, Iranians and jihadis. (see also “muscular foreign policy” and “projecting strength”)

emboldened: the overall effect of any “feckless” Obama foreign policy on any opf the “bad guys” opposed to that policy.

feminism: in the approaching “empowered world” of “women only”, this “perfumed jargon” of relationship-building, collaboration, and encouragement will supplant the rhetoric of competition, thus fatally weakening America.

freedom of choice: it turns out that abortion rights’ activists are not arguing for a woman’s right to choose how she controls her own body, but, rather are “Satan-loving worshipers of the savage culture of death”.

human society: entirely made up by people with jobs, according to Peggy Noonan’s March 14 WSJ column.

inner city: yet another Paul Ryan euphemism for “lazy black folks”.

Keystone:  every further day it goes without approval is Obama’s way of “conducting economic warfare against the United States,” and constitutes a “blockade” of US natural gas exports.

middle class: Santorum calls this term a form of “class-envy, leftist language”

muscular foreign policy: the imperative for Obama to “man-up” in foreign policy by 1) intervening militarily in Syria, 2) intervening militarily in Iraq, 3) intervening militarily in Cuba, Venezuela or, 4) opening up all US land and water to oil and natural gas production to drive down the price of energy as a way of punishing Russia. (see also, “projecting strength”)

muzzle: a verb that should only be used to describe Democratic attempts to end or dismiss a policy discussion. Free speech, for example, is always “muzzled” by Democrats (especially the IRS).

projecting strength:  non-consequential but symbolic foreign policy bluster and bullying–what Obama fails at. (see also “muscular foreign policy,” above)

“a real conversation about race”: topics include: how and why Afro-Americans are lazy and have no habits of work, thrift, or self-discipline; how Republicans are the real progressives and liberals the real racists, and how entitlement is no substitute for accomplishment. (see also “human society,” above). Underlying sentiment to always keep in mind: “I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them other people’s money.” (Rick Santorum)

regulatory assault: any government regulation or policy.

“stop being poor”: essentially, Paul Ryan’s nostrum to end poverty in America.