Lexicon (I-P)

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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

I

“I Am Aware of All Internet Traditions”–Originating from a stupid comment at Lawyers, Guns and Money (“I am aware of all internet traditions, but… “), it has been subsequently popularized as a satirical term that makes fun of right-wing stupidity.
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“I am not a Republican, I am a conservative”– Used by neoconservatives, libertarians, and other right-wingers attempting to disassociate themselves from the Republican electoral failures of 2008, or from the general wreckage and political failures of the previous eight years. Also used as a right-wing rallying cry in the hopes that a slate of “real” or “true” conservatives (Palin, Giuliani, Ron Paul) will re-capture the seats lost to “Democrat appeasers” in 2010, or 2012, or 2016 at the latest. Used almost as often by Democrats, progressives, and DFHs to mock Republican apologists and right-wingers in general: “… I am a conservative: Lame attempt to scrape the bushcheney off the speakers shoe when no one is looking.”
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IANAL– I am not a lawyer. Almost always followed by a mistaken interpretation of law.
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Iatropic Excitement – What happens when the radioactive excitement of the massed teabaggers bouncing off each other in the closed container of an otherwise meaningless local election reaches critical mass, and makes a deeply underqualified carpetbagger into the metaphor trigger on the neutron bomb of post-Republican Conservatism. Since “iatropic” actually means “needing to see a physician”, presumably Marc Ambinder used this phrase for the Teabaggers’ intense investment in the 2009 District 23-NY special election with tongue firmly in cheek.
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I Cain’t Fight This Feelin’ Anymore – For a brief period during the early months of the 2012 Republican presidential primaries, Tea Party darling Herman Cain was considered, if not actually the potential candidate, at least a possible spoiler with a chance at the VP slot, ala Sarah Palin in 2008. While he dropped out of the race in December 2011, in post-election 2012 he was already hinting that he might run again in 2016.
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“I can see Russia from my house”– Tina Fey’s satirical take on Sarah Palin’s foreign policy credentials. Palin’s actual summation of what qualified her to deal with Russia wasn’t much better: “They’re our next-door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska.” Variations are used to mock those (usually but not always Palin herself) who don’t let their ignorance of a given subject stand in the way of offering opinions that they expect others to take seriously. Local commenter Krista, now RedKitten, famously responded, “And when I look out my window I can see the moon. Doesn’t make me a fucking astronaut now, does it?” Krista’s reply became such a popular internet meme that a writer for Leno honored her by ripping it off.
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“I for one welcome our new _____ overlords” – Sarcastic response to an overly despairing (“If Goldman Saks has taken over the Federal Reserve, I for one welcome our new Chinese overlords”) or optimistic (“If the Obama Adminstration can eliminate childhood obesity, I for one welcome our new nanny-state overlords”) post. Coined in the Simpsons episode “Deep Space Homer” when news anchor Kent Brockman, reacting to an ant passing in front of live feed from the space shuttle that appears gigantic due to foreshortening, announces, “I for one welcome our new insect overlords.”
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IGMFU – I Got Mine, Fuck You. The distilled political philosophy of economic conservatives and/or libertarians.
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“I have a recording of Mick Jagger’s voice where he admits killing the Kennedys.” — In early October 2009, extremely minor conservative blogger Anne Leary posted the breathless saga of her accidental encounter with ex-terrorist and RW boogeyman William Ayers, who (she believed) admitted, freely and without prompting, to committing the unspeakable crime which conservatives had been accusing him of since early 2008:

[Y]ou shouldn’t believe everything you hear about me, [Ayers said,] you know nothing about me. I said, I know plenty–I’m from Chicago, a conservative blogger, and I’ll post this… Then, unprompted he said–I wrote Dreams From My Father..

