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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 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 21-26, 2014

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Bambi: Obama, over matched by Putin. Aka, wimp, eunuch, Neville Chamberlain, a “shrinking violet”.

cakes for gay weddings:just the start of Obama’s state-sponsored coercion and terrorism aimed at the religious right.

culture of license:what elite America has been fighting since the Mayflower; the essential licentiousness that threatens to undo American resolve and hard work. Also linked to the hippies in the 1960s; part of the general theory that the advent of the birth control pill hijacked rock-ribbed Republican America. We are now said to be entirely given over to “the political-sexual whims of those who hold power”.

hordes:never a good thing–always has a kind if “barbarians at the gates” feel to it. The latest manifestation is Paul Ryan’s obsession with hordes of black youth just hanging around, aka “a culture of license”.

innovation and entrepreneurship: the animal spirits of capitalism. Terms reserved for the kinds of business and industries the GOP approves of. When it comes to alternative energy startups for example, the “innovation” becomes “hoodwinking” and “entrepreneurship” becomes “crony capitalism,” and a “boondoggle”.

mandate for social justice:non-existent in the US Constitution, yet wrongly assumed to be a fundamental driving force in government, at least in Obamaland. The rallyoing cry of “the noble deserving”. (see below)

the noble deserving:always used ironically to describe the “takers,” the sanctified poor who, as beneficiaries of redistribution policies, are to blame for the financial/housing bubble, Benghazi, Crimea, and probably even Flight 370.

overweening:mandatory modifier for “state”; in Obamaland,  all government actions and policies are by definition smug, presumptuous, arrogant, and excessive.

 property rights: the bedrock American rights. Always said to be “freedom-advancing”.

prosperity by trade and contract: what the government exists to guarantee. The business of America is business.

the supposedly benevolent state:maybe they’ll just start using “supposedly” instead of air quotes to establish irony.

willful:(see also “overweening,” above): any principled stand or policy of the Obama administration. The alternative to being “willful” is capitulation, aka, “putting aside partisan political bickering”.

 

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.

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, euphemisms, sneers, and innuendoes in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, Jan. 30–Feb 3, 2014.

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America’s calming presence: it’s worked so well in Iraq and Afghanistan–both part of the new Pax Americana.

bureaucrats: formerly known as public servants. Always an invidious condemnation in GOP rhetoric.

democratic freedoms: invoked as being endangered any time Democrats call for new laws on guns, voting rights, right to life, women’s health care, or campaign finance. (See “rights, liberty and justice”, below).

efforts to improve competition: any GOP reform that shield business from competition, regulation, scrutiny, or litigation.

evidence-based science:  any study that undercuts the ‘theory” of climate change. Doesn’t matter what the quality of the evidence is, just that there be the whiff of some.

extreme and muddled beliefs: climate change, women’s rights, voting rights, financial and environmental regulation, workplace safety, Endangered Species Act, immigration amnesty. “Extremism” is always portrayed as “muddled”, as in not clear or “rational”.

green indulgence: any environmental protection regulations or legislation. “Indulgence” does double rhetorical duty here, suggesting both naivete (as in indulging a child), and a nefarious payoff.

imperial presidency: Any attempt by Obama to act by executive order. Never mind that he has issued fewer executive orders or signing statements than any recent President.

private investment: doing anything to undermine this is always absolutely unacceptable.

protectionism (and poison pills): labor rights and woprkplace safety, environmental laws, minimum wage, childhood labor laws.

rationally balancing risks and benefits: hint: in this “rational” exercise, the benefits of deregulation always outweigh the risks. When the GOP uses the word “rational,” they have their thumb on the scale.

reform:  used to mean protection against harmful effects of unfettered capital markets, now, in GOP/Tea Party parlance, means removing those protections.

rights, liberty and justice: the core sustaining rhetoric of the libertarian-leaning, “don’t tread on me”  Right. Includes “freedom from” being told what to do and “freedom to” do whatever you want. No implicit sense of obligation, communitarianism or social contract. The “justice” dimension is derived from getting what is due you, not from a Rawlsian theory of distributed and balanced outcomes. Sometimes called “democratic freedoms”.

sacrifice: what the GOP pays lip service to but only the poor and middle class seem to actually have to make.

unilateral action: any Obama policy; the only way an “Imperial President” can govern.

