Calling all clichés

Sen. Bloew V. Aeighting paused, he closed his eyes. He lifted his chin and said, “At the end of the day, I say, day ... this should not be about partisan politics.” One person behind the senator, a young woman on his staff, started to applaud, then stopped abruptly; an awkward silence followed. The press corps shrugged and scribbled.

That imaginary speaker joined two of the most obvious phrases that, to me, are dead giveaways a political speaker has little or nothing to say.

Of course, when all one has to offer are the most popular clichés of the moment, in the spin game the words must be uttered with as much faux passion as can be mustered. Eye-squinting and jowl-jiggling being two of the popular devices used by politicos to provide emphasis.

OK, now, what other similar phrases do SLANTblog’s readers hear the most, and dismiss the easiest as tip-offs the speaker has nothing of any substance to say about an issue? Or, which clichés annoy you the most?

Look, I’m not trying to bash liberals or conservatives with this. It’s just about language and how quickly a phrase can move from fresh to stale with today’s communications. That, and today’s rather shameless copycat style, that serves mostly to dumb-down any discussion.

At SLANTblog, I’d like to put together a top-ten list of the most-used clichés by politicians and their rent-a-mouth spokespersons.

If the reader has a phrase beaten to death, a tip-off to stop reading, or change channels, please use the comments option below to send it my way. At some point I’ll post the best of what comes in. (If you’d rather use email send it to the address in the profile to the right, under the little photo.)