Unfortunately for political satirists, even Leary’s normally credulous fellow conserva-bloggers found Ayers’ leg-pulling a little too blatant, but it was fun while it lasted. Commentor Calling All Toaster’s brilliant rebuttal of the wingnut propensity to accept transparently obvious satire and openingly mocking rhetoric at face value has not yet garnered the attention it deserves, but since a pollable percentage of Stephen Colbert’s viewers believe he’s really a conservative, we live in hope. (See also: Birthers, Kerning, Zombie lies.)
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IMHO– In My Humble Opinion.
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Intertubes, The – Mocking reference to a statement by Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) “The Internet is not something that you just dump something on – it’s not a big truck. It’s a, it’s a series of tubes.” This followed a rambling discourse from Stevens arguing that telecomms should have the right to shape internet traffic on the basis that commercial enterprises and their customers are piggybacking on free internet bandwidth, notably ignoring that internet access is already sold to consumers in tiered levels of bandwidth (h/t commentor JGabriel). Bloggers, of course, are proudly notorious for “just dumping” on the internet with more enthusiasm than discretion. Synonyms: Intertoobz, Intertr0nz, interwebs.
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IOKIYAR– It’s OK If You’re A Republican.
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“Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.” – In 2000, WSJ pundit and sometimes paid Republican operative Peggy Noonan introduced a potentially explosive, unverifiable rumor that Bill Clinton was being blackmailed by Fidel Castro into the mainstream media, using the phrase “Is it irresponsible to speculate?… It would be irresponsible not to.” The blatant dishonesty of this ratfucking attempt immediately turned it into an Internet meme signifying a personal attack, usually wildly untrue, launched under a cloak of sanctimony: “Does Candidate Trollypants bite the heads off live, underaged, rabid bats? It would be irresponsible not to speculate!” See also, Keep on walking and Nooners.
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“I smell a Pulitzer!”– A phrase that is used to refer to a particularly egregious example of journalistic incompetence or overall stupidity by a member of the mainstream media. A classic example would be this Jake Tapper expose on whether or not Obama was sneaking smokes during the 2008 primaries.
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“It wasn’t a statistic, it was a hypothetical”– Another classic from Megan McCardle in which she authoritatively asserts on her blog that “The United States currently provides something like 80-90% of the profits on new drugs and medical devices.” A few days later in a WaPo chat when challenged on her statement, she states “It wasn’t a statistic, it was a hypothetical.” See also: McMegan and “Technically true but collectively false.”

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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

J

Jackalope– A trolling tactic, also used in national politics, in which one knowingly makes an inane and unrelated complaint to distract from an uncomfortable topic. Coined here.
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Jane Hamshers of the left– An epic thread from 2006 involving your bloghost and Firedoglake’s Jane Hamsher.
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Jesus money– Also called Jesus dollars. A bizarre argument put forth by (who else) Republicans during the 2009 stimulus debate that if you counted a million dollars a day since Jesus was born until now, it would not be as much as the stimulus. It makes no sense, as Jesse Taylor pointed out (Walmart’s current net worth is 33 1/3 jesuses), but we are dealing with people who think the world is only a couple thousand years old.
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Jokeline– Derogatory term for Time columnist and Primary Colors author Joe Klein. Klein is an annoying enigma for many Balloon Juice readers. He can write very penetrating and insightful columns; at other times, he writes pieces laced with false equivalencies. (For some reason, he believes the fringe left is just the same as the fringe right, but fails to recognize the fringe left has no power base in DC; he seems to live in constant fear that the Democratic party is actually being run by the Black Panthers). Klein can be used as a reliable barometer for current Beltway thinking. He has all the right enemies, in that the neocons hate him and he is constantly sticking a thumb in their eye, but he also has a running feud with Glenn Greenwald.
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Jonanism – A portmanteau of Jonah + onanism, invented to describe the mental masturbation of conservative columnist & author Jonah Goldberg. “Jonanism” is defined as the ultimate or highest form of wankery. Coined by internet commenter Calling All Toasters in early 2008. “Man, did you see Goldberg’s newest book where he claims that liberals are the real fascists? It’s several hundred pages of sheer unadulterated Jonanism.”
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JPod– John Podhoretz, blogger at the National Review Online’s blog The Corner. The ungifted but much-published son of neoconservative journalists Norman Podhoretz and Midge Decter, usually cited as an example of unearned career advancement due to family (see Neocon nepotism) and political connections (see Wingnut welfare).
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JUST THE SAME (Both parties are) – The sagacious “centrist” position that any wingnut ideation – no matter how extreme, partisan, idiotic or prevalent even on congressional levels – is karmic retribution for the DNC’s refusal to hunt down and offer up 9/11 truthers on the altar of bipartisanship during the 2000-2008 period.

