"Uh, I dunno, Billy-Bob, I think it's that fancy dance ya see them Spanish girls with the rose in their teeth doin' around the table in ole' cowboy pictures..."
"Naw, Enos, I think it's that little drum wit' the little jingly-things around the edge that they beat on before they take up the collection at meetin' house...."
Rachel Maddow has been conducting a campaign to rename the filibuster, since the word "filibuster" makes all the puppies fall asleep, and the information-challenged general public's eyes glaze over.
Re-framing the discussion is the intent of the campaign, and on Friday night she announced that the winning new appellation for the aberration will be "Tarantino" or "TheTarantino" a reference to "Kill Bill," get it?
Wow. What. Unbelievable. Dumbitude.
Re-framing the conversation might be the most important job we have, the Luntzes and Roves are working three shifts to use language to obscure facts hidden in plain sight, we need to re-frame the language to draw attention to the facts.
Renaming the filibuster in conversation and writing is an excellent idea, and the large number of responses she received illustrates the interest we have in the subject.
Any new word or phrase used to describe the filibuster must engage the hearer emotionally, and immediately. The pop-culture reference "Tarantino" does not satisfy these requirements, because it is not universally understood by all (My 85-year old dad has never seen "Kill Bill"!) and it does not immediately convey the emotional message we want to get across, that the Tarantino is UNFAIR and UNDEMOCRATIC....
A few of the suggestions from Rachel's audience included a number of simple phrases that more accurately (and universally!) frame the argument.
My favorites were "Minority Override" and "Minority Rule" since they pretty much describe what's happening, and they don't require the hearer to "get" an obscure cultural reference. (Presumably I'll get death threats from the Deadly Viper Assassination Team over referring to Quentin's work as an obscure reference, but to my dad, it's OBSCURE, believe me!)
I think that this issue is of sufficient importance to keep the conversation going on the subject, and since many Kossacks, like me, are faithful RachelRobots,("must...watch...Rachel....must...watch...Rachel...")
I suggest that we continue to send her mail on the subject and suggest a better replacement, one that Billy-Bob, Enos, and my 85-year old dad will instantly "get"....