It has been difficult to decipher some of the Beltway buzzwords
in use now that Democrats are in firm control of our national
government. Of course it’s understandable that in attempting to
sell their socialist platform they must verbally cloak their
agenda, as the
great majority of Americans continue identify themselves as
moderate to conservative. But this has happened before. During
the Clinton Administration, and in particular amid the battle
over his impeachment, we were daily treated to treatises on the
definition of words like, is.
But, coming so quickly as they do on the heels of the George W.
Bush years — where the president’s every word was parsed for
accuracy as well as pronunciation — in the Obama Era, words and
phrases that were applied one way for Bushies, have acquired
whole new meanings now. And so, in an attempt to straighten this
out, I offer the following list of terms and catchphrases along
with their current definitions, instances of popular press corps
usage and sometimes the truth:
Herbert Hoover: The 31st president of the United States, whose
economic failures were held up for ridicule and endlessly linked
to those of President Bush. Mysteriously, the keys necessary to
type his name have apparently vanished from the word processors
of the mainstream media during the current recession with its
nearly double-digit unemployment rate.
Lagging Indicator: An economic term that GOPers tried
unsuccessfully to apply to unemployment statistics during the
George W. Hoover years. This tactic is being resuscitated by
Democrats, but look for it to be applied to Obama’s poll numbers.
Dissident: This word was, in the past, most usually associated
with those in the Soviet Union who were unhappy living under the
tender mercies of Communism. In the world of mainstream punditry,
this now refers to those who express their unhappiness with the
prospect of living under the tender mercies of socialism. These
dissidents are also viewed as possible
terrorists.
Community Organizer: Up until only months ago, this was deemed a
noble and even patriotic calling. Yet in a short span, these
folks are now considered un-American dissidents and extremely
unpatriotic.
Patriotism: This is a term that no longer denotes pure love of
country, but rather, love of how a particular political ideology
might benefit that country. President Obama gave us a clue on the
campaign trail explaining,
“I decided I won’t wear that [flag] pin on my chest, instead I’m
gonna try to tell the American people what I believe what will
make this country great, and hopefully that will be a testimony
to my patriotism.”
Patriotic Debate: Discussions that lead to shrieking
denunciations of Republican policies, as so ably demonstrated by
Hillary Clinton’s demure proclamation: “I
am sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and you
disagree with this administration somehow you’re not patriotic.
We should stand up and say, we are Americans and we have a right
to debate and disagree with any administration!” However, those
who disagree with the present administration are not considered
Americans, but Nazis.
Nazis: Formerly members of the National Socialist Party in
Germany; this is naturally now used as an epithet for those
opposed to socialism.
Racism: Once defined as prejudice or animosity against people who
belong to other races, this is now looked on as a desired
qualification to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Racists: Those who refuse to believe the above.
The Good War: A term which in antiquity referenced World War II,
but has been used more recently by liberals to refer to the
conflict in Afghanistan, as opposed to Bush’s bad war in Iraq.
Now that this conflict is owned by them, it is unknown if it will
continue to be called good, but it will most certainly not
degenerate into a quagmire.
Quagmire: The Webster definition reads: “a soft miry land that
shakes or yields under the foot, or a difficult, precarious, or
entrapping position.” In the real world, an almost perfect
description of Democratic healthcare reform.
Healthcare: A quaint term that used to refer to the American
system of medical coverage that was once considered among the
best in the world. Now of course, it is broken and needs to be
reformed in order to safeguard and protect our most precious
resource: our children.
Reproductive Healthcare: The means to kill those children.
Confused? Of course you are, and that’s the point. But if all
this sounds vaguely familiar, it’s been in the big-government
playbook for decades. Let’s let George Orwell explain the usage
of this “doublethink:”
The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind
simultaneously, and accepting both of them….To tell
deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget
any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it
becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just
so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective
reality and all the while to take account of the reality which
one denies — all this is indispensably necessary.