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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

K

Kabuki – Japanese Kabuki is a form of classical theatre known for highly stylized drama and elaborately made-up actors performing pieces codified over hundreds of years. It’s completely opaque to people who don’t already understand it. In political terms, actions or statements said to rely upon posturing, exaggeration, and loud noises to disguise their empty theatricality. Modern conservative Republicans prefer the Theatre of Noh (h/t commentor Donald G).
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Kaplan Daily – The Washington Post, so named because Kaplan Test Services is the money-making arm of the Graham family business empire.
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Keep Fucking That Chicken

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Keep on Walking (Sometimes you just need to)– Peggy Noonan, former Reagan speechwriter, WSJ editorialist, and professional Very Serious Person, explained that the Justice Department should not investigate the torture charges against members of the Bush Administration because any such investigation would be “upsetting” and “divisive”. Thus, “keep on walking” is used by bloggers to highlight authoritarian hypocrisy and/or apologia for the inexcusable.
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Kerning– During the 2004 presidential campaign, newscaster Dan Rather was given documents allegedly proving that George W. Bush was technically AWOL during the last part of his Vietnam-War-Era tenure in the Texas Air National Guard. These documents were subsequently labelled as forgeries, in part due to arguments concerning the ‘kerning’ or letter spacing of IBM typewriters, and the controversy ended with Dan Rather’s forced early retirement. This widely-celebrated right-wing “success” encouraged a later generation of right-wing birthers to attempt to discredit Barack Obama as a presidential candidate by “disproving’ the kerning on his birth certificate, on the grounds that a forged certificate would indicate Obama’s ineligibility to hold office. Unfortunately, advances in printing technology since the mid-1960s have rendered microscopic examination of document kerning even more irrelevant, although its CSI-aura appeal to the scientifically illiterate remains strong in the further reaches of the right wing and therefore endlessly mockable by left-wing bloggers, such as Sadly, No!’s ongoing “Kerners Are Go!” anti-birther posts.
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Kevin’s Law – If you’re forced to rely on random blog commenters to make a point about the prevalence of some form or another of disagreeable behavior, you’ve pretty much made exactly the opposite point. See also Nutpicking.
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Kinetic Fallacy– An argument that (1) assumes a crisis demands action, defined vaguely, and (2) others must support whatever action is proposed, regardless of how stupid or counterproductive. This fallacy represents two logical flaws: a failure to distinguish between action and productive action, and the assumption that acting, often before necessary information is available, is always preferable to not acting. The argument that the threat from al Qaeda compels us to invade Iraq, an act so random that it could have been pulled out of a hat, can be considered the index case.
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K-Lo or KLo- Kathryn Jean Lopez, former editor of the National Review Online’s blog The Corner. Famed for her frequent typos, grammatical errors, and failures to correct similar errors by her contributors. See also, Jonah Goldberg.
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KLo’s House of Crazy – National Review Online’s blog, The Corner.
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KMBA – Kiss My Black Ass. What President Obama is far too centrist and bipartisan to say out loud.
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Known Unknowns – Pseudo-philosophical nonsense spewed by Washington officials to make themselves look like capable administrators. Such statements, if true, would actually prove they knew nothing more than the rest of us. Coined from former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s maddeningly Carollesque press conference on Feb. 12, 2002.
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KO- MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann.
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Kochsuckers – Economists, reporters, pundits, etc. who rely (or hope to become reliant) upon the beneficence of brothers Charles & David Koch, sons of John Birch founder Fred C. Koch. (The family name, it should be noted, is pronounced ‘coke’.)
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Kossacks– Inhabitants of the Daily Kos (aka The Great Orange Satan). Legendary (at least in their own minds) as a powerful if unruly horde ever ready to defend the righteous from the right-wingers.
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Kristol, Bill – A neoconservative pundit, also known as “Bloody Bill” for his long record of encouraging military (over)reaction to every political issue, and as “Kristol Ball” or “The Man Who is Wrong About Everything” for his predictive talents. Bragged about being “Dan Quayle’s Brain” during the first Bush administration. Also claims responsibility for introducing Sarah Palin to national politics, after meeting her during an NRO cruise to Alaska. As the son of neoconservative Irving Kristol, a leading exemplar of Neocon Nepotism and second-generation beneficiary of Wingnut Welfare.
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Krugman, Paul– A Princeton economist and winner of the Nobel Prize in economics. His consistently accurate prognostications frequently run counter to the opinion of uncredentialed Very Serious People (see VSP) in the MSM (see MSM) and therefore qualify Krugman as shrill (see shrill). The patron saint of the Ancient and Hermetic Order of the Shrill (see Ancient, etc.).
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K-Thug- Friendly nickname given to Nobel Prize winning economist and Times columnist Paul Krugman. See also: Shrill.

