Balloon Juice Lexicon (Q-Z)

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# A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Q

QFT – Quoted For Truth. See “This”.

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R

Randroid — Portmanteau of android and Ayn Rand’s surname; used to describe those so enamored of Rand’s Objectivist pseudo-philosophy (as popularized in her novels Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead ) that they have become reflexive, morally inhuman grotesques (h/t commentor JGabriel).

Ratfucking – Political dirty tricks or acts of sabotage. Goes back at least to the mid-1960s, as used by both Hunter S. Thompson and Bob Woodstein. Brought into the general public vocabulary by Karl Rove, who considered himself a Jedi master of the art. Frequently cited in some variant of “Those rats ain’t gonna fuck themselves, ya know!”

Reality-based Community (RBC) – Not the Bush Administration; politically liberal; non-authoritarian. Per Wikipedia: “an October 17, 2004, New York Times Magazine article by writer Ron Suskind, quot[ed] an unnamed aide to George W. Bush:

The aide said that guys like me were “in what we call the reality-based community,” which he defined as people who “believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.” ... “That’s not the way the world really works anymore,” he continued. “We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality-judiciously, as you will-we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”

“Reality has a well-known Liberal bias.” – Statement by Stephen Colbert, mock-defending the Republican Party’s increasing divergence from law and logic in the run-up to the Bush Administration’s War on Iraq (White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, 4/29/2006). See also “Reality-Based Community”.

Reasonoids- Collective nickname for the glibertarians who write at Reason’s Hit and Run blog. Known for long and syrupy odes to the free market despite the fact that the magazine itself is a fully funded wingnut welfare endeavor, Reason’s writers as of late have contributed little more to the public discourse than regurgitating right-wing talking points and dressing them up with a libertarianish spin. A one word summation of the Reasonoids would be “SMUG,” and their defining characteristic is the inability to differentiate levels of government over-reach. For example, to a Reason writer, the government requiring someone to wear a seatbelt is just as bad as detaining someone indefinitely and torturing them. General consensus is that Radley Balko is the only redeeming characteristic at the website anymore, although the Reason staff has consistently done admirable work regarding the Drug War, police over-reach, and pornography.

Rebunk- to bring back a myth, lie, urban legend or totally discredited idea as though the evidence which reliably debunked the nonsense never existed. Almost always committed by Re-publicans.

Rightgeist – Underlying feeling within the Washington discourse that a strong right-wing bias is the normal state of American affairs. Conversely, within the Washington Media Village, any progressive or liberal victories are seen as temporary abberations, abnormal fluctuations within the inevitable flow towards authoritarianism. (h/t commentor CC)

Rule of Law – What only Democratic politicians should be held to, according to Republicans; the obverse of IOKIYAR. Chanted as a mantra by the Republican caucus to justify impeaching Clinton for lying about his extramarital sexual acts.

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S

SATSQ- Simple Answers to Stupid Questions. Or Stupid Answers to Simple Questions. Or…
(Derived from Al Jaffee’s ‘Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions’ in MAD Magazine.)

Schiavo- Terri Schiavo, who was in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) for several years, had been under a “do not resucitate” order, given by her husband, Michael. Terri’s parents argued that Terri was conscious and fought the order. Increasing media attention led to involvement by politicians and advocacy groups, particularly those involved in the pro-life movement and disability rights, including members of the Florida Legislature, the United States Congress, and the President of the United States. The sight of so many prominent Republicans inserting themselves into what John considered a private family matter was one more straw on the camel’s back, eventually leading to him leaving the Republican party.

SCLM – So-Called Liberal Media. Popularized by Eric Alterman in his book “What Liberal Media?”.

Serious Person- Also frequently appearing as “Very serious person,” this is applied to a person held in great esteem by The Village, who is repeatedly entirely wrong about everything, usually with tragicomic results. Conversely, those who have pretty much been right about everything the last twenty years are referred to as “not serious.” Serious persons believe the only solution to any foreign policy issue is bombing brown people (preferably Muslim, when at all possible), and the only solution to domestic affairs is cutting entitlements and demanding that the poor and working poor “sacrifice.” Noted examples of serious persons include Tom Friedman, Ken Pollock, the Kagans, Dick Cheney, and Frank Gaffney. Usually has an open lifetime invitation to appear on Hardball or to pen nonsense for the Washington Post editorial page.

Shoes – Trips the Wordpress Spam Filter. We don’t know why, either.

