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

[Dan Goncharoff]

Just because he called himself "Progressive", it doesn't mean there was
actually a "progression".

I read "pragmatic" as an attempt to step back to the middle.

DanG

On Thu, Jan 8, 2015 at 4:38 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: The new "progressive" [Was: More on "liberal"]
>
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>
> The new "progressive" is ...
>
> /beginquote/
>
> Senator Stanley C. Rosenberg, a longtime presence=20
> on Beacon Hill, was elected Senate president=20
> Wednesday, becoming the first openly gay person=20
> and first Jewish person to lead the chamber.
>
> A liberal Democrat from Amherst, the 65-year-old=20
> becomes one of three big players in Beacon Hill=20
> politics. He joins Speaker Robert A. DeLeo =97 who=20
> was reelected to his leadership post Wednesday =97=20
> and Governor-elect Charlie Baker, who will be sworn in Thursday.
> ...
> In his first speech as the Senate leader,=20
> Rosenberg underscored the importance of tackling=20
> economic inequality in the state, and he made=20
> nods to pragmatism and to extending an open hand to Baker, a Republican.
> ...
> Asked if he considered himself a progressive, he=20
> said he considered himself =93very pragmatic.=94
>
> /endquote/
>
> ... "pragmatic".
>
> Note the article's progression from "liberal" to=20
> "progressive" to "pragmatic".   "Communist" and=20
> "Socialist" are hidden around the left corner,=20
> perhaps far enough around to be near enough to=20
> 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
>
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