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, euphemisms, sneers, and innuendoes in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, New Year’s edition, January, 2014.

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agitprop: any Democractic policy statement or any op-ed piece criticizing Tea Party positions. Anything the Dems say is propaganda; anything the Tea Party says is public policy and common sense.

anticapitalists: environmentalists.

card: any Democratic moral position. Always a cynical ploy, as in “playing the race card”. which currently characterized as being in the same suit and hand as other Democratic “cards”: fairness, victimhood, equality, justice. Away to demean all of these moral claims, and demote them to self-serving propaganda status.

civic courtesy: the indecent lack of grace Democrats exhibit every time they criticize the GOP.

consequences: often used by the GOP as a pejorative term for outcomes. “Consequences” are almost always connoted as negative–as in the phrase, “truth or consequences”. Thus, for example, the ACA is said to have nothing but “negative consequences,” whereas tax cuts have nothing but stimulative effects and positive economic outcomes.

cooperation: the new euphemism for competition.

crowd: any Democratic or liberal advocacy group,  always a nefarious, corrupt, and self-serving. e.g.: “the global warming crowd”.

disincentivizing: the overall effect of any government aid programs the GOP opposes, from unemployment benefits to food stamps. Government “handouts” are the opposite of the only force known to truly incentivize: the “free” market. Only regulation and social welfare are holding back a truly Darwinian social, moral and economic golden age.

envy: the main motivating force behind any attempts to raise taxes, regulate markets, bring charges or fines against financial institutions, or offer any form of social welfare.

favoritism:  the main motivating force for any policies helping unions and teachers. Tax breaks for Big Oil, on the other hand, are seen as neutral or even rational ways to stimulate the “free” market.

gambit: any Democratic policy initiative. Dem public policy is always propagandistic, thus nothing but a ploy.

gliding:  the aloof, “lazy” trait of Obama (when he isn’t actively trying to overturn the capitalist system). In foreign policy, Obama is said to be “gliding” when he refrains from potentially counter-productive  interventions, as in “leading from behind”. In political policy terms. he is accused of this whenever he defers to Congress, takes a vacation, or uses any of the perks of office.

hand wringing: any criticism of aggressive, interventionist foreign policy, or of any “sentimental” attempts to help the poor or needy.

lesser mortals: always used sneeringly in reference to Obama’s  hauteur. Obama is always accused of aloofly “talking down” to us “lesser mortals” whenever he makes a moral assertion, especially when pointing out inequalities. Synonyms in this word family include aloof, grandiose, preening, and arrogant.

moral relativism: a perennial GOP rhetorical meme, still employed to attack government policies protecting free speech, religious diversity, and human rights. Thus, for example, the so-called “War on Christmas” is seen as a leveling attempt at relativism, whereas Christmas itself is an absolute–just as Santa is, of course, a white man. The current debate over mandating birth control insurance coverage by Catholic  employers is also contextualized as a form of moral relativism, as if a belief in a woman’s right to choose is not a “moral” position.

narcissism: one of academia’s main character traits, (along with “an obsession with victimhood” and the drive to reduce everything to race and class politics). Rhetorically linked to “moral relativism”. What society’s “takers”are indulging in when they try to redress “oppression”.

rogue: an adjective used to describe any deviation from Tea Party orthodoxy.

steadfast resistance, refusal: any principled moral stand on an issue opposed by Democrats. Called recalcitrance or a “gambit” or “hand wringing” or “agitprop” when the Dems do it.

unrestrained growth:   a very bad thing when it comes to things the GOp opposes (such as entitlements), but a very good thing when it comes to the “animal spirits” of corporate profits and unfettered market.

victimhood: said to be one of the main Dem rhetorical meme or “card” (as in, “the race card”).  Linked in a complex semantic web to “envy”, “redistribution, “oppression”, “grievance”, “obsession with race and class,” and “fairness”.