Shorter- Discrediting a writer by summarizing his or her argument sarcastically or in a way that emphasizes its flaws. The disclaimer text after each ‘shorter’ post at Sadly, No! reads, “’Shorter’ concept created by Daniel Davies and perfected by Elton Beard.” See the footnotes here (or any S,No! shorter post) for the history. Example:

Post: My black friends all tell me that Obama is a racist.
Shorter: I’m not a racist because there is a black guy in my office.

Show Me On the Doll Where Rahm Touched You – Tag added during the first part of January 2010, when some of the best-known progressive blogs’ and bloggers’ suspicions about / accusations of treachery against “Obama’s puppetmaster(s)” or “the Dems’ shadow Oval Office” reached a level of paranoia that reminded less personally invested bloggers of the Satanic Ritual Abuse panics of the 1980s.

Shrill- Telling the unpopular truth. The polar opposite of a pundit whose slavish devotion to mainstream approval leads him or her to frequently wrong conclusions (see Serious person). Someone dubbed ‘shrill’ can be reliably accurate but nonetheless ignored for stepping outside the “acceptable” range of political opinion (see ‘Overton Window’). Particularly hated by Villagers, Beltway insiders, and ‘serious people’ because their example makes it impossible to claim that everyone believed a point that turned out to be wrong (e.g., WMDs in Iraq). Notable shrill people include Howard Dean, Al Gore, and Paul Krugman. The correct usage takes the form “Paul Krugman is shrill.” It should be noted, however, that Michael Moore is not shrill; rather, Michael Moore is fat.

“Shut up, that’s why!” – Actual conclusion to an “argument” by rightwinger Ace of Ace of Spades. Often cited as an example of wingnuts’ debating talent and witty repartee.

Skull fuck a kitten- One of the surest Google searches in which to find Balloon Juice as a #1 hit. First coined here.

Slap in the face- During the 2008 Democratic primary season, after it became clear that the race was between Obama and Clinton, the PUMA wing of the Hillary supporters suddenly began accusing candidate Obama of overt misogyny and sexism at every opportunity. Every perceived slight of Hillary was then labeled a “slap in the face,” to the point that you simply could not make it two sentences into a Hillary supporting blog without seeing the phrase “slap in the face.” Some of the accusations included that Obama was displaying sexism and disrespect when he told Hillary that she is “likable enough,” other were simply insane, such as the freeze-frame picture of candidate Obama scratching his face which was widely reported by the PUMA crowd and ratfuckers in the GOP as Obama giving the finger to Hillary. The phrase slap in the face took on a life of its own after this. See also, thrown under the bus.

Socialism- A word that trips the WP moderation filter, because it contains the much-spammed word ‘cialis’. Regular commentors therefore resort to misspellings (soshulism, sokulism) or irregular spacings, which can be mistaken for typos.

Some people say- Preferred phrase of CNN’s Candy Crowley, usually uttered just before spouting the latest wingnut conspiracy theory as though it were a valid viewpoint.

Soros bucks- Also sometimes seen in the form “Waiting on my check from Soros.” Reference to the claims by wingnuts that all that is evil in the world can be traced to bloggers and left-leaning instutitions taking money from George Soros.

Spectering (verb)- Firmly standing by one’s principles until it matters, and then dropping them like a prom dress. Less often seen since the eponymous Senator switched to a party more in line with his (genuine) principles.

Spoof- (var. “spoof-troll”): a left-leaning commenter who assumes the persona and/or positions of an unintelligent rightwing commenter (see “fucktard”) for purposes of parody. The humor comes when “serious” conservatives agree with and defend the often insane points presented by the spoof (h/t commentor Tripletee). Spiraling conservative incoherence (see Wingularity) has rendered spoofing more difficult, as seemingly insane ideas gain wide credence (see Birthers).

Squid-cloud of butthurt – An attempt to obfuscate a dishonest, mistaken or wrongheaded argument via credentialism, logic-chopping, and/or accusations of bad faith and personal cruelty. For professional examples, see Megan McArdle or Ross Douthat.

Starbursts- Rich Lowry’s wet dream about Sarah Palin, made public. Clearly a case of Too Much Information, but welcome for the mockability. Now used to indicate ridiculous and self-deluded wingnut infatuation with someone. (For an earlier version, see Commander Codpiece.) Original Lowry quote:

Palin too projects through the screen like crazy. I’m sure I’m not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, “Hey, I think she just winked at me.” And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America.

Stenographers- Nickname given to the MSM for their tendency to just write down whatever someone tells them, rather than do their job and report the facts. Popularized by Glenn Greenwald.

STFU – Shut The Fuck Up. Frequently constructed as “Why don’t you sit down and have a nice big cup of STFU?” As a stand-alone, sometimes used to indicate delight: “Malkin called BJ commentors ‘the rudest people on the internet?’ STFU!”

