Obscurantism sounds like a conscious attempt to make understanding difficult ... Or making political speechesThe Bush campaign puts out a regular report on John Kerry's stumperizing known as "the Boston Fog". But, some say, after the debate last night, the fog has lifted.
The "Boston Fog" reminds me of "bomfog" which doesn't have anything to do with "fog" exactly.
Nelson Rockefeller used to end all his speeches with the homily "in the brotherhood of man in the fatherhood of God". The press tired of this after awhile so they acronymed it "bomfog" [which really should be written "bomfoG", I suppose].
Of course, "bomfog" isn't "spin" which is "obscurantism" practised as a political art.
"Spin" spins you around so you end up looking in another direction. "Bomfog" just rolls over you and puts you to sleep.
The best example of "spin" last night came not from the Presidential contenders but rather at the end of CNN's coverage of that "debate" from the President's leading spinmeister.
During his presentation, the President had said [or clearly implied, I can't remember which] that the U.S. had "locked up" the infamous black-marketeer who had sold nuclear technologies to Iran and North Korea.
Twice, at the end of CNN's coverage, Wolf Blitzer asked the President's spinmeister if it was accurate to say that this black-marketeer was "locked up" when he was roaming freely all over Pakistan.
Twice the spinmeister in reply said that the black-marketeer's trading in Weapons of Mass Destruction was "shattered" and the Bush Administration had also achieved success in closing down Libya's WMD arsenal.
Wolf didn't have time to ask the question a third time. Now that's spinmeistery at its best!
