[Ads-l] The new "progressive" [Was: More on "liberal"]

[Joel S. Berson]

The new "progressive" is ...

/beginquote/

Senator Stanley C. Rosenberg, a longtime presence 
on Beacon Hill, was elected Senate president 
Wednesday, becoming the first openly gay person 
and first Jewish person to lead the chamber.

A liberal Democrat from Amherst, the 65-year-old 
becomes one of three big players in Beacon Hill 
politics. He joins Speaker Robert A. DeLeo — who 
was reelected to his leadership post Wednesday — 
and Governor-elect Charlie Baker, who will be sworn in Thursday.
...
In his first speech as the Senate leader, 
Rosenberg underscored the importance of tackling 
economic inequality in the state, and he made 
nods to pragmatism and to extending an open hand to Baker, a Republican.
...
Asked if he considered himself a progressive, he 
said he considered himself “very pragmatic.”

/endquote/

... "pragmatic".

Note the article's progression from "liberal" to 
"progressive" to "pragmatic".   "Communist" and 
"Socialist" are hidden around the left corner, 
perhaps far enough around to be near enough to 
the right wing to be grasped and hurled at the "pragmatics".

[Boston Globe, Dec. 8, 2015, B1 & B5.]

Joel

At 1/2/2015 05:20 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

>You are correct. I noticed the irony as well. Socialists and Communists
>described themselves as "progressives," both as a euphemism and to
>distinguish themselves from supposedly smug, feckless, and gullible
>"liberals."
>
>JL

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org