Wingnut vocabulary
I've been struck by a number of really interesting posts recently that analyzed various word choices and provide a context and a meaning for them that I, as a Bay Area liberal, simply would not have known. As new instance come up, I'll add them to this diary. Here are a few, with references - please add more. A great author generally on words and framing is George Lakoff, here are a couple of Lakoff links:
George Lakoff Interview
Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate--The Essential Guide for Progressives
George Lakoff on The Language of Politics - Streaming Video!
'Dred Scott Case'
Code for recognizing fetuses as fully human. The basic idea is that the Right equates reproductive rights with slavery, as in, just as Whites once refused to see Blacks as full humans, Liberals refuse to see fetuses as full humans. This argument sees strong parallels between the Roe v. Wade decision and the Dred Scott decision.
It should be noted that this campaign has a number of smaller goals, including the recently passed law that treats murder of a pregnant woman as two murders - this law is a toehold into full recognition of fetuses as full humans. See dKos diary by Kynn for discussion
Deceiver
Satan. As in, 'Saddam Hussein is a deceiver' = 'Saddam Hussein is the devil' I find this analysis absolutely breathtaking - it goes a long way toward explaining why the wingnuts are so gungho about the war, doesn't it?
See American Dreamer's analyis
States Rights
'State Rights' dating back to our founding period used to be a rallying cry to protect local autonomy against a tyranical federal authority. In the Sixties this was amplified and it became code for preventing the federal government from forcing states to enact civil rights measures.
Since the Left won the civil rights fight and the principle ideas were adopted by the mainstream, the Right has largely abandoned State Rights as a rallying cry. More recently, corporations have helped pass a number of federal laws restricting state rights when it comes to enforcing environmental laws. If BushCo wins then look for them to try overrule California environmental laws by using federal pre-emption.
Biblical language generally
There are a whole set of phrases and words that are part of a chrstian/fundamentalist vocabulary. When BushCo uses them, he is communicating: I am one of you. Some examples: crusade, transformational power, climbed the mountain, the valley below etc. For secular humanists this kind of language reads as ringing phrases, for fundies it identifies Bush as One of Us.