Posts tagged "fundamentals"
Fundamentals
Thursday, October 16th, 2008 | Filed under: Douchewords | No Comments
“The fundamentals of our economy are sound.”
Yeah, I know, you’re fed up to death of hearing the back-and-forth and gleeful punditry on that little gaffe by a presidential candidate a few weeks back, but it neatly illustrates a point, so I’m afraid you’ll have to endure for a few words longer.
What was most interesting about McCain’s turn of phrase was not the spectacularly bone-headed timing of it, but the weaselly way he tried to spin it in the aftermath.
By “fundamentals”, we were told, he meant “the American worker“.
And there we go - that’s the problem with the word “fundamentals” right there. It’s a manilla folder - you can just shove whatever shit you like in there and call it “fundamentals”. And if you’re caught with your pants down, you just claim that you actually had some different fundamentals in the folder.
Stock market tanks? “Fundamentals” means “workers”. Engineering staff quit en mass? “Fundamentals” means “sales staff”.
The fundamentals of your discourse, in other words, are bullshit.