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Politics and the English language, GOP-style--Leonard Pitts

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underpants Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-08-08 07:39 AM
Original message
Politics and the English language, GOP-style--Leonard Pitts
Edited on Mon Sep-08-08 07:46 AM by underpants
http://www.miamiherald.com/living/columnists/leonard-pitts/story/674011.html

"We need change, all right. Change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington. We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington -- throw out the big-government liberals.'' -- Mitt Romney, Sept. 3, 2008

And then the gorilla run knee socks paint porno on the Cadillac. But school laughed and didn't we sing hats?

Ahem.

Maybe you wonder what the preceding gobbledygook means. I would ask which gobbledygook you mean: mine or Mitt Romney's? If he's allowed to spew nonsense and people act as if he's spoken intelligently, why can't I? If he gets to behave as if words no longer have objective meaning, why can't I?

I mean, baffle grab on the freak flake. Really.

So excuse me, beg pardon, so sorry, but I have to ask: what liberal Washington is he talking about? The federal government has three branches. The legislative, i.e., Congress, was under conservative control from 1995 until 2007. The judicial, i.e., the Supreme Court, consists of nine justices, seven of whom were nominated by conservative presidents. The executive, i.e., the president, is George W. Bush. Enough said.

Washington is already what Romney wants to make it. Our current state of affairs, love it or loathe it, is indisputably a product of conservative governance. I wish that mattered more than it does.

That it doesn't matter much at all you can credit to conservative politicians who have, over the years, trained their followers to respond with Pavlovian faithfulness to certain terms. Say ''conservative,'' and they wag their tails. Say ''liberal'' and they bare their fangs. More to the point, say either and all thinking ceases, so much so that a representative of the ideology that has controlled most of Washington most of the last 12 years can say with a straight face that his ideology needs to seize control of Washington to fix what is broken there. And people hear this Orwellian doublespeak . . . and cheer. Why not? They have been taught that words mean what you need them to in a given moment.

Sadly, it has proven an easy lesson to impart. Turns out, all it requires is a limitless supply of gall and the inherent belief that people are dumber than a bag of hammers.

And all it costs us is language, the ability to have reasoned and intelligent political discourse, the idea that words do, and should, have weight, dimension and intrinsic meaning. Maybe you disagree. In which case, let me just say this:

Piffle crack eat monkey snow. Really.
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tosh Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-08-08 07:42 AM
Response to Original message
1. K&R.
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mwb970 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-08-08 07:47 AM
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2. Brilliant! Best I've seen from Pitts.
Semaphore white the trick salvo! I mean it!
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NJmaverick Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-08-08 07:49 AM
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3. Good article and I need to book mark it
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spelldmilk Donating Member (183 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-08-08 08:10 AM
Response to Original message
4. WooHoo!
Yeah!!! Thank you for posting this op piece! Grinnnnnn! Let's talk about the three branches of government, and stress just how significant this election is. "Piffle crack mokey snow. Really." Love that line.
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underpants Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-08-08 08:16 AM
Response to Reply #4
6. Welcome to DU
:hi:
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spelldmilk Donating Member (183 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-08-08 05:08 PM
Response to Reply #6
10. thanks!
I've been reading for awhile, then I signed up, and now I'm trying to feel comfortable "talking."
Thanks for the welcome.%-}
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ixion Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-08-08 08:15 AM
Response to Original message
5. Pitts speaks the truth...
and makes purely common sense statements that ought to be the topic of any discussion about 'change'.
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HCE SuiGeneris Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-08-08 08:42 AM
Response to Original message
7. Nabber crunk oot pantern quait.
Traskewpoop! :thumbsup:
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fencesitter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-08-08 09:30 AM
Response to Original message
8. but then, there is this possibility...
Perhaps he considers the current court and administration too liberal and what we really need is a true book-burning, creationist, weapons packing, anti-choice administration.
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jcla Donating Member (369 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-08-08 04:49 PM
Response to Reply #8
9. My thoughts exactly.
He can not mean the conservative warmongering, bomb them to hell with our economy President or Vice President. he must want an even more far rightwing fundie Senate, House, Supreme Court and President. Obviously he supports Sarah (Caribou Barbie) Palin for President.
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