Just a question about word choice?

[HereSince1628]

Poll question: Just a question about word choice?

I personally don't think arrogate is a word used by most Americans more than once a decade.

Which do you think is most effective? All these are based on the definition of arrogate.

[IndyOp]

1. I chose "arrogantly" because it describes him to a T - however,

it depends on the audience. If the audience is mixed or overwhelmingly right - I would use the second option. I agree that 'arrogate' is to unfamiliar to most to be effective.

I love your concern about word choice - refreshing! :hi:

[HereSince1628]

13. Every public speech is a speech to the public. National leaders

speak to the entire nation each time they utter a word in public. The audience is ALWAYS mixed.

[IndyOp]

26. And yet Senator Lugar says he is against the Iraq War when in the UK,

and returns home to Indiana with resolve to fight the war. Don't try and tell me that speakers don't choose different words for different audiences.

:(

[HereSince1628]

32. They do. And it comes home to roost. Think of Lott at a birthday party

for an old southern senator.

[Swamp Rat]

2. A president who arrogates to himself power.

I vote for #1

[HereSince1628]

3. Interesting, I'd like to know why?

Really.

[Swamp Rat]

20. Because at the time I heard it, I knew what "arrogates to oneself" meant.

It's what I would have used in the speech if I had thought of it myself. :)

[ixion]

4. it was a polite way of saying arrogant, IMO

but I agree that it's not a usage you see much.

[HereSince1628]

8. IMHO it defys the plain speech needed to deal a crushing

blow.

The "arrogate" sort of language can't convince people who don't know what it means, it simply feeds their notion that liberals are educated elitists who can't relate to common people.

[ixion]

21. you have a point... on the other hand

using the word 'arrogant' plays right into the GOP spin that Gore is 'angry'. Actually, this phrasing here is a good rebuttal to that as it shows intellect rather than emotion. If that mantle were to be picked up by so-called dem pundits, which it won't, it would be a means to not let the 'angry' argument stand.

[HereSince1628]

30. Arrogate implies arrogance. So intellectually it says the same

thing but only to people who have better than average lexicons. Which is to say it speaks to an educated elite. Democrats have a bad rap for behaving that way. Should we feed that mischaracterization?

If some people hear in the word arrogant anger, rather than other emotions such as dismay, frustration, or affront, it could be because of the way it was delivered. Even so, aren't we justified if we feel anger that Bush violated our civil rights, broke the law, and abused his constitutional authority? If we can't be angry now, when can we be?

[DeepModem Mom]

5. "Seizes" power that is not lawfully his -- like a dictator? nt

[melody]

6. It was near enough etymologically to other words

I think most people could sense the meaning of the word, given context, even if they didn't know it. It also politely suggests the word "arrogant" in association with power.

[HereSince1628]

10. Why be polite? Gore accused Bush of breaking the law by abuse of power!

Polite is important?

[melody]

15. Polite = good manners. Courtesy in the south is very important

And that's a large part of the population.

[HereSince1628]

19. Polite in what should be a call to arms? I don't buy that.

Seems to me the language of the south is just as plain spoken and direct as anywhere else, I've lived 11 years of my adult life in the south.

Is the south you're talking about the same south where ClearChannel radio called for their listeners to attack antiwar protesters in the days before Iraq II, or is that south some other south?

[melody]

24. Courtesy is in the eye of the beholder

Just because someone uses the right words doesn't mean they're going to act in humane ways. We're talking courtesy, not kindness. I just know that 90% of my very old southern family considers good manners essential. Plain spoken and direct is the voice of the common man. He's trying to reach rich southerners with a conscience. The poor ones are already with him.

[HereSince1628]

27. Most of those rich southerners support the DNC and they weren't polite

in their response to Gore, either.

[melody]

35. I was just giving reasons not excuses. n/t

[ClassWarrior]

7. Paraphrasing Lakoff...

"Bush** power grab."

(A variation on Lakoff's "Another Republican power grab.")

NGU.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

9. We have so butchered the arts of language and oration in this country....

It's sad, really. :cry:

[HereSince1628]

11. How do you build a rallying cry around "arrogation?"

We need to reach the masses with the message, not impress them with our use of a Thesaurus.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

17. I have no idea.

I just miss the style and inspiration. We're poorer without it.

[trof]

12. I had to look up "arrogate" and "abrogate".

[HereSince1628]

16. Almost all of us who wanted to know what it meant did too.

[sandnsea]

14. I would say "grants"

A President who grants himself power, if it fits with the rest of the sentence. But I don't mind words that I don't regularly use. Somewhere along the line we've got to gain some regard for education again.

[StatsBabe]

18. I would also say "grants"

Its just that we know the attitude behind the actions.

[Apollo11]

22. Bush seizes power for himself

"Seize" is the best word to use. Similar meaning to "grab".

Arrogate is lawyer-speak. I never heard that word until yesterday.

Using the word "grant" is no good, because it implies he had every right to grant himself extra powers, when in fact he is taking power beyond the limits of his authority.

[HereSince1628]

33. I agree.

[HereSince1628]

23. When trying to start an impeachment is the time for a vocabulary

lesson?

Unless the vocabulary is specific to legal issues you must proove, I think you want to be plain spoken.

But then I'm recapitulating my previous pronouncement...impeachment necessitates the coalesence of a national concensus encompassing even those with depauperate lexicons.

[sandnsea]

25. Because it all hinges on the word "arrogate"

Go write a letter or make a phone call or something. This doesn't even amount to an ant hill, let alone a mole hill, and certainly not a mountain that will stand in the way of impeachment.

[HereSince1628]

28. None of what we do on DU matters, unless you see a broader

implication.

Liberals are demonized as being an educated elite out of touch with the average American. As a party we've not arrogated erudition, but we are condemned by it.

[sandnsea]

29. Which is why I said

Go write a letter or make a phone call, because that does matter. And try not to use words like arrogated and erudition. :)

[HereSince1628]

31. Yes, we write. This isn't a post like many for non-present freepers

or a sermon to the choir.

Its a post not for only ordinary DU'ers, but for people including Democratic staff and democratic leaning editorial writers who lurk and fish blogs for ideas.

To gain a national consensus that will achieve a serious investigation of Bush's abuses, we need memorable talking points. We need simple, plain, very pointed language that communicate unambiguously why everyone should take affront with Bush's abuses.

If our memes can state the danger simply in black and white and claim written legal authority all the better, because fear, Manicheanism, and authority appeal to conservative personalities. And we need conservatives to build an adequately large national consensus to hold Bush accountable for his crimes.

[Straight Shooter]

34. I was fine with the use of the word "arrogate"

Anyone who dismisses the entire speech based on one word is not interested in anything Gore has to say, anyway. It's like condemning him in 2000 for wearing a brown suit.

As for the "intellectual/elitist" image, that is precisely what bush and his supporters have been touting about Roberts and now Alito, how frickin' intelligent they are. Remember also that bush's base is in fact the wealthier, higher-educated white male, and they do know or can certainly infer from context the meaning of the word "arrogate."

Gore is his own man and speaks with his own voice. To do otherwise would compromise his speech and douse its fire.