• About Kathy Shaidle
  • Kathy Shaidle: Privacy policy

5 Feet of Fury

Kathy Shaidle's blog. Est. 2000

The Chestnut Diet: How To Cut Cliches Out of Your Writing

March 27, 2013 By Kathy Shaidle

My new piece at PJMedia:

During my second afternoon at the NRO Summit, mid-way through yet another congressman’s address, I mused about how easy it would be to create a Right Wing Red Meat Speech Generator:

First, plug in some vintage Reagan and Buckley quotations.

(Hell, mix ‘em up and see if anyone notices: “I’m from the Boston telephone directory and I’m here to help you…”)

Then sprinkle on some “hard working Mexicans.”

Squeeze in a reference that lousy poem carved onto an old French statue.

Finally, make “America is the greatest country in the world” a default value.

I ask you:

Why do professional conservatives pay speechwriters big money when some basic java script could produce the same mediocre results — a string of empty calorie cliches?

I’m not the only one complaining about this…

More from my site

  • I love to say ‘I told you so’: Autism now ‘just another identity’ and not a ‘disorder’I love to say ‘I told you so’: Autism now ‘just another identity’ and not a ‘disorder’
  • Who do conservative bloggers like for President?Who do conservative bloggers like for President?
  • “The Difference Between American and Muslim Cultures”“The Difference Between American and Muslim Cultures”
  • ‘[W]hile only 35 percent of strong Tea Party supporters rated blacks as hardworking…’‘[W]hile only 35 percent of strong Tea Party supporters rated blacks as hardworking…’

Filed Under: conservative blog

« ‘GOProud event at CPAC: ‘It was so crowded that fire marshals had to block people from entering’
‘The True Meaning of the V-Word’ »

Archives

Copyright © 2026 · Magazine Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in