Strict Constructionist- Judge who, no matter the legal contortions he/she must go through, always comes up with the outcome that pleases Rush Limbaugh and the RNC. Someone who probably doesn’t understand the Constitution (h/t commentor BDeevDad). Shorter: Someone who has never read the Constitution (h/t commentor Ninerdave). See also Activist judge.

Sully- Blogger Andrew Sullivan.

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth- definition needed.

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T

Talibangelical or Talevangelical- An evangelical Christian whose only quarrel with the Islamic Taliban is that they’re wearing the wrong membership badges.

Teabagging- 1. The act of taking a scrotum into the mouth for sexual pleasure. 2. A movement to protest President Obama and various policies of the Obama administration. Self-named apparently without knowledge of def. (1). (For further explanation of the early days of Def(2), see this World’o’Crap post.) Tea Party – Stealth Klan rally with teabags and badly spelled placards (h/t commentor Matoko-chan).

Teabuggers – On January 25, 2010, “conservative activist” James O’Keefe and three male accomplices were arrested by the FBI for what was seen as an attempted “sting” operation at Louisana Senator Mary Landrieu’s New Orleans office. His lawyer has claimed this was a mere boyish prank intended only to embarrass Senator Landrieu for a perceived failure to listen to her most conservative constituents, as has O’Keefe’s employer, Andrew Breitbart of BigGovernment.com. Further details as they emerge. (h/t commentor Jayackroyd for the felicitous neologism)

“Technically true, collectively nonsense.”- An instant keeper offered up by Atlantic blogger in an alleged refutation of Matt Taibbi’s classic takedown of Goldman Sachs in Rolling Stone. McCardle did little more than compare Taibbi to Sarah Palin and then concede every fact to him, but continued to insist he was wrong, while stating that what he said was “technically true, but collectively false.” Taibbi didn’t waste his time on a response.

Teh – Originally a common typo, now used as a signifier of snark or as a way of distancing oneself from an explanation. “Ted Haggard says he’s pro-marriage, but I think he’s just worried that Teh Gays will tattle about his size issues.”

That One – Barack Obama. When John McCain used this phrase during a 2008 debate, it was immediately seized by pro-Obama campaigners wishing to highlight McCain’s “disrespect for” or “dismissal of” his much younger, non-white opponent. Tshirts and bumper stickers combining the Obama campaign logo and the words ‘That One’ were very popular. Since the election, the phrase has mostly been used sarcastically, as per BJ commentor Wasabi Gasp: “That One: the exclamation of a child pointing at a black and white cookie through the glass in the bakery of lost hopes and broken dreams.”

This- Used by commenters to express full agreement with someone else’s comment. Synonyms: “Ditto”, “QFT”, “What s/he said”, “Word”.

“This is central to my point”- Any fact which directly contradicts your assertion can, in fact, be made to support your assertion simply by saying it is so. A favorite of NRO’s Jonah Goldberg.

“This is excellent news for…”- A phrase born during the 2008 Presidential election, used by McCain supporters and media hacks such as Mark Halperin (that may be redundant), where every piece of news was considered to be good news for John McCain. The best example of this sort of counter-intuitive nonsense was Halperin, to the disbelief of the rest of the ABC Sunday morning panel, insisting that the fact that McCain could not count the number of houses he owned was actually good news for John McCain and a horrible gaffe for Obama. And no, this is not a joke- he actually said that.

Thrown under the bus- NEEDS DEFINITION. See also, slap in the face.

Ticking Time Bomb- A hypothetical scenario where a huge number of lives are at risk due to an imminent danger and the only means of saving these lives is to retrieve information from an unwilling criminal (usually a terrorist). The scenario is often cited as a rationalization for torture of prisoners; though the possibility of such a situation ever occurring in reality is almost non-existent and the reliability of information obtained through such methods would always be questionable at best. Favorite of torture advocates and supporters, including notables such as Charles Krauthammer and Alan Dershowitz.

Tim F’s Law – In the context of a debate, calling another’s motivations ‘evil’ should be considered synonymous with, ‘I don’t understand and am too lazy to find out.’

Tinkerbell Strategy- From the Broadway adaptation of the children’s story “Peter Pan”. When the fairy Tinkerbell is nearly killed, Peter Pan implores the audience to chant “I do believe in fairies” and clap their hands to restore Tinkerbell to life; if they do not clap loudly enough, he warns, Tinkerbelle will die. The Tinkerbell Strategy is referred to when mocking political initiatives – typically wars – that are not going well. When a politician demands verbal political support from his constituents or a national audience, on the grounds that not offering verbal affirmation will “hurt the [war] effort”, he is said to be employing the Tinkerbell Strategy. First known use in blogs is at Crooked Timber in 2003. See also, Clap Louder.

