Word: panderer
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...democracy, people often vote in their immediate self-interests. In theory, election results capture the Popular Will--an aesthetic feature of democracy. However, the individual jealousies, fears, and prejudices of the uneducated many hardly form a valuable aggregate. Most often, politicians do not follow any Popular Will, but simply pander to various interests on specific issues, and wind up with a slew of contradictory policies that add up to less than zero...
...deficit dodge might have been acceptable by itself. But it was accompanied by a number of other retreats and conversions, which revived the lingering impression of Clinton as a "pander bear" who would say anything to get elected. His aides backed away from a promise to trim the White House staff 25%; plans to present an economic blueprint on Jan. 21 were postponed six weeks. After condemning as "callous" the Bush policy of turning back boatloads of Haitians, including those with valid asylum claims, Clinton had to reverse himself when he found out that as many as 10,000 Haitians...
...then there is Bush's pandering, which has received much less attention than Clinton's. At least Clinton's pandering doesn't involve actual policy decisions. One Bush aide even admitted last summer that the Bush campaign was "going to deserve a gold medal in political gymnastics." Still, the pander isn't a new tactic for Bush. His worst example remains his completely unprincipled reversal on the issue of abortion. Before signing on with Ronald Reagan in 1980, Bush was pro-choice...
Paul E. Tsongas called Bill Clinton the "pander bear." New York Times columnist Russell Baker called George Bush the political Santa Claus--sending jobs programs and Taiwanese contracts down the chimney...
...Candor Pander. Never trust anyone who begins a sentence, "My dear friends, let me speak frankly to you . . ." Veracity these days is rare enough that its presence need not be advertised with self-congratulatory words like "candor" and "honesty." For while the truth may still set you free, it remains a treacherous path for those who would rather be elected than liberated...