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, phrases and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, Dec. 11-13, 2013

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corrosive: all-purpose intensifing adjective for all Dem policies, laws & initiatives; most often used to alliteratively modify “controls”.

famous: a term of derision and ironic deflation for a largely mythic Democratic claim, as in “the famous Keynesian multiplier”.

the Greater Good: in Ayn Randian terms, the pernicious and ludicrous shibboleth/fantasy that undermines individual initiative, self-interest, and success.

hammering: any Democratic attack on GOP laws, policies or politicians.

market pricing: whatever business can get away with–or, rather, could get away with if government restraints (“shackles”) were “unleashed”. This is of course a core mantra of the Right.

passivity: in foreign policy, anything short of boycotts, invasions, bombings or assassinations. Also used as a translation for “restraint,” which in foreign policy is always a euphemism for passivity.

stranglehold: any Democratic attempt to govern or legislate. Since total government, all the time, is seen as Obama’s ultimate aim, any domestic policy –be it health care, energy, financial regulation or education–is a smokescreen for a total power grab.

trample: what Obama’s policies do to human rights, the free market, personal liberty or religious freedom. Strangleholds are especially prone to trampling.

the war on men: The GOP answer to the Dem’s War on Women. Especially applicable to rape and sexual assault & harassment cases in which women’s testimony leads to conviction or censure.

Washington gimmicks and games: any Democratic political maneuvering or policy making. GOP law- and policy-making, on the contrary, is always transparent and based on bedrock principles of the free market and individual initiative. Note: “Washington” gimmicks are the most virulent kind; in general, “Washington” serves as a shorthand pejorative, much like “trial” in “trial lawyers”.

Glossary: an anatomy of key memes, phrases and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, Nov. 9-12

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bungling: anything related to the design or implementation of the ACA. Aka “blunder,” “sucker punch,” or “national embarrassment”. Also applies to all foreign policy initiatives, especially in Syria and Iran.

carrots: called “incentives” when offered by the GOP, and “bribes” when offered by Dems.

leverage: in foreign policy, what follows from any concession or compromise. So, for example, scaling back on sanctions on Iran only gives them “leverage” to continue to develop nuclear weapons.

Messrs: always derogatory; meant to demean and deflate, as in “Messrs Obama and Kerry”.

pack: what the Dems attempt to do with the courts with any judicial nominee.

political control: the underlying motivation for all Obama foreign and domestic policy: nothing is anything other than a cynical political tactic to gain the upper hand politically.

reform: always related to cuts or restrictions.  “Tax reform”= tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy; “entitlement reform” = Social Security and Medicare cuts, “immigration reform” means few if any “paths to citizenship”.

unconditional: the core of GOP foreign policy. Make no concessions to anyone even remotely connected to terrorists or jihadis. Closely related to “resolve”: never surrender, never apologize.

Parallel GOP Universes: Hyperbolic and Counter-Intuitive Myths, Claims and Canards, September 10-11, 2013

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1. Republicans are calling the possible diplomatic solution to the Syrian chemical weapons issues a “gaffe” at best and a hoodwinking by Putin and Assad at worst. In other words, they, as usual, are scripting an event as the opposite of what it really is. In this case, a peaceful solution is said to fatally weaken us and will only lead to our eventual destruction. Rather than acknowledging Kerry’s and Obama’s brilliant diplomatic move, they see it as the final disaster, and you have to wonder how long it will be until they start calling for a military incursion into Syria.

They even go all the way to Crazytown by claiming that Obama’s “gaffes” somehow justify the foreign policy positions of Bush and Romney:

But I’d bet that Bush and Romney aren’t actually laughing. That’s because they’re both serious men who understand international politics and who care for the future of the country. They no doubt understand that, as fun as it is to watch a political opponent twist in the wind due to his own ineptitude, the price will ultimately be paid not by Obama, but by the people of America.

Our diplomacy is a joke, our president is a laughing stock, our enemies are emboldened, and we’ve still got over three years of this to go. Nothing funny there at all, alas.

Glenn Reynolds, “Obama Is a Laughing Stock”, USA Today

2. Even though the Syria situation seems to be shifting every hour as a US military strike looks increasingly unlikely, the Tea Party wing of the GOP maintains their narrative that Obama is the worst US President ever and has completely bungled foreign affairs. Conrad Black pushes the “failed administration” meme further by comparing its disastrous effects to the fall of the Soviet Union. (Warning: hyperbole bomb about to be detonated):

Not since the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, and prior to that the fall of France in 1940, has there been so swift an erosion of the world influence of a Great Power as we are witnessing with the United States.