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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

L

LGF– Shorthand for the blog Little Green Footballs.
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LGM– Shorthand for the blog Lawyers, Guns, and Money
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Liberal— (1) Anyone with political leanings to the left of the John Birch Society, or any self-identified Conservative who has embraced reality, facts, or logic.
(2)”Someone unwilling to take their own side in an argument.” – Robert Frost
(3) What Democrats are afraid to be.
(4) Someone who understands that magical pixie dust does not pay for Medicare, the military, and political antics. (Conservative: Someone who wonders how ‘those people’ get away with stealing all the magical pixie dust.)
(5) Those who believe that power should be exercised to enhance people’s lives. (Conservatives: Those who believe that power should be exercised to reinforce people’s prejudices.)
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Lily– John Cole’s dog, a shelter rescue of unknown pedigree. Pictures (and videos) of Lily (and John’s cat, Tunch) are extremely popular, and not just because they serve as safety valves between contentious and/or depressing political posts.

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LOLcats– See www.icanhascheezburger.com. LOL itself stands for Laugh Out Loud.
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Low Information Voters – Republicans. (h/t commentor Matoko_chan)

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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

M

Magical Unity Pony (MUP)– affectionate-mocking nickname for presidential candidate Barack Obama.
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Malkinfreude– The shameful pleasure that one feels upon seeing a wingnut embarrassed by their own intemperate behavior or gullibility. Named for Michelle Malkin, possibly the most reliable source of wrong information and intemperate behavior (see ‘Granite Countertops’, ‘United Pastry Jihad’) on the internets.
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Manic-progressive – The bi-polar disorder suffered by some extreme elements of the Left blogosphere, characterized by bizarre mood swings, self-defeating arguments, alternating feelings of superiority and paranoia, and abusive behavior toward former friends. Coined in response to Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake forming an alliance with conservative activist Grover Norquist of “shrink government to the size where you can drown it in the bathtub” notoriety. See also Firebaggers.
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“Math You Do As A Republican to Make Yourself Feel Better” – On Election Night 2012, Karl Rove had an on-air near-breakdown insisting that Ohio’s electoral votes could not possibly be going to President Obama. Fox News reporter Megyn Kelley asked him whether this was… well, see the attached clip at approximately 1:55:

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McEstimate– Any figure given by the Business and Economics editor of the Atlantic Daily Beast or an equally reliable source (Bill Kristol, Sarah Palin, Joe the Plumber, an anonymous tea party organizer, your dog, your neighbor’s toddler, your own personal peyote-induced vision that you had while vomiting tequila and bile through your nose onto yourself at sunrise at Burning Man) in which it is just generally acknowledged that the actual number most probably is either higher or lower by a factor of ten.

For example, I might state: “The last time I had my IQ checked, it was 1300, but that is just a McEstimate.”

See also:

Within an order of megantude—close enough to be published.

