A Dictionary of Political Cliches
CONTINETTI, MATTHEW
A Dictionary of Political Clich?s Flaubert gets updated for 2008. BY MATTHEW CONTINETTI Published in 1881 as an appendix to his fi nal novel, Bouvard et P?cuchet, Flaubert’s Dictionnaire...
...They’re hooting and hollering, booing people and ideas they disagree with, wearing silly clothes, etc...
...Any spending favored by liberals...
...No joke...
...Republican Rage...
...Food Security...
...John McCain could sure use one right now...
...But not necessarily for the better...
...As in, “That’s John Edwards’s private business...
...Things worked out perfectly the last time this happened...
...Drill, Baby, Drill...
...Politician who bucks the party establishment in pursuit of reform—and receives absolutely no credit for doing so whatsoever...
...It’s probably broken...
...What the bitter denizens of small towns in Pennsylvania and the Midwest cling to...
...Not to be confused with Guns N’ Roses...
...From Wall Street to Main Street...
...the Lettuce-picker,” “Matlock the Lawyer,” “Jacqui the Thirty-something Occupational Therapist,” “Willy the Groundskeeper,” etc...
...In which case you better enjoy that money while it lasts...
...Consign with New Coke, Olestra, the McDLT, Zima, ValuJet, Phen-fen, Crystal Pepsi, and the Edsel...
...Change was guaranteed to happen this election cycle, of course, as it happens in pretty much every election cycle...
...Hence some people’s souls must be rather ugly,” and optimist as a “synonym for imbecile...
...If you lack a narrative, you are in big trouble mister...
...See: More of...
...Reagan...
...The Base...
...Other examples: “Tito the Construction Worker,” “Al the Shoe-salesman,” “Doris the Cafeteria Worker,” “Dick the Unemployed Chief Executive,” “Annie the Bricklayer,” “Jos...
...Trouble is, clich?s never stop...
...He’d probably throw up his hands and move to China...
...Shorthand for hardworking American...
...Send your suggestions for more entries to editor@weeklystandard.com...
...Joe Biden, for example, has a tremendous amount of experience in being wrong...
...Not to be confused with the Butterfl y Effect...
...Requires AA batteries (not included...
...Allows it to schedule picnics, business meetings, doctor appointments, and so forth, as well as keep track of phone numbers and addresses in one easy-to-carry, pocket-sized device...
...And there are never more clich?s in circulation than during a presidential campaign...
...Naturally, 84 percent of Americans live elsewhere...
...Public Investment...
...Obama...
...For example, “They each did what they had to do, Wolf...
...History...
...Yes We Can...
...For example, change is good when it leads to undivided Democratic control of the United States government...
...The doohickey that lets you fl ip from the CowboysBuccaneers to Redskins-Lions without having to get up from the BarcaLounger...
...What He Had to Do...
...One hears this expression a lot, from many different people, and no doubt about it, those people are right, because, technically, history is what we make every single second...
...Nothing is scarier than a bunch of middle-aged, overweight suburbanites...
...That pang you feel as soon as you pull into the Exxon station...
...Maverick...
...A species of wildcat found throughout the Americas, typically large, with a tawny coat (not real fur...
...What each candidate did during the debates...
...Wait—why don’t we make it thirty...
...See: Sisterhood...
...Paul...
...Republicans get together and they just start going CRAZY...
...Unless of course you make more than $250,000 a year...
...See: Traveling Pantsuits...
...Traveling Pantsuits...
...Community Organizer...
...Whichever one is coming up...
...Unfortunately, he’s going to transform the country into the Netherlands...
...Municipalities in the “real America” where folks work hard, play by the rules, and practice responsibility, faith, thrift, and common sense...
...So much experience in being wrong is extremely rare...
...Needs to be energized...
...Privacy...
...Pain at the Pump...
...They just keep going and going, like the Energizer Bunny...
...An issue very important to Mike Huckabee— stop snickering—for all the obvious reasons...
...Energy Independence...
...Every candidate must have one...
...More of the Same...
...Uniform worn by crazed army of Hillary Clinton supporters...
...What McCain supporters want...
...Jacques Barzun’s English translation, fi rst published by New Directions in 1954, makes for entertaining reading and provides an understanding of the accepted ideas in 19th-century France...
...Experience...
...What would he do...
...How does forty sound to you...
...See: The Same...
...Damaged be yond repair...
...We need it...
...Built-in pedometer optional...
...Better go to the library now...
...Joe the Plumber...
...Crazed army of Hillary Clinton supporters...
...Or maybe twenty-fi ve...
...Also good for seeing what’s on BassMasters...
...More of the Same...
...Perfect for the busy community...
...Hope for the best...
...We’re not sure what this is either, but it is very, very important to Ron Paul...
...Small Towns...
...Forty-fi ve...
...The only possible explanation for Obama not doing as well as we think he should...
...Narrative...
...The Repub lican Brand...
...Change comes in both good and bad varieties...
...Transformational Figure...
...Heft...
...Clock...
...More of...
...Bradley Effect...
...President’s Working Group on Financial Markets...
...This is why he would make an excellent vice president...
...absolutely necessary for vice presidents...
...Didn’t you hear their chants at the Republican convention in St...
...Forty maybe...
...Appears every four years in the form of the “Angry White Male” and his assorted kin...
...What Joe Biden apparently lends—we are not making this up—to the Democratic ticket...
...A distance of seven miles (see map...
...Practiced by those candidates—you know who you are— who insist on bringing up boring, nasty topics such as al Qaeda, nuclear proliferation, belligerent Russian dictators, winning or losing in Iraq, angry petropopulists, and ambitious autocratic powers...
...Really, they ought to know better...
...Actually, more like twenty...
...What you got coming to you in an Obama administration, even if you are not middle class and don’t pay any income taxes...
...And prepare for the worst...
...Most Important Election of Our Lifetimes...
...Puma...
...Sisterhood...
...Matthew Continetti is the associate editor of THE WEEKLY STANDARD...
...Our list contains terms particular to this campaign, so you won’t see defi nitions of electability or it all comes down to turnout or it’s the economy, stupid or right-wing smear machine...
...They really don’t...
...Guns and Religion...
...Unnecessary for presidents...
...Change...
...He defi nes a conservative as a “politician with pot belly,” face as the “mirror of the soul...
...Politicians, especially those running behind, are always trying to “reset” it...
...A tool necessary for basic home repairs...
...Preferably cordless...
...He was wrong about the Reagan defense buildup, wrong about the fi rst Gulf war, says he was wrong about the second, and was defi nitely wrong about the surge...
...As in, “Either way, we’re making history...
...The Same...
...To be said authoritatively, in solemn tones, during post-debate commentary...
...Game-Changer...
...What the candidates hope to achieve in ten years...
...What a bunch of downers...
...Try Excedrin...
...The author’s sharp wit is in evidence throughout...
...Take the PATH train...
...BY MATTHEW CONTINETTI Published in 1881 as an appendix to his fi nal novel, Bouvard et P?cuchet, Flaubert’s Dictionnaire des Id?es Re?ues—or Dictionary of Accepted Ideas—is a blistering satirical attack on philistinism, bourgeois culture, and literary convention...
...The right-wing smear machine is broken and due for repairs anyway...
...Politics of Fear...
...So, in the spirit of Flaubert, we spent a couple of days making our own dictionary of clich?s...
...This also includes, according to Barack Obama, “antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment...
...Middle-Class Tax Cut...
Vol. 14 • November 2008 • No. 8