Collapse of American Influence Recalls Disintegration of Soviet Union, Fall of France

3. Over at Breitbart, Obama’s quest for a deal with Putin and Assad on weapons inspections is now being called “Obama’s Munich,” even though just last week the Obama administration was being savaged for pursuing a military rather than a diplomatic solution:

A mere five days ago, the Obama administration suggested that any UN investigation into the Syrian chemical attack was irrelevant. “The UN investigation will not affirm who used these chemical weapons,” Kerry said. “By the definition of their own mandate, the UN can’t tell us anything that we haven’t shared with you this afternoon or that we don’t already know.”

Now, however, Assad is reasonable, the UN is hunky dory, and Harry Reid has cancelled a planned Senate vote on action in Syria. The Obama administration’s diplomatic genius has somehow emerged victorious. All America left behind was its credibility and any semblance of coherent foreign policy.

Thanks to President Obama’s statements in August 2012 regarding a Syrian “red line” on chemical weapons use in Syria, the United States was faced with three choices in Syria: depose Assad; do nothing in order to prevent al Qaeda from taking over the country (likely the best option); or, as Kerry advocated, push for an “unbelievably small” action in order to reinforce America’s credibility. The third option was the worst. But in a truly awe-inspiring display of his foreign policy genius, President Obama has found a fourth option: appeasement, complete with international weapons inspections it rejected just a week ago. Welcome to Barack Obama’s Munich.

“Peace In Our Time: Obama Caves In to Putin, Assad, Iran”

4. You can’t make this stuff up: Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) now suggests that our former consulate in Benghazi is somehow linked to arming Syrian rebels:

A top congressional appropriator suggested on Monday evening that the State Department and CIA might have been stockpiling weapons for Syrian opposition fighters when they came under attack by jihadists in Benghazi, Libya.

“I firmly believe that whatever the State Department and CIA were doing in Benghazi had a direct connection to U.S. policy in Syria—a policy that to date has not been fully revealed to the American people or Congress,” Rep. Frank Wolf (R., Va.) said on Monday evening during a discussion focusing on “unanswered questions” surrounding the Sept. 11, 2012, attack that killed four Americans.

“Were these rebels being armed with weapons collected in Benghazi?” Wolf asked, according to a copy of his prepared remarks. “Again, there is reason to believe this may be the case and a clear explanation is warranted.”

5. And if you’re going to play the Benghazi card, why not the race card as well? First, Rush Limbaugh called Obama’s Syrian policy “Operation Shuck and Jive”, and then Anne Coulter went on Fox News to call Obama “Putin’s monkey”.

6. Just after the Wall Street Journal called Obama a “junior camel trader” based on his speech on Syria, John Podhoretz, in the New York Post, went a wee bit over the top in villifying the speech:

“Thanks to Pres. Obama’s strength,” tweeted House Democratic honcho Nancy Pelosi, “we have a Russian proposal.” The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein tweeted, “Kind of amazed I’m saying this, but the White House may really be about to win on Syria.”

Ah, yes, winning. Which is to say, being humiliated, acting weak, behaving in vacillatory fashion, making a mockery of your office, destroying your country’s credibility, making your own words look desperately foolish, and ceding foreign policy to the Machiavellian machinations of a gangster regime in Moscow.

That’s what you call “winning” when what you mean by “winning” is “losing.”

Jimmy Carter can rest easy now. There’s another Democratic president worse at foreign policy than he ever was.

Glossary, mid-August, 2014

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an anatomy of key memes, phrases and obsessions in Wall Street Journal editorials and other precincts of the GOP blogosphere, Aug 5-14, 2013

austerity: what’s good for the goose but not for the gander. Chicago School, Friedmanite “fiscal discipline” is just the thing for social benefits and domestic programs, but not so much for corporate profits.

interventions: always said to be wasteful, profligate or counter-productive if they happen on the spending side (as in the stimulus), but curiously never seen negatively when suggested for the cutting side (as in imposing austerity to theoretically reduce the budget deficit). Interventions on the cutting side do far more economic harm than interventions on the spending side.

managereal liberalism: when it’s no longer effective to label Obama as a “socialist,” this is Plan B. Part of the overall effort to make him out to be somehow unAmerican–different from the rest of us. (See “queer, alien and aloof”, below)

queer, alien and aloof: part of the continuing and ceaseless effort to make Obama “the Other”.