AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH echoing from Liberal Street Fighter”
In politics, words can be such slippery things. Take the word staunch for example:
staunch1 (stônch, stänch) also stanch (stônch, stänch, stănch)
adj., staunch·er also stanch·er, staunch·est also stanch·est.
- Firm and steadfast; true. See synonyms at faithful.
- Having a strong or substantial construction or constitution.
Pretty straightforward, it seems, especially if you look at the synonyms:
Adhering firmly and devotedly, as to a person, a cause, or a duty: allegiant, constant, faithful, fast, firm, liege, loyal, steadfast, true.
Given that Judge John Roberts has been a devoted conservative in the Reagan/Bush wing of the Republican Party, a party that rewards the loyal and faithful to its causes with appointments to all manner of offices, one would think that “staunch” would be a good description of such a steadfast liegeman. Well, not according to the Washington Post:
E. Barrett Prettyman Jr. fondly recalls working with John G. Roberts Jr. at Hogan & Hartson, the blue-chip Washington law firm where Prettyman was a renowned Supreme Court advocate, and Roberts was quickly becoming one. The two lawyers ate lunch together almost every day, and Prettyman says they became close friends, even though he’s a staunch liberal and Roberts is a staunch conservative.
At least he thinks Roberts is a staunch conservative.
He’s always assumed Roberts is a staunch conservative.
Actually, now that he racks his brain, he’s not so sure.
“You know, I must have had a thousand lunches with John, and I can’t think of a single thing he’s said that would specify his politics,” says Prettyman, a World War II veteran who once served as an aide to Robert F. Kennedy. “We were all under the impression that he’s a conservative, but he always talked generalities. He’s not the type to lay it all out.”
Now that President Bush has nominated Roberts to serve on the court, many Americans are under the impression he’s a staunch conservative. He’s got a conservative résumé and a conservative lifestyle; he was chosen by a conservative president. But his public record and personal history suggest that his conservatism may not resemble the conservatism of Antonin Scalia or Clarence Thomas, Bush’s favorite justices.
It’s as though some host on the Discovery Channel could talk to, say, a jackyl, and I. M. Jackyl talks about one of the quietest members of his pack, “oh, you mean Jack? He’s kind of quiet, and he’s not one to run out front of the pack when we’re chasing off the vultures to get something to eat. Let me tell you though, that guy, in his own quiet way, can gnaw right down to the marrow, but since he’s not real aggressive about it, I guess you can’t call him a staunch jackyl, no-siree-bob!”
You see, in political PR, words don’t MEAN anything other than what you convince people they mean, in that particular instance. Like all advertising, all that matters is closing the deal. They are trying to create some distance between him and the other members of a movement which others might describe as reactionary, or extreme. It wouldn’t do to allow people to see that he’s been a constant presence in the Reagan Revolution, that he had a hand in the 2000 election in Florida, that there are apparent ties to Iran/Contra, to extreme anti-abortion groups and to Ken Starr’s witchhunt of a popular president. He wouldn’t do for people to see that he’s held fast to a movement that has driven the governance of this Nation very far to the right, so they reassure us that no, he’s not a staunch conservative, not in a time in which conservative has come to be a synonym for extreme, zealous, reactionary and corrupt.
Reading lazy stenography like this reminds me of the other definition of staunch:
The verb staunch has one meaning:
Meaning #1: as of the flow of a liquid flowing, such as blood from a wound
Synonyms: stem, stanch, halt
Reading this crap makes me want to staunch the bleeding from the blood vessels in my brain when I read lazy hacks repeat dutifully the news releases of the RNC. I’m sure it makes my friends and coworkers want to staunch the stream of explitives that I mutter under my breath as I read poorly written bullshit like this piece. I know I want to staunch the continued erosion of the actually meaning of words so they can be twisted like silly putty to continuously sell people things that are bad for them by convincing them that they are good.
