# Tonights special: apologist apoplexy du rjung **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 17, 2006, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-special-apologist-apoplexy-du-rjung/357068 "2006-05-17T03:27:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-special-apologist-apoplexy-du-rjung/357068/21 "2006-05-17T11:34:29Z")
I tend to prefer “lickspittle” in describing the cream of the crop of the Bush apologistas myself. Given the extraordinarily vast range of wrongdoings of the current administration, let alone the current party in power, and the reliability of someone here (oftentimes **Scylla** ) on the Dope jumping without hesitation to defend this administration against any suggestion of wrongdoing, I’m frankly surprised that you were able to find only 56 instances. I mean, you’ve played the lickspittle/apologist/what have you role far more times than that yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-special-apologist-apoplexy-du-rjung/357068/22 "2006-05-17T12:12:22Z")
[QUOTE=Scylla] It’s time to both grow up and choose a new word of the day. [/QUOTE] Oo, you forgot “toady”. It even fits the physical attributes of certain Administration members. That’s it, I nominate “toady” for the new **rjung** du jour. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-special-apologist-apoplexy-du-rjung/357068/23 "2006-05-17T14:21:15Z")
Aw, c’mon guys, **Scylla** wants y’all to start using the term “Bush henchman”. It sounds much cooler. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-special-apologist-apoplexy-du-rjung/357068/24 "2006-05-17T14:27:43Z")
“Minion” would work for me. ---
**Author:** ![Trion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Trion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trion)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-special-apologist-apoplexy-du-rjung/357068/25 "2006-05-17T14:30:44Z")
We get to vote on what words other posters use now? Cool. Your word for the day is “granular”. Try to work it into your posts. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-special-apologist-apoplexy-du-rjung/357068/26 "2006-05-17T14:33:31Z")
A henchman would wear black pants and a black and white striped shirt. Maybe a mask, too. That would be much cooler than a minion. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-special-apologist-apoplexy-du-rjung/357068/27 "2006-05-17T14:35:37Z")
Actually, I’m a little with **Scylla** on this one. When “apologist” is typed with a sneer, it irritates me. It also irritates me when someone divides the world along partisan lines, refusing to recognize any middle ground. **rjung** does both sometimes, I think. Danile ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-special-apologist-apoplexy-du-rjung/357068/28 "2006-05-17T14:37:08Z")
[QUOTE=saoirse] A henchman would wear black pants and a black and white striped shirt. Maybe a mask, too. That would be much cooler than a minion. [/QUOTE] That’s just the guys. The femmes (minionettes?) would be [way cooler](http://pandius.com/minion.jpg) (or hotter, depending on your point of view). ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-special-apologist-apoplexy-du-rjung/357068/29 "2006-05-17T14:53:37Z")
“Apologist” seems to be just a polite and expeditious euphemism for a person who swallows any shit that Bush squeezes out, corn niblets and all. It’s a bit of a hacky, quasi-partisan shot of rhetoric to keep saying “apologist” when it’s been misapplied to a person who supports one of the things that Bush may be doing and not the rest. Catch-all phrasings and quick labels don’t serve the **rjung** ’s position well at all, but if he’s only doing it to the folks that are in the blind allegiance of this CIC, I see that the label fits. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-special-apologist-apoplexy-du-rjung/357068/30 "2006-05-17T14:53:46Z")
[89 citations of **Scylla** using the word ‘liar’](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/search.php?searchid=1655781). Every one I have checked directly or obliquely used it to refer to a poster he disagreed with. ---
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-special-apologist-apoplexy-du-rjung/357068/31 "2006-05-17T14:54:17Z")
[QUOTE=Trion] We get to vote on what words other posters use now? Cool. Your word for the day is “granular”. Try to work it into your posts. [/QUOTE] Re: apologist. Aren’t we getting unnecessarily _granular_ with our pittings? ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-special-apologist-apoplexy-du-rjung/357068/32 "2006-05-17T14:57:39Z")
Could a **mod** please fix the coding? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-special-apologist-apoplexy-du-rjung/357068/33 "2006-05-17T15:08:00Z")
[QUOTE=stpauler] …corn niblets and all. [/QUOTE] Those are the kernels of truth. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-special-apologist-apoplexy-du-rjung/357068/34 "2006-05-17T15:12:22Z")
