{"id":5079,"date":"2004-10-21T01:13:02","date_gmt":"2004-10-21T05:13:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/formerlyknownas\/synonyms-and-election-2004\/"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:58:19","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:58:19","slug":"synonyms-and-election-2004","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2004\/10\/21\/synonyms-and-election-2004\/","title":{"rendered":"synonyms and Election 2004"},"content":{"rendered":"

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                                                                       synonyms ain’t sins<\/FONT><\/A>  (Oct. 20, 2004)<\/FONT><\/H3>
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\"\"<\/FONT>    Have you heard the words battle ground<\/EM> and swing<\/EM> often enough this election <\/FONT>cycle?  <\/FONT>It’s really not difficult to <\/FONT>click on a thesaurus (e.g.<\/EM>, <\/FONT>Merriam-Webster<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/A>, Roget II<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/A>, <\/FONT>or WorldNet<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/A><\/FONT>.), but the American news media seems allergic to synonyms in this presidential campaign.  And, we’ve been condemned to cliche hell.<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Until recently, I couldn’t figure out why the two political parties were spending <\/FONT>so much money to woo the 806 people living in <\/FONT>Battle Ground, Indiana<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/A> (Tippecanoe County), or  <\/FONT>even the 3700 folks in <\/FONT>Battle Ground, Washington<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/A>.  And, believe me, Ken Burns and I might have <\/FONT>picked Louisiana, Missouri or Illinois as “<\/FONT>swing states<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/A>,” but I could never have come up with all <\/FONT>19 states so-designated by the Bush and Kerry Campaigns for <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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this election cycle.  <\/FONT>       <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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