Sunday, January 22, 2012
Good word usage
I notice something in Newt's recent utterances in SC and on the Sunday shows... he's calling himself a Conservative Populist.
He's not a good carrier for the message, to put it mildly. [In this year's crop, Santorum is the nearest thing to a real Populist.] Nevertheless, Newt is using the word correctly for the first time in modern American politics. He's using it to mean Main Street rebelling against Wall Street. And his critique of Wall Street is starting to bite, starting to dig beneath the usual surface crap.
In recent decades, Populist meant nothin' more than talkin' lak th' reg'lar folks, talkin' wit' lots'a 'postrophes on yo' teleprompter. You bet'cha!
Populis' meant attendin' NASCAR, watchin' Football, eatin' Bar-B-Q, an' jus' gen'r'lly follerin' all o' them there focus-grouped brandin's that make Fox New's so fuckin' obnoxious.
When Newt says he's a Reagan Conservative Populist, he stretches the point severely; Reagan was the opposite of a populist. Still, Newt has rescued the word from its idiotic use as a mere descriptor of a style, and made its proper ideological meaning respectable and understandable again.
When a politician comes along who truly deserves the label, he will be able to use the word without havin' ta' pluck out all o' them 'postrophes first. ¶ 3:10 PM
He's not a good carrier for the message, to put it mildly. [In this year's crop, Santorum is the nearest thing to a real Populist.] Nevertheless, Newt is using the word correctly for the first time in modern American politics. He's using it to mean Main Street rebelling against Wall Street. And his critique of Wall Street is starting to bite, starting to dig beneath the usual surface crap.
In recent decades, Populist meant nothin' more than talkin' lak th' reg'lar folks, talkin' wit' lots'a 'postrophes on yo' teleprompter. You bet'cha!
Populis' meant attendin' NASCAR, watchin' Football, eatin' Bar-B-Q, an' jus' gen'r'lly follerin' all o' them there focus-grouped brandin's that make Fox New's so fuckin' obnoxious.
When Newt says he's a Reagan Conservative Populist, he stretches the point severely; Reagan was the opposite of a populist. Still, Newt has rescued the word from its idiotic use as a mere descriptor of a style, and made its proper ideological meaning respectable and understandable again.
When a politician comes along who truly deserves the label, he will be able to use the word without havin' ta' pluck out all o' them 'postrophes first. ¶ 3:10 PM
