"rally"; "restore honor"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Self-described rodeo clown Glenn Beck organized a gathering (he rejects the
term "rally" as "political," though in my day "football rallies" were
anything but) at the Lincoln Memorial yesterday to "Restore Honor."  That
was the name of it, the "Restoring Honor" gathering.

But it's clear that the object of the (dammit) rally was not to "restore"
anybody's presumably "lost honor," but to "do honor to," i.e., give thanks
to, members of the armed forces and others:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/08/28/thousands-expected-glenn-beck-rally-civil-rights-leaders-protest-event/?test=latestnews
 :
"Huge crowds at Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" freedom rally -- organized to
give thanks to U.S. troops -- left Washington, D.C., on Saturday night
pleased by the theme and the turnout – as thousands in attendance returned
home carrying a message of making America better. . . .

"Beck long argued that the focus of the rally -- to pay tribute to America's
military personnel and others 'who embody our nation's founding principles
of integrity, truth and honor' -- was never at odds with [Martin
Luther] King's message."


 I suspect that "restore honor" was chosen over "do honor" because the
former is the far more common phrase among conservatives. I.e., it
stimulates interest in a way that "do honor" does not. That's
irrespective of any cynical "non-political" motivations behind the choice of
the phrase. (The code of actual rodeo clowns forbids playing mind games with
the crowd).

JL
 __
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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