so mitch mcconnell, etc, on the obama jobs bill: 'it's just political grandstanding; everyone knew it could never pass; they're just playing politics.' of course, when the republicans in the house passed a debt-ceiling bill which included the demand for a balanced-budget amendment, the democrats said exactly the same thing, with the same pseudo-outrage. and we could go back or forward and see the same thing over and over: that is, with all the passion in their hearts, each side condemns the other for doing what it itself did last week and will do again next week. after that, they wonder why no one believes that they're sincere, or why no one can be bothered to listen to them at all, or why their approval ratings are below zero etc. tell you what: get that crap out of my face.
i propose to you that when people are talking merely strategically, merely to arouse a certain response, without regard to the questions of whether they themselves believe what they're saying or whether what they're saying is true, they are not actually talking at all; they are not actually engaged in linguistic activity. they're simply humming, squawking, or otherwise producing non-referring noises. when someone is speaking merely to manipulate you or control your response to something, they're at best doing what my cat does when she hits my door and meows. it is some sort of primitive or rudimentary form of communication, i suppose, but it has no semantics. sadly, this also makes it ineffective as a manipulation - there's nothing it would mean to agree - and makes the people who do that sort of thing ineffective as manipulators.
