Word: absurd
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...politics of much ado about nothing; of the latter-day American penchant to be first, even if it is with the least, to launch the presidential sweepstakes; to invent a game if there is no game in town. Welcome, fans, to Florida's theater of the absurd, where on Oct. 13 an unannounced candidate for re-election (Jimmy Carter) is pitted against an unannounced challenger (Edward Kennedy) in a dog-and-pony show without substance beyond what is made of-or made up about-it. A mere 1% of the state's 2.8 million registered Democrats are expected...
...inclination of all Cabinet departments is to narrow the scope for presidential decision, not to expand it. They are organized to develop a preferred policy, not a range of choices. If forced to present options, the typical department will present two absurd alternatives as straw men bracketing its preferred option-which usually appears in the middle position. A totally ignorant decision maker could satisfy his departments by blindly choosing Option Two of any three choices submitted...
...idea of establishing a dumping site in Cambridge is absurd," Sullivan said, adding "You don't do that in the third most densely populated city in the country...
Mexico's "guided democracy" has become so ossified that presidential election campaigns every six years are little more than repetitions of what voters cynically dismiss as "the great paint job." P.R.I. campaign workers plaster every available wall, hut and bridge with absurd slogans (TO NATIONALIZE IS TO DECOLONIALIZE) that make a mockery of the party's claim to be revolutionary. In fact, the campaign is a sham: since the reign of Calles (1924-28) every P.R.I, nominee has been personally selected by his predecessor. The decision is made after secret consultations with a tiny clique of labor leaders, senior civil...
...dealt with Xuan Thuy, Hanoi's chief negotiator at the official plenary peace talks on Avenue Kleber. On one occasion, Xuan Thuy argued that hundreds of thousands of North Vietnamese troops were in South Viet Nam through the "free choice" of the local population. Kissinger found this so absurd that, he writes, "I jokingly invited him to Harvard to teach a seminar on Marxism and Leninism after the war. He declined, saying that Marxism-Leninism was not for export-which will come as remarkable news to all the inhabitants of Indochina today." In any event, Kissinger soon learned that...