Learn the Jargon

Politicians’ euphemism to explain their shifts on issues when public opinion changes.

Presidential debates can be interesting and informative. But the language of the debates, and the media/political world’s reaction to them, leans on a surprisingly small handful of stock expressions and phrases.

A qualified assertion that deliberately stops short of being an expression of absolute certainty.

The British term for the punctuation mark at the end of a sentence, it’s increasingly used in American politics – along with the rest of popular culture -- to declare an end to any doubts whatsoever about something.

A takeoff on Republicans In Name Only (RINOs), this is a term that some Republicans use to describe their deeply conservative brethren who complain about ideological purity.