Category Archives: roles

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

Posted on by
Reply

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

Posted on by
Reply

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

Posted on by
Reply

(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

Posted on by
Reply

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

Posted on by
Reply

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.

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

Posted on by
Reply

bribe: any form of government subsidy or tax break. (That is, except for tax breaks or subsidies for the job creators).

the business community: in the Grand Old Tea Party’s Manichean anti-Obama morality play, business is the enemy.

cronyism in America: as defined by the Koch Brothers’ Freedom Partners, every government regulation, subsidy, bailout, loan, corporate tax break, tariff, and occupational licensing “scheme”.

envirogelicals: According to Erick Erickson, “The environmentalists who have replaced worship of Christ with worship of Christ’s creation. They are a large part of the donor base of the Democratic Party.”

the governing trap: what the Grand old Tea Party most wants to avoid between now and the 2016 elections: actually passing bills that have real consequences. Their challenge is to make it appear that Obama is the obstructionist, not them.

(Washington’s) liberal class: the sneering Grand Old Tea Party rhetorical hijacking of what used to be called populism. Part of the GOTP’s new fake populism, which claims they are actually on the side of women, minorities and free speech, and opposed to big business. Always remember that every message from Frank Luntz, Karl Rove, and the Koch Brothers is the exact opposite of what it says it is.

mau-mauing: a verb the Grand Old Tea Party has resuscitated from a 1970 Tom Wolfe book, referring to harassing “activist” trying to take over government.

Obamaism: a fatal brew of liberal compassion (aka, pathetic naivete), self-preening, and arrogrance.

picking winners and losers: the fake argument that the free market takes care of itself, and makes for a level playing field. (I guess we’re not supposed to notice that the GOP/Tea Party supports all tax breaks and loopholes for corporate America).

the politics of envy: any mention on income inequality, social justice, or tax increases for the wealthy. Reverse Robinhoodism.

public sector jobs: jobs for the  low-skilled losers in the global economy. Curiously, the Grand Old Tea Party just spend billions of dollars trying to get these jobs at the local, state and national levels.

rational means and ends: what the Grand Old Tea Party (in its self-elected and self-regarding role as the Daddy party) decides will be the outcome of so-called voter preferences (affordable health care, minimum wage hikes, open Internet, etc.). The so-called voter preferences are thus just naive delusions and sentiments, that melt away when confronted by “reality”.

rents: any form of government regulation; what the fixers, lobbyists and activists use to control government and strangle competition. Thus the Wall Street Journal defines liberalism as a “self interested machine of influence peddling and rent extraction”. Note that reducing any form of tax or regulation to a “rent” renders any governmentality as a mere financial transaction, devoid of any more or public serve values or ideals.

Rube Goldberg scheme: any complex regulatory policy, such as federal fuel economy standards. Really, any policy the GOTP/Tea disdains.

visionless apparatchiks: any government regulators.

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, euphemisms, sneers, innuendos, and meta-narratives in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, October 22-28, 2014

Posted on by
Reply

banker-bashing: regulating the banks. Usually the nefarious work of the “Sandinista wing” of the Democratic Party (see below), especially Elizabeth Warren.

black-on-black crime: the real reason for the high incarceration rates of black males in the US. Even though it is a Non sequitur, this card is always played to re-direct any charges of white police brutality, “driving while black,” etc.

broken culture: another of the “real reasons” for the high incarceration rates of black males in the US. Just as the housing crisis was supposedly caused by scheming, lying  minorities cadging bad loans, any economic, political or social inequality in the US is blamed on Black Folks’ general lack of culture, shame or gumption. Just as with the meme of “black-on-black crime,” this serves as a Non sequitur designed to re-direct the conversation and blame the victims.

criminalize: regulate. See “banker-bashing,” above.

electoral integrity: voter suppression.

handover: under Obama, the allegedly vast wealth transfer from the middle class to the poor.

looting: suing BP. Another form of “banker-bashing” or “criminalizing” (see above).

moral compass: an inherently Republican character trait, usually entirely lacking in Democrats (who will say or do anything to get elected), especially Afro-American Democrats (who have a “broken culture”–see above).

(of) negligible economic impact: the Obama stimulus package, the largest in US history. Can also be used to refer to any disparate economic impacts that arise from price-gouging, monopoly pricing, restraint of trade, etc.

political speech: money talks.

sabotaging our borders: the secret Obama master plan to let in terrorists, Ebola, and undocumented aliens.

Sandinista wing of Democratic Party: Elizabeth Warren, Barney Frank, Chuck Schumer, Bernie Saunders.