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McMegan– Nickname for fact-free Atlantic blogger Megan McArdle, who predictably makes arguments that have less to do with reality and more to do with wild-ass assertions meant to lend credibility to her libertarian bona fides. A self-proclaimed “economic libertarian” whose first blog was called I Am Jane Galt. See also, “Technically true, but collectively nonsense” and “It wasn’t a statistic-it was a hypothetical.”
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Media Village Idiots– Those pundits generally held to be “serious” by the small group of people who control access to American mainstream media. A select cadre paid large sums of money to assure the general public that all is for the best in this best of all possible worlds, which usually entails being wrong about everything.
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Meme– A replicating idea which is capable of evolution at it spreads. Coined by Richard Dawkins in his book “The Selfish Gene” as a name for a self replicating idea that was similar to the word gene. Internet Meme : idea that gets circulated, distorted, eaten, vomited back up again, reshaped, recirculated, re-distorted, eaten up again, and regurgitated yet again until eventually, it eats itself (cf commentor Asiangrrrl).
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“Michael Moore is fat…”– Attempting to discredit one’s opponent by accusing them of ‘hypocrisy’, usually meaning character flaws not related to the argument in question. Thus, Michael Moore’s protests against the Second Iraq War should be discounted by reason of his obesity, Al Gore’s efforts to bring attention to global warming are moot because he “lost” the 2000 presidential campaign, and Al Franken isn’t a “real” senator because he used to be a professional comedian. A form of the ad hominem logical fallacy, in that it attacks the writer’s motives without addressing his or her argument.
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Milblog – Shorthand for Military Blog, one that focuses on military and/or security policy. Usually — though, significantly, not always — run by someone with military experience or scholarship.
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Mission Accomplished– A reference to the banner hung on the USS Abraham Lincoln when it returned home after deployment during the invasion of Iraq. The event was notable for the President George W. Bush’s arrival with much fanfare via fighter jet on the ship’s carrier deck. The banner which was to celebrate the cessation of “major combat operations” became a subject of dark humor as the war continued on with rising casualties against various Iraqi insurgency forces. Often used as a refernce of the Bush administration’s apparent detachment from reality (see also Friedman Unit).
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Moderate – someone who gets all their news from network television (h/t commentor JGabriel).
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Moderation (Your Comment Is Awaiting) – WordPress automatically moderates all first-time “handles”, which includes accidentally misspelled nyms, one-time nyms used for satirical effect, and old nyms posted from new devices. Also moderated are comments using any of the words on the WP Codex Spam List, which includes oddities such as shoes and hidden not-words such as soCIALISm and speCIALISt. Re-writing one’s comment to avoid tripwords can work, but cut-and-pasting the same comment multiple times or adding new comments speculating on the dark motives behind one’s “banning” will only piss off your blog-host.
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MoDo– shorthand for NY Times columnist Maureen Dowd.
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Money Boo Boo – 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, after the reality tv show ‘Here Comes Honey Boo Boo’.
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Moneybomb– An activist fundraising technique developed within the blogosphere, usually for political purposes. The moneybomb is characterized as an intensive but short period of fundraising across multiple websites over a span of 24 or 48 hours.
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Moonbat– Comparable to ‘wingnut’. A term that rightwingers use to describe irrational leftwing extremists. It should be noted that they think anyone to the left of Rush Limbaugh is an irrational leftwing extremist.
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Moonie Times – The Washington Times, which is owned by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church, aka ‘the Moonies’.
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Morans– The spelling of “morons” that results when a RW redneck attempts to insult liberals in writing:
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Morning Joke – Morning Joe, a program on MSNBC hosted by Joe Scarborough. Exists to prove that MSNBC is not the liberal network by giving conservative idiots a voice at a time before many have had their coffee.
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Moustache of Understanding– Derogatory nickname for NY op-ed columnist Tom Friedman. Originated from a cartoon from August 2005 by David Rees as part of his Get Your War On series. The cartoon has been captured for history at the blog The Moustache of Understanding.
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Movement Conservative – the Adult Diaper division of the Republican Party. When they’re not soiling themselves over some imagined threat (from the Democrates, the DFHs, the Furriners, the Brown People, the Smart People, or the monsters under the bed), they’re taking a dump on the Constitution.
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MSM– MainStream Media. Also “SCLM” – So-Called Liberal Media.
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‘Murica. (Includes alternate spellings such as Merika, Murrica) So-called “Real America”, as pronounced by ‘Muricans in the Heartland™.
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Multiple Choice Mitt– Nickname for Mitt Romney, who has flip-flopped on so many issues so many times no one knows what he thinks, or if.
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MUPpets– Especially during the 2008 campaign, individuals said to be unduly enamoured by then-candidate Barack Obama (the ‘Magical Unity Pony’).

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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

N

Naderites – Moonbats or otherwise disaffected lefties who voted for a man who obviously didn’t care about anything except his own importance, someone who took Republican money and left the Green Party to run against them. The lefty equivalent of a Paultard. As with most such equavalencies, the Naderites are considered slightly saner but less effective, or at least enthusiastic, than the Paultards.
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NANCY SMASH! – On Sunday, March 21, 2010, during the final push towards passage of HR-4872, the Health Care & Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi entered the Capital for the final vote carrying a massive gavel, as described by the inimitable Wonkette:

Nancy Pelosi loves pissing off teabaggers. Here she is linking arms with John Lewis, just like in the Selma march, to remind America of how teabaggers chanted “nigger” at John Lewis fifteen times yesterday. And if anyone gets in her way, she will smash their skulls into sandhills of calcium with her Weapon, the “1965 Medicare gavel,” forged by ancient socialist hobbits in a distant epoch, as a paean to Thor.

