Word: verbal
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...party's left wing blames the loss on Dukakis for trying to run from his ideological roots. They insist that, had Dukakis made a cogent defense of liberalism and inspired voters, rather than allowing Bush to distort the word "liberal" into a verbal cudgel roughly equivalent to "child molester," he could have beaten Bush. "Next time," they say, "we shouldn't hide our liberal colors...
...wake rose, curled outward, bubbled, and fell. Rose, curled outward, bubbled, and fell." Little in this prose marathon is particularly erotic or offensive; it is possible for long periods of time to forget entirely what is supposed to be going on. The point of the exercise seems to be verbal ingenuity, coupled with the message that pleasure can be damned hard, long work...
...seems as though the issues have become caricatures of themselves, grossly expanding to support the view of Dukakis as the quintessential impractical liberal or Bush as the rational conservative. What seems to matter more is appearance--which candidate can bring more laughs, which can hold his own in verbal battles, which loves his wife more than the other...
...songs are built for long trips over rough roads, and Dylan drives Pretty Boy home, hard. You can hear the Dylan of the early '60s in this version, making peace and moving along with his current incarnation, leaving behind in the process a reminder that many of his verbal, as well as musical, skills were drawn from a master. Guthrie foxed around with being just folks, but it took a writer of superlative skill -- not to mention sophistication -- to mingle folklore, radical politics and social satire as supplely as he did in Pretty Boy's famous chorus: "Well...
...close, however, the two could not be more different. Willowy, auburn- haired Wintour, 38, is cool and withdrawn; Brown, 34, a shorter, shapely blond, is brassy and outgoing. Their editing styles are as distinct as their looks. Brown is verbal, literary, with a knack for matching writer to subject, while Wintour is a visual creature, renowned for her eye for style...