"It betrays a misunderstanding on Barack Obama's part of how the economy works..."

[jenmito]

Carly Fiorina was just on MSNBC responding to a claim Obama made about McCain proposing $300 billion in tax breaks and he doesn't have a way to pay for it. McCain has ALSO used the phrase "It BETRAYS a misunderstanding on Obama's part..." Does that even make sense? If you "betray" something, doesn't it mean you go AGAINST it? Shouldn't the word be "portrays" instead of "betrays"? It's clearly a talking point of McCain's campaign.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

1. He just wanted to get the word "betray" in there somehow. n/t

[TexasObserver]

2. Carly Fiorina was fired because she's incompetent.

She's now just a traveling shill for the RNC.

[rurallib]

14. she was beyond incompetent wasn't she?

My recollection is she really fucked up HP in a big hurry.

[truebrit71]

17. Yup...I'd take economics advice from her the same way I'd take relationship advice from a hermit...

....

[TexasObserver]

19. this is how she's trying to make a comeback - by RNC shilling on TV

[flpoljunkie]

20. Fiorna repeated the same lie about corporate tax rate Lindsey Graham tried to peddle on THIS WEEK

MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell just had McCain economic advisor, Carly Fiorina, the fired former head of Hewlett-Packard, repeating the Republican meme that U.S. corporate taxes are the second highest in the world. John Kerry was on THIS WEEK just this past Sunday and interrupted Lindsay Graham when he repeated this lie, saying, "Not effective corporate tax rate."

The truth is that the corporate tax rate in this country averaged 25% in the years 2000-2006. This compares very favorably with other industrialized countries.

http://www.taxanalysts.com/www/features.nsf/Articles/9B...

"This most recent decline appears to be part of a longer-term trend. The five-year average effective corporate tax rate for 1997- 2001 was 29.7 percent. The average for 2002-2006 was 25 percent."

[Phillycat]

3. Betrays is correctly used there.

In this context it means "to expose".

[jenmito]

9. Oh. Then I guess I was wrong.

My bad. But thanks for teaching me something new.

[Phillycat]

13. Still an interesting point, in that it's a fairly uncommon usage

and both a MSM person and McCain are using it in the same context. Sounds like they're getting their talking points faxed to them daily, doesn't it?

[jenmito]

15. Yes-that's what I'm thinking...

it's definitely a talking point.

[EFerrari]

16. Fax. n/t

[Sundoggy]

28. It's not uncommon at all

It's standard English for anyone with half an education.

[livetohike]

4. There's a reason she isn't at HP anymore

Not the brightest bulb, I think.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

5. Yeah, thanks for sharing Carly "I nearly destroyed HP through my incompetence" Fiorina.

I'm sure she's enjoying her golden parachute, though.

[dsomuah]

6. Ahhh more voodoo economics.

More vodoo economics. McCain is betraying his neo-con tendencies.

How to fix a broken economy by the neo-cons.

1. Give a bunch of tax breaks to corporations.

2. Borrow money from the Chinese and the Arabs to fund the tax breaks.

3. Wait for "supply-side" magic to kick in, fix the economy raise the GNP, boost the tax revenue, and pay back the deficit.

4. If it doesn't work, distract everyone by starting a war.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

8. Actually, they don't really care about #3.

They're perfectly happy to destroy the economy. Plutocrats tend to enjoy their gated communities and country clubs ever so much more when they know that the masses outside are starving and enslaved.

[Gormy Cuss]

7. "Betray" has more than one meaning

and Fiorina and McCain used it correctly. What's more interesting is that both used the phrasing, as if it's framing straight out of a Republican playbook. If this usage confuses more people than it informs it's a clever framing on their part.

[jenmito]

10. Thanks. Another poster already straightened me out.

[BlooInBloo]

11. betray = expose, uncover, exhibit, display.

[jenmito]

12. Thanks. It must be a carefully chosen word then, someone must've told McCain to use it, too.

I am usually pretty smart. Oh, well.

[BlooInBloo]

18. Heh - it happens to the best of us. And to me too :P

My guess is that there's two different "betray"s:

1) To *put* something on a tray. You put shit on trays to show the item in question to somebody, or present it to them, or whatever.

2) The other betray might be a cognate of "treason", or whatever its root is. I assume that root is french/latin.


This is completely making shit up, of course. But it sounds somewhat plausible.

[jenmito]

22. Self-deprecating humor...

not a bad trait. Yeah, those were pretty plausible definitions.

[cottonseed]

21. It's McCain creepy speak.

And I agree that getting that word out there as opposed to any other is something the campaign thinks might work.

Hell, if being "in the black" wasn't actually a positive economic term, we'd hear a lot of that too:

"Well, Mrs. TV pundit, it's obvious Obama wants to see this country in the black".

[jenmito]

23. Good point...

and that's right about the "in the black" phrase.

[Jed Dilligan]

24. The economy "works" to enrich pointless pieces of shit

like Carly Fiorina. Obama wants to make it "work" to feed and house Americans and get them to their jobs and educate their kids. I am glad he has no deep investment in how the economy currently "works."

Scumsucking dirtbag that she is, she did use "betray" correctly, however.

[jenmito]

25. I have a feeling she may be on the VP short list...

she gets on my nerves with her "soft" tone while she lies.

Thanks for the info. on the use of the word.

[rock]

26. Betrays as McCain used it is okay

as far as usage is concerned

[Sundoggy]

27. Short answer: No, that's correct usage of the word

Next question?