Commentor Loneoak added: “Hit that gavel Nancy! NANCY SMASH!” This was immediately welcomed by numerous fellow commentors as a necessary addition to the Balloon Juice categories, and the Lexicon.
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Neocon Nepotism– Career advancement primarily due to a smart choice of parents. Notable examples include John Podhoretz (son of Norman), Bill Kristol (son of Irving), Jonah Goldberg (son of Lucianne), Melanie Thernstrom (daughter of Abigail & Stephan) and Frederick, Robert and Kimberly Kagan (sons and daughter-in-law of Donald). Access to neocon nepotism depends on total loyalty to contemporary party dogma, as Christopher Buckley (son of William F.) found to his dismay. (Republican party dogma is subject to change without notice, as William F. Buckley found to his dismay.)
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No One Could Have Predicted– Used by members of the Bush Administration, especially Condolezza Rice, about situations that anybody with an IQ above room temperature could (and frequently did) predict. Thus, “In May 2002… Condoleezza Rice said, ‘I don’t think anyone could have predicted that these people would take an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center.'”-although the World Trade Center had been attacked by terrorists in 1993, and GWBush had been given an official briefing in August 2001 titled “Osama bin Ladin determined to Strike within the United States.” Became an object of ridicule after Hurricane Katrina, and is frequently employed by bloggers and commenters about situations that were easily predicted, such as “No one could have predicted that electing a black man would drive some people crazy…”
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NOKIAs – No, Only Kucinich Is Acceptable; erstwhile ‘progressives’ who find self-described democratic-socialist Senator Bernie Sanders insufficiently leftist. Coined during the stage of the HCR (Health Care Reform) Blog-War of 2009 when Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake announced an alliance with Grover Norquist of ‘making government small enough to drown in a bathtub’ notoriety.
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Nooners– Shorthand for WSJ columnist and former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan. See also, “Is it irresponsible… ?” and Keep on walking.
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NRO– National Review Online. See Wingnut, Wingnut welfare, Neocon nepotism.
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NSFW – Not Safe For Work. In general use to warn that links contain violent or sexual images or audio. Also used sarcastically by commentors linking particularly stupid or paranoid political sites: “Here’s a link to WND’s latest, which may be NSFW or your sanity.”
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Nutpicking– Trolling obscure internet comments to prove that an opinion is widely held, thus proving the reverse. See Kevin’s Law.
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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

O

Oakeshott– 1. mid-20th Century conservative philosopher, subject of Andrew Sullivan’s doctoral dissertation. 2. Three ounces of Maker’s Mark in a wooden cup. (h/t commentor Burnspbesq)
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ObWi– Shorthand for blog Obsidian Wings.
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O-dub– Nickname for blogger and Media Matters conspirator Oliver Willis.
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Or the terrorists win– NEEDS DEFINITION.
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Our Lady of Perpetual Outrage– Balloon Juice nickname for blogger Michelle Malkin, who has an incredible ability to become frothing mad at the silliest things. Her rantings in past years have included outrage over Rachael Ray’s scarf in a Dunkin’ Donuts commercial (see United Pastry Jihad), the countertops in an eleven year olds house (see Granite Countertops), the shape of the Flight 93 memorial, and thousands of other bizarre non-events that send her into a blind rage.
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Overton Window– A conceptual ‘window‘ that encompasses the acceptable range of public discourse; all ideas to the left or right of said ‘window’ are thus considered extremist. A major goal in political discourse is to shift the ‘window’ until formerly crazy ideas become acceptable (example: should America torture?). Moving the Overton Window thus forces pundits who want to be considered serious (see serious;) to aggressively disown ideas once regarded as reasonable to the point of being indisputable (e.g., torture is always wrong). Writers who step out of the Overton Window to the left are shunned and castigated as shrill (see Shrill). Those who step out of the Window to the right are punished with frequent invitations to Sunday news programs and a syndicated column at the Washington Post.

