There they go again...
Part of Dean stump speech in his run for DNC chair includes the phrase:
"I hate the Republicans and all that they stand for...
but I also admire their discipline."
Well, guess what? This has filtered down to become a DLC talking point regarding how divisive Dean can be....
...and at this point, I just hand my head in despair knowing damn well that if Howard gets in he is going to be forced to parse every damn word which comes out of his mouth in order to see how it can be taken out of context.
And so every colorful turn of phrase, every use of irony, every instance of trope
http://www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsATrope.htm
will be watered down so that all that attracted us to Dean...his candor, his quick wit, his clever use of rhetoric...his spontaneity will be effectively defanged...
and I don't know how he can avoid this.
As a writer, I enjoy listening to someone who understands how to use language so people actually like listening to you...and I can't tell you how sad it makes me that the political tone of country has become so toxic, and that every goddamn word which comes out of a Democrat's mouth has to be vetted, parsed, and effectively dumbed down so everything we say is as predigested and as appetitizing as a bottle of Ensure.
This is hurting us in ways a lot of people don't understand....and it is important.
And I don't know exactly what to do about it.
But I firmly believe we have to start thinking about effectively counter this kind intellectually dishonesty passing as rhetorical criticism.
You know what I mean?