Safire's Political DictionaryWhen it comes to the vagaries of language in American politics, its uses and abuses, its absurdities and ever-shifting nuances, its power to confound, obscure, and occasionally to inspire, William Safire is the language maven we most readily turn to for clarity, guidance, and penetrating, sometimes lacerating, wit. Safire's Political Dictionary is a stem-to-stern updating and expansion of the Language of Politics, which was first published in 1968 and last revised in 1993, long before such terms as Hanging Chads, 9/11 and the War on Terror became part of our everyday vocabulary. Nearly every entry in that renowned work has been revised and updated and scores of completely new entries have been added to produce an indispensable guide to the political language being used and abused in America today. Safire's definitions--discursive, historically aware, and often anecdotal--bring a savvy perspective to our colorful political lingo. Indeed, a Safire definition often reads like a mini-essay in political history, and readers will come away not only with a fuller understanding of particular words but also a richer knowledge of how politics works, and fails to work, in America. From Axis of Evil, Blame Game, Bridge to Nowhere, Triangulation, and Compassionate Conservatism to Islamofascism, Netroots, Earmark, Wingnuts and Moonbats, Slam Dunk, Doughnut Hole, and many others, this language maven explains the origin of each term, how and by whom and for what purposes it has been used or twisted, as well as its perceived and real significance. For anyone who wants to cut through the verbal haze that surrounds so much of American political discourse, Safire's Political Dictionary offers a work of scholarship, wit, insiderhood and resolute bipartisanship. |
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Page iv
... York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary ...
... York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary ...
Page xxi
... York Times (see pundit, thumbsucker) over the next 30 years, escaping retirement by becoming a philanthropoid at the Dana Foundation and continuing as resident language maven in the weekly New York Times Magazine. In each career ...
... York Times (see pundit, thumbsucker) over the next 30 years, escaping retirement by becoming a philanthropoid at the Dana Foundation and continuing as resident language maven in the weekly New York Times Magazine. In each career ...
Page 27
... York. Democrat Mario Cuomo, then GETS WHAT , WHEN , AND HOW . governor of New York, came to the accuser's defense by calling D'Amato an “attack as is well known See REPORTEDLY . dog.” Attack dogs may be said to be untethask not See ...
... York. Democrat Mario Cuomo, then GETS WHAT , WHEN , AND HOW . governor of New York, came to the accuser's defense by calling D'Amato an “attack as is well known See REPORTEDLY . dog.” Attack dogs may be said to be untethask not See ...
Page 30
... York Tri- bune wrote in 1888 of the Vermont Demo- crats being “buried under an avalanche of Republican ballots.” This is the use that is current today; avalanche refers specifically to votes, while landslide refers to an elec- tion as ...
... York Tri- bune wrote in 1888 of the Vermont Demo- crats being “buried under an avalanche of Republican ballots.” This is the use that is current today; avalanche refers specifically to votes, while landslide refers to an elec- tion as ...
Page 35
... York Times columnist Tom Friedman wrote in 2006 about international criticism of See NOT FOR ATTRIBUTION ; THUMBSUCKER ; DOPE STORY ; SOURCES . Israel for its strong military response to the kidnapping of its soldiers and other ...
... York Times columnist Tom Friedman wrote in 2006 about international criticism of See NOT FOR ATTRIBUTION ; THUMBSUCKER ; DOPE STORY ; SOURCES . Israel for its strong military response to the kidnapping of its soldiers and other ...
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Common terms and phrases
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