Bushlip
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]- Refers to the pledge "Read my lips: no new taxes" of then-U.S. President George H. W. Bush.
Noun
[edit]Bushlip (uncountable)
- (politics, dated) Alternative form of Bushlips (“insincere political rhetoric”)
- 1990 March 24, “Issues: American humor; Bush bashing with broccoli: what next?”, in Mike Jacobs, editor, Grand Forks Herald, 111th year, number 273, Grand Forks, N.D.: Michael Maidenberg, →ISSN, page 4A, column 1:
- In a House speech, Democratic Rep. Gary Ackerman of New York called the president’s “no new-taxes” pledge a “pure, unadulterated crock of Bushlip.”
- 2002 September 1, Robert Landauer, “New tax ideas only extend states’ pains”, in Sandra M[ims] Rowe, editor, The Sunday Oregonian, Portland, Ore.: Fred A[ugustus] Stickel, →ISSN, page D4, columns 3–5:
- Bushlip (n.) a psychological abnormality, found mostly in politicians, in which a perpetrator expresses concern for a victim’s plight, then compulsively behaves in a manner to aggravate it. […] The new tax-reform ideas would make matters worse for the states and “could further offset any stimulus benefit,” a Brookings Institution working paper said last week. In other words, Bushlip. […] By proposing to make the changes permanent, they also work against the long-term revenue picture and make it tougher to deal with Social Security and Medicare. In other words, Bushlip.
- 2003 June 18, Anthony Callender, “[Letters] What Bushlip!”, in Newsday, volume 63, number 288, New York, N.Y.: Newsday Inc., →ISSN, page A30, column 3:
- What Bushlip! It was the father who started it. As a presidential candidate, Vice President George Bush asked the nation to read his lips. “No new taxes,” he said. Later, as president, Bush introduced new taxes. We now know that he was talking Bushlip. Then came the son, George W. Bush, who said we must attack Iraq because it was a threat to the United States. He told us that Saddam Hussein was linked to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Where was the proof? None has been found, and do you know why? Because there was no proof. It was just the same old Bushlip.