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The Book of Tells (Peter Collett)[unlocked]

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POLITICAL TELLS<br />

• UNQUALIFIED INSULTS. <strong>The</strong>se insults create the<br />

impression that the person does not have the necessary<br />

qualifications to do the job. Winston Churchill, for<br />

example, once described Clement Attlee as 'A modest<br />

man who has much to be modest about'.<br />

• ANTHROPOMORPHIC INSULTS. Here the person being<br />

insulted is compared to an animal so as to make him or<br />

her appear beastly or ineffectual. Picking on him once<br />

again, Churchill described Clement Attlee as 'A sheep in<br />

sheep's clothing'. On the same ovine theme, Denis<br />

Healey once said <strong>of</strong> Sir Ge<strong>of</strong>frey Howe: 'Being attacked<br />

by him is like being savaged by a dead sheep.'<br />

• UNPRINCIPLED INSULTS. Here the object <strong>of</strong> the insult<br />

is represented as someone who pretends to have<br />

principles but in fact doesn't have any at all. Adlai<br />

Stevenson, for example, described Richard Nixon as 'the<br />

kind <strong>of</strong> politician who would cut down a redwood tree<br />

and then mount the stump to make a speech for<br />

conservation.'<br />

• PHONEY INSULTS. <strong>The</strong>se insults draw attention to the<br />

deceitful and phoney aspects <strong>of</strong> someone's character.<br />

Gerald Ford, for example, once said, 'Ronald Reagan<br />

doesn't dye his hair; he's just prematurely orange.'<br />

• STUPIDITY INSULTS. Here the person is represented as<br />

unintelligent. Lyndon Baines Johnson's famous remark<br />

about Gerald Ford is a good example: 'He is so dumb he<br />

can't fart and chew gum at the same time.'<br />

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