Tire gauges- Handy and simple vehicle maintenance tools handed out to reporters and other interested parties by Republicans during the general election campaign of 2008. The GOP did this to mock then-senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama’s supposedly simplistic suggestion, made during a campaign speech, that people keep the tires on their cars inflated to the proper pressure to help them conserve fuel. The gimmick backfired, however, when AAA, NASCAR, and other reality- and automotive-based groups and individuals confirmed that this was in fact good advice.

Tire-swinging- Also seen used as swinging on the tire, riding the tire swing, and other formulations. Phrase coined by Josh Marshall to describe the media elites and beltway insiders getting too chummy and cozy. The phrase was response to this event at the McCain ranch in which members of the media literally swang on the tire swing and then wrote about it in national publications. Meghan McCain described the event in this video.

TL;DR- Too long, didn’t read.

TMI – Too Much Information. Like pornography, hard to define, but everyone knows it when they see it.

TNC- Atlantic blogger Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Toxic Victim Syndrome- A Krauthammeresque pseudopsychology term (see ‘Bush Derangement Syndrome’) to describe the psychologically corrosive effect of cultivating a sense of victimhood. When a person is victimized by greater and sinister forces, rectifying the outrage justifies (in the victim’s head) behavior that society would ordinarily condemn. For example, a terrorist will nearly always claim that his or her victim represents a greater power that victimized them first. Cultivating a sense of victimhood is an essential self-justification step for those who want to indulge violent and hateful impulses. Conversely, an intense feeling of victimhood is a strong predictor of future antisocial behavior and violence. The power of victimhood to justify awful behavior is shown by this extensive list of relevant shows and movies at tvtropes.com.

TPM- Talking Points Memo, http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com

Truthiness – “... is what you want the facts to be, as opposed to what the facts are. What feels like the right answer as opposed to what reality will support.” – Stephen Colbert (October 17, 2005 The Colbert Report). Immediately seized by bloggers, usually as an accusation against their opponents.

Tunch- John’s Cat, named after retired Steeler Tunch Ilkin. Sometimes thought to be more popular with the BJ regular commentors than John Cole himself. His Rubenesque build is often a point of ridicule and abuse.

Turkee – Rewards (of continued access) given to the press for asking dubya softball questions. Coined by Atrios in 2003.

Tweety- Newsperson Chris Matthews.

Two Wetsuits and a Dildo- A quip often used to make fun of the hypocrisy of the Republican family values crowd and various other religious scolds, which finds its genesis in the police report following the death of a Alabama Baptist Minister Gary Aldridge in which his corpse was found wearing, among other things, two wetsuits, rubberized underwear, with a dildo inserted in the anus. Also notable, it is illegal to purchase a dildo in Alabama.

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United Pastry Jihad- Refers to two examples of Wingnut Fail. The first event was when Michelle Malkin and others led a general freak-out because Rachael Ray wore a scarf in a Dunkin’ Donuts commercial that looked like a keffiyeh; the second was a freakout over the use of the word “choice” by Krispy Kreme in a promotional event that the wingnuts stated was code for promoting abortion. And no, we are not making this up—it spawned a popular logo contest.

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The Village- Term used to describe the inside-the-beltway crowd and their perverse mentality.  Inspired by Sally Quinn in the WaPo in the aftermath of the Clinton blowjob scandal, and made popular by Digby. In the Village, launching a war based on lies is no big deal, but Clinton getting a blowjob is the crime of the century.  Digby further explained the term, and the similarities between Sally Quinn’s DC and Marie Antoinette’s Versailles, in an October 2009 post.

VSP- Very Serious Person. See Serious person.

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Wasilla Wingnut- Nickname for Sarah Palin.

WATB- Whiny-Ass Titty Baby, or Babies. Originally appended to the ombudspersons of the Washington Post, possibly by Sadly, No! , for complaining that unpaid bloggers were making the ombudspersons’ highly-compensated jobs too hard.

We Are All Mayans Now- According to the ancient Mayan calendar, the world will end in 2012. Need we say more? First mentioned here.

