Politics & Science
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Is it time to throw ‘under the bus’ under the bus?

The euphemistic phrase, which now also means jettisoning a political liability, has taken on a twisted and ubiquitous life of its own. The presumptive Democratic nominee seems to be a leader of the pack among under-the-bus flingers, slingers and tossers, according to cable news pundits and blogosphere scribes.

Mr. Obama has been accused of heaving his white grandmother; his former foreign policy adviser, Samantha Power; the former head of his vice presidential vetting committee, Jim Johnson; the Muslim community; public financing of presidential campaigns; his not-quite-e-mail-pal, Scarlett Johansson; and even his short-lived customized presidential seal — all under the bus.

He’s not alone. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, has been accused of flinging conservative radio talk-show host Bill Cunningham and the Revs. John Hagee and Ron Parsley under the bus, too.

The Wikipedia entry on the phrase has an amusing sidebar, fleshing out a tidbit from the above article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throw_under_the_bus

Etymologists trace the popularization of the expression to Cyndi Lauper[1], who was quoted by The Washington Post in 1984: “In the rock ’n’ roll business, you are either on the bus or under it. Playing “Feelings” with Eddie and the Condos in a buffet bar in Butte is under the bus.”

ROFL! There’s also a great example from the same entry:

[quote] * “He not only threw me under the bus, he backed up and ran over me again.” Larry Craig on Mitt Romney
[/quote]

Anyway, the Wikipedia article cites an NPR story saying the phrase has been used in over 400 political stories over the last six months. Time to throw it under the bus!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 at 11:16 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.