> This is a practice with a long, distinguished tradition in the private
> sector. I can tell you from many years of churning out corporate
> rhetoric that it is impossible (from the client's POV) to overuse the
> words "strong" and "strength" in business communications of any kind.
> No synonym will suffice. "Strong" and "strength" have a unique
> indefatigable ability, nigh as powerful as cocaine, to stimulate the
> pleasure center of the business brain. I will defer to Dr. F. for the
> usual explanations.
I wonder if mainstream politics in this country will ever get away from the marketing approach it seems to be firmly committed to. There is simply no point in understanding what the major parties and their candidates say in their speeches, put in their platforms, etc., apart from the images they are trying to sell to the public. If you want to know what they are really going to do, you have to work as hard at it as the Kremlinologists did back in the day.
I think that the great offense Sharpton committed the other night was giving an old-fashioned, non-market-oriented political speech -- it shocked the pants off all the mainstream media guys.
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ Had I been present at the Creation, I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe. -- Attr. to Alfonso the Wise, King of Castile