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, euphemisms, sneers, innuendos, and metanarratives in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, Aug 19-28, 2014

Posted on by
Reply

boundless opportunities: the infinite promise of America, which minorities (“takers”) fail to realize because their culture of dependency is “transmitted” (see below) like a virus.

earned success: the Protestant Ethic is alive and well. Worldly success must be “deserved” and “earned”, not bestowed by charity or statist governments.

fanning the flames: what anyone does who still talks about race (see “real racists,” and “insulting whites,” below).

higher education accountability: how quickly and thoroughly a college major “pays for itself.”  If anthropology can’t be shown to have any “cash value,” then who needs it? 

insulting whites:   what anyone does who still talks about race (see “real racists,” below).

making race irrelevant: theoretically the outcome of the free market, in which all boats rise on a surging tide. Actually, what the GOP devoutly wishes for, thus avoiding having to pretend to care about minorities.

mindless martinets: aka, “radical utopian statists”.

nihilism:  the underlying basis and ultimate outcome of Obamaian “idealism”, which is  really a form of totalitarianism.

nobility: a master-trope of right-wing rhetoric, summarizing everything Obama is said to be lacking: dignity, courage, honesty, steadfastness, patriotism.

opportunist: anyone who still talks about race or accepts any government “handout”.

race-traitors: any white people defending Michael Brown or criticizing the Ferguson police.

real racist: anyone who still talks about race.

shakedown: any fine on big banks, real estate mortgagers or brokerages.

transmitted: how the “culture of dependency” spreads. Equates social assistance and safety net  programs with a disease.

voter turnout: a Democratic “trick” or “stunt”.

worship of creation: what the “secular leftist” climate change believers do instead of praying to “the God of creation”.  The last refuge of atheistic, heathen haters of the free market.

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, euphemisms, sneers, innuendos, and metanarratives in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, Aug 8- 18, 2014

Posted on by
Reply

bulwark against evil:  Captain America, aka, “the lead actor on the world stage”. In a Manichean universe, there are no shades of gray, and “the axis of evil” is ever-present and ubiquitous.

calculating Clinton: when Hillary does or says anything, she is characterized as a calculating, power-hungry Machiavellian who will stop at nothing to attain absolute power and reign over Hillaryland. When GOP candidates speak, on the other hand,  they aren’t called “calculating”, but, rather, “thoughtful” (especially Paul Ryan) or “courageous” (especially Ted Cruz and Rand Paul).

the climate line: some concocted scare story made up by a cabal of left-wing scientists. Just plain malarkey.

dead-end bottom feeders: the Ferguson protestors;and now they have the temerity to want to register to vote!

getting ahead: the ultimate goal of human life, defined by struggle and striving. The Horatio Alger myth is alive and well, even if it means a Darwinian struggle for mastery and inevitable inequality, the antithesis of capitalism. Funny how the “goals” to be reached are all defined by the GOP: wealth, privilege, rugged individualism and an almost total absence of government regulation.

injecting race into the conversation: registering black voters.

the lead actor on the world stage: a rhetorical cousin of “American exceptionalism“.

the poor’s overseers: according to GOP rhetoric, the Dems are the ones who have been creating poverty and holding the poor back from “getting ahead”. In this rhetorical never-never land, satisfying the poor’s “needs” (heat, shelter, food, health care, education) is a a fool’s errand until and unless the poor get some ambition to “get ahead,” so the Republicans can finally help them “reach their goals”.

a true market: one that transparently runs on pure information and rational choices. In other words, a fairy tale. We won’t have true markets in the US until the kenyan socialist leaves office.

unimpeded evil: what  the world would be subject to without America, the only “bulwark against evil”.

the wealth effect: the magical thinking that spawned the “trickle down theory”: that all boats rise on a rising tide. Despite no lasting signs that this magical “effect” ever took hold or lasted for most Americans in any Republican administration, the myth persists. This persistence can perhaps be attributed to how well it has worked for the rich and privileged.

 

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, euphemisms, sneers, innuendos, and metanarratives in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, July 29-Aug 7, 2014

Posted on by
Reply

burdening consumers: government regulation or legal tampering with free markets (see “the triumph of capitalism,” below). An unfettered free market is the consumers’ paradise, where prices are never fixed, all sales are up front and honest, products are never shoddy, and business needn’t worry about lawsuits or liability.

draconian: (see “executive edict”, below). Any Obama regulation or executive action.

executive edict: any Obama executive order–edicts are never a good thing, rhetorically speaking.

has no shame: Obama, giving away the store to “the takers”, Putin, and Muslim extremists.

misregulation: the only alternative to deregulation under Obama: all regulation is either misdirected or unwarranted.

prematurely naturalized and objectified facts: the free market, rational actors, absolute individual freedom, the tyranny of taxation and regulation, American exceptionalism

regulatory zeal: any Obama regulatory action–always over the top (see “misregulation,” above)

scandal goalie: Attorney General Eric Holder. Blocking all attempts to investigate Obama admin corruption and tyranny. Obama’s entire time in office is nothing but a serial list of scandals.

scarcity and tradeoffs: cornerstone rationales of free market dogma, deployed to defend inequality, economic development, deregulation, and the argument against any public assistance or social service. if economics is defined as resting on managing scarcity rather than creating expanded opportunity, and if inequality is the price we pay for prosperity, then so be it.

shiftless and inferior: the “takers”.

standing on principle: Obama’s folly. Rather than governing, he fantasizes about a lost Utopia that never was and pontificates.

the triumph of capitalism: the chimera of a regulation-free and taxless Ayn Rand America, much like “perfect socialism” was to the Soviet Union.

war on whites: the latest meme in the GOP’s reverse racism rhetorical contortionism. Like his so-called war on the wealthy (or “the makers”), if Obama is fighting this war on whites, he’s losing very badly, what with the stock market touching on all time highs and the net worth gap between whites and non-whites ever widening. (see above, ‘the triumph of capitalism”).