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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

P

Palling around with terrorists– An accusation made by then-vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin against Barack Obama, in reference to Obama’s friendly working relationship with one-time Weatherman and now education professor William Ayers on an education administration project in Chicago. This accusation was incorporated into campaign speeches made to crowds that tended to holler racist and violent epithets in response to Palin’s speeches. It was later discovered that Palin did not even come up with the rhetoric herself, but was asked by the campaign to spread it.
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Paultards – Cultish followers of Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), during his 2008 race for the GOP nomination for the Presidency. Branded as the right-wing equivalent of the Naderites.
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Peak Wingnut– the hypothetical point when right-wing craziness will have reached its zenith, and will thereafter subside to relative grumbling. Originally posited by John Cole to occur immediately after Obama’s inauguration. Said hypothesis has been subsequently and repeatedly disproved.
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Pearl Clutching– Feigning horror or distaste for bluntly-worded statements about unpleasant realities. Popularized by The Poorman, especially via the Golden Winger Awards . Since all blogging is recursive, commentors objecting to especially egregious personal attacks upon the undeserving may be accused of “pearl clutching” by trolls without the skills to advance past egregious personal attacks.
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Perry-Tinnitus – Texas Governor Rick Perry, considered a strong contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination before a series of blunders and a high-dollar assault by the Romney campaign derailed him.
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Pie– Genius commentor Cleek wrote a Greasemonkey script filter that replaces a designated troll’s every comment with a simple phrase, originally “I like pie!” When earnest or inexperienced commentors respond to obvious trolling, or when a new commentor posts a particularly stupid remark that can be construed as trolling or concern-trolling, a barrage of replies like “Some people take their love of baked goods to an extreme” or “I don’t know why everyone’s being so mean to [new troll], plenty of people are outspoken about their dessert preferences” will ensue. First used here and inspired by the pie ad war at Daily Kos.
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Pink Himalayan Salt – In 2009, Megan McArdle published a holiday [kitchen] gift guide that included the phrase, “Exotic salts are the new Green Peppercorns and White Truffle Oil, and in my opinion, considerably more interesting… Right now I’m using Maldon sea salt for most things, and pink Himalayan salt for dishes that demand a lighter flavor.” The snark experts who are among McArdle’s most faithful readers were quick to point out that “it’s actually rock salt from Pakistan, for which she pays about $15 a pound” (and that actual cooking experts say that using such high-end salts while cooking is pointless in any case). Thus, the ‘Pink Himalayan Salt’ tag is used to indicate especially pointless, overpriced, trend-slavish consumerism in action.
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PITA – Pain In The Ass.
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Plus [insert number greater than zero here]– Use this standard style signature at the end of your posts to announce how many drinks you had at the time of writing. Stolen from Dan Rather of “Dan Rather, plus three” fame. For example, a commenter will sign his comment “Punchy +5″ if Punchy has had five beverages of his choice.
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Poutrage – A combination of pouting and outrage. According to the Urban Dictionary, “the combination of emotion and behavior that results from a possibly feigned or genuine outrage over some slight and pouting about it like a spoiled child.” Synonym: Fauxtrage. Poutrage Fatigue: The inability to react to the egregious falsehoods and flat-out batshitcrazy spewings of the rightwingnutters due to sheer volume of said craziness.
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Powder Blue Satan– Eschaton
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President McCain– A derisive term taking to task the habit of the media inviting 2008 loser John McCain on to the teevee to explain why the actual elected president is wrong.
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Progressive – Antique left-of-center political designation revived in reaction to the conservative hijacking of the term ‘Liberal’ to mean ‘insane, anti-American, sexually suspect pacifist-anarchist’. Also used by left-of-center Democrats and other social moderates to distinguish themselves from the so-called Blue Dog Democrats and similar center-right conservative politicians who consistently vote with their Republican fellows. People who pile into the family car of history and immediately start asking “Are we there yet?” every five minutes. (h/t commentor ThatLeftTurnInABQ)
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PTDB – Pass The Damn Bill. As of January 2010, a call for Congress to pass the Senate’s version of HCR (Health Care Reform) and amend it through the reconciliation process.
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Puke Funnel– Coined by Atrios, this phrase references the ramarkable ability of discredited rightwing organizations (e.g., the Drudge Report, NRO) to influence reporting by ‘mainstream’ news outlets. Ridiculous stories frequently benefit when journalists can use repeated links at RedState and Michelle Malkin to report a fabricated issue (see ‘United Pastry Jihad’) with the explanation that ‘people’ are ‘talking about it’.
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PUMA– Party Unity My Ass. A movement of embittered Hillary Clinton supporters who opposed Barack Obama during the 2008 general election. The actual Hillary supporters were frequently accused of being tools for (even being outnumbered by) Republican ratfuckers, thereby Propping Up McCain’s Ass. To this day, any criticism of President Obama or his actions or policies on a progressive blog is liable to draw accusations about “bitter PUMA holdouts”, usually with a strong misogynistic overtone.