If friend **Scylla** doesn’t like the word _apologist_, applied to those who would defend or justify our president’s supporters (two of whom are busy holding up his socks), he need not worry: the word will go away pretty soon, when there’s no one left whom it describes: [http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-08-bush-approval\_x.htm](http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-08-bush-approval_x.htm). He can turn his attention to finding a word to describe all those formerly staunch supporters who suddenly discovered how much they can lose if the American people suddenly find out they’re being screwed. Given what we’ve learned about these folks’ basic philosophy and principles, I suggest “future supporters, but only when the time is ripe.” “Rats” is just too pejorative. In the meantime, I concur with the OP’s wish to find a better, more precise, and above all _new_ word or phrase with which to refer to those who still haven’t quite exhausted all possible permutations of the words “stay the course.” Those parts of the Bush campaign that haven’t been discredited _and_ abandoned (just one doesn’t work for everyone, apparently) still presumably appeal to these guys and that’s how they should be described, according to their ideals and values. Homophobes, for example, or professional would-be heirs waiting for someone to die. Or people who just idiosyncratically hate our servicemen and want to see them destroyed for laughs. Or, given the twists most facts (up to and including the laws of thermodynamics) need, and the bends in logic required, in order to perform the mildest verb **Scylla** ’s thesaurus contained, perhaps we need a neologism: _neocontortionists_ is the one that I thought of first. **EddyTeddyFreddy** , your example of a female minion looks neither hotter nor cooler, just scalier. If she’s been sunning herself in the desert, which looks plausible, she would, of course, be more granular. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-special-apologist-apoplexy-du-rjung/357068/35 "2006-05-17T15:33:56Z")
[QUOTE=rayh] Re: apologist. Aren’t we getting unnecessarily _granular_ with our pittings? [/QUOTE] We have a winner! I kind of like toady and lickspittle myself. Flunky would work, but isn’t quite strong enough. Ya gotta have a strong word, to convey the proper feeling of eeeeevulness. ---
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-special-apologist-apoplexy-du-rjung/357068/36 "2006-05-17T16:10:34Z")
[QUOTE=SteveG1] We have a winner! I kind of like toady and lickspittle myself. Flunky would work, but isn’t quite strong enough. Ya gotta have a strong word, to convey the proper feeling of eeeeevulness. [/QUOTE] Oh, I think _arselicker_ sums it up quite well. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-special-apologist-apoplexy-du-rjung/357068/37 "2006-05-17T16:20:55Z")
[QUOTE=rayh] Oh, I think _arselicker_ sums it up quite well. [/QUOTE] Yes, but is it technically accurate? **True** conservatives prefer the term [neo-Jacoban liberals](http://www.conservatoroccidentalis.com/?p=81) when referencing the (former) Republican mainstream. -Philosopho-historical class, _plus_ a slam at them eevvill libruhls who are bent on destroying our freedoms. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-special-apologist-apoplexy-du-rjung/357068/38 "2006-05-17T16:25:23Z")
[QUOTE=saoirse] A henchman would wear black pants and a black and white striped shirt. Maybe a mask, too. [/QUOTE] Also, they come in pairs, with cute nicknames derived from that of the archvillain for that episode. Their primary use is to cause words like “Oof!” and “Zowie!” to appear on the screen when they are struck in the abdomen. I do sympathize to a point with **Scylla** ’s complaint. The thesaurus is certainly much too limited to keep him entertained. I’m puzzled as to why he isn’t concentrating his indignation over the much-more-limited selection of synonyms for “hypocritical”, however. Have we reached the point where that’s simply assumed, where simply saying “Republican” or “conservative” automatically invokes it as well? ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-special-apologist-apoplexy-du-rjung/357068/39 "2006-05-17T16:51:52Z")
[QUOTE=Left Hand of Dorkness] Actually, I’m a little with **Scylla** on this one. When “apologist” is typed with a sneer, it irritates me. It also irritates me when someone divides the world along partisan lines, refusing to recognize any middle ground. **rjung** does both sometimes, I think. Danile [/QUOTE] Wow, did you really misspell your own name, or were you making a clever play on the word “denial” or have I always misread your name as Daniel? Sbhib ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-special-apologist-apoplexy-du-rjung/357068/40 "2006-05-17T17:00:49Z")
I can’t go along with this pitting unless the OP can demostrate that the term “apologist” is being applied blindly-- ie, in situations where a reasonable argument is being made. I suspect that is the case, but I’ll leave it up to the OP to point out specific incidents. As it is, I say BFD that someone uses the same word a lot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-special-apologist-apoplexy-du-rjung/357068.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonights-special-apologist-apoplexy-du-rjung/357068.md?page=3)