Why do you hate America / the troops? – A classic example of the logical fallacy loaded question (e.g., When did you stop beating your wife?), which presupposes the contested point as a given and leaves the other party with no answer that does not validate its pejorative assumption. Originally used as a frequent rhetorical crutch against critics of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Bush Adminstration’s implementation of the ‘War on Terror’, or authoritarianism in general. Eventually degenerated into an all-purpose random snark (“I had a really rough commute today.” “Why do you hate America?”) Now that the White House is no longer in safely authoritarian (Republican) hands, this phrase is rapidly being replaced by random accusations of socialism, fascism, Hitlerism, or a combination of all three. Some bloggers prefer the formulation “Why do you hate the Baby Jesus (... want to make Baby Jesus cry)?”, especially when snarking upon faith-based Talibangelicals as opposed to rightwing authoritarians.

Wide Stance- A reference to the bathroom stall arrest of former Republican Senator Larry Craig. Craig explained to the arresting officer that he was not soliciting for sex through foot contact under the stall door (a common practice for which the officer was running a sting). Instead, Craig insisted that he sits on a commode with a “wide stance.” This led to much hilarity and the birth of a legendary quip.

Wingnut- Categorical term for an untethered rightwinger.

Wingnut Event Horizon – An event that is always happening, yet never ever happens. Occasionally, a wingnut will say/write/blog/publish/fart something so ridiculous, so closed-minded, so full of hate and scorn, yet free from thought and consideration, that anyone hearing it will be forced to conclude that said wingnut will never again be taken seriously/linked to/have a Time article written about him. However, in a sick twisted perversion of the actual event horizon, no matter how far you walk from the Wingnut Event Horizon, they’re never any further away.

Wingnut Hypnotoad – Sarah Palin. Originally a Futurama character, “the Hypnotoad is a large toad with pulsating, multicolored eyes which emit a loud, ominous buzzing noise. It has the power to hypnotize almost any living thing at will, even mass numbers of creatures.” (h/t commenter Fergus Wooster)

Wingnut Voltron- The act when the right wing blogosphere comes together to form a powerful and passionate opposition to important things, such as scarves in a donut commercial. Derived from the childrens’ cartoon Voltron. First employed here although the graphic geniuses at Sadly, No! did provide this:

Wingnut Welfare- the practice of guaranteeing employment for party loyalists no matter how many times they fuck up or how fucking stupid they are. See G Gordon Liddy, Oliver North, and anyone with an R after their name. Usually in the form of sinecures, speaking tours, board memberships, foundation spots, or writing for one of the numerous conservative “think tanks” or online magazines.

Wingularity, the- the point at which the insanity from the far right and those controlling the Republican Party [continues] to grow exponentially until it reaches an unsustainable weight and collapses upon itself. This is also known as the Purity Spiral, wherein the density of wingnut increases compared to mainstream conservatives to the point of pure wingnut. As the ratio rises, this creates a phenomenon wherein no logic or sanity can penetrate or escape. When rightwing argument has become completely inaccessible to the uninitiated, it has reached the Wingularity. Coined by commenters JM and Joe K.

World Nut Daily or WND – World Net Daily. A very-far-right internet news site best known as the “poor man’s Drudge Report”, since its contributors can be mined for ratfucking, astroturfing, rebunking and other forms of political dishonesty by RW sites further up the respectability scale. The birthers, for instance, first achieved Internet visibility via WND.

Wolverines!- The rallying cry of the teenage freedom fighters who free Colorado from Soviet domination in the wingnut warpr0n flick “Red Dawn”. Used to deride the 101st Chairborne.

Wordpress > Error— The ultimate distillation of Balloon Juice. Purportedly a page returned from within the less-than-stable code which supported the site, but actually a message from God that the reader should stop refreshing the page, and get back to work. As with all messages from God, the correct response is to refresh the page again (h/t commentor demimondian).

Wurlitzer, the Mighty, or Wingnut Welfare Wurlitzer – Professional media outlets dedicated specifically to promulgating right-wing propaganda, such as Regnery Press or Fox News. In the modern era of media consolidation, it may be difficult to separate the deliberate organs of misinformation from the incessant general tinkle of infotainment. The term ‘Mighty Wurlitzer’ itself is pre-Internet, said to have been coined by an early CIA operative in reference to Cold War propaganda efforts.

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# A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

X

X definitions here.

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YMMV- Your Mileage May Vary. Used to indicate that the commentor expects disagreement, sometimes quite heated.

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# A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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Zombie Lies – Journalism by urban legend. “No matter how hard we try to kill them, they keep coming back to eat our brains.” May have originated with the proposition that Jack Abramoff gave money indiscriminately to both Democrats and Republicans. Others include: Al Gore claimed to have invented the Internet; Gov. Bob Casey was barred from the 1992 Democratic National Convention because he opposed abortion rights; Bill Clinton held up the tarmac at LAX for four hours while getting a haircut.