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Dictionary of Republicanisms

Over the past few decades, the radical right has engaged in a well-funded program of Orwellian doublespeak seeking to transform American political discourse to suit its political ends. The key to the strategy is to use words which sound moderate to us but mean something completely different to the right-wing base. This effort has reached its apogee in the Bush White House.

So, as Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel has written, we need to take a cue from the venerable military strategist Sun-tzu, who said that the first stage of battle is to understand our opponents. Toward this end, she started a "Republican Dictionary" a year ago in an attempt to start de-coding Republican doublespeak. The idea took off, and she then asked you--readers of TheNation.com--to send definitions to her blog, Editor's Cut. Submissions came from forty-four states in all (with the most coming from Texas.) The result was an overwhelming grassroots groundswell of hilarious and hard-hitting definitions from people who are mad as hell and aren't going to take it anymore.

These submissions, in turn, spawned a new book, just released by Nation Books. Written by vanden Heuvel and readers of The Nation, The Dictionary of Republicanisms offers a path out of the thicket of rightwing mendacity. It also makes a great holiday gift!

Check out a few sample definitions:

"Dick Cheney, n. The greater of two evils [Jacob McCullar, Austin, TX]

Extraordinary Rendition, n. Outsourcing terror [Milton Feldon, Laguna Woods, CA]

Healthy Forest, n. No Tree Left Behind [Dan McWilliams, Santa Barbara, CA]

Voter Fraud, n. A significant minority turnout. [Sue Bazy, Philadelphia, PA]"

Click below to order copies online.
http://www.nationbooks.org/book.mhtml?t=dictionary

Read the weblog post that started the project last November.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?pid=1994

And don't miss vanden Heuvel's Editor's Cut, updated several times each week.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut/

Finally, please visit www.thenation.com to post comments to Nation blogs, to view news-wire links updated twice each day, to see when Nation writers are appearing on TV, for info on nationwide activist campaigns, Nation History offerings, exclusive online reports, and special weekly selections from The Nation magazine. This week we're featuring pieces by Naomi Klein, William Greider and John Nichols !


** If you appreciate what you read at TheNation.com, please consider subscribing to the print magazine of The Nation at a sharply discounted rate. It's the only way to read ALL of what's in the magazine week after week--both in print and online. http://www.thenation.com/ensubscribe

posted by Annamarie at 6:10 PM