waterloo, watergate, whitewatergate, and just plain old gate

EsĀ­tiĀ­mated reading time is 7 minĀ­utes.

DO YOU WANT TO KNOW what WaĀ­terloo and WaĀ­terĀ­gate and WhiteĀ­waĀ­terĀ­gate have to with each other? And what does a just plain old gate have to do with anyĀ­thing and where does ABBA fit into this? What if I brought anĀ­other, more reĀ­cent gate into the conversation—like BengĀ­haziĀ­gate? YesĀ­terday I posted a piece on Trey Gowdy and Hillary Clinton and who’s lying about whose lies and out of that came this . . .

In ā€œanĀ­other fishing exĀ­peĀ­diĀ­tion without a bite,ā€ I called the atĀ­tempts of the oh-so parĀ­tisan ConĀ­gresĀ­sional comĀ­mittee inĀ­vesĀ­tiĀ­gaĀ­tions to unĀ­cover the eluĀ­sive and unĀ­deĀ­fined ā€˜truth’ about BengĀ­hazi a never-ending story and the most reĀ­cent as ā€œthe latest round of Clinton-bashing by the Vast Rightwing Conspiracy.ā€

Noting that this was the ninth (!) such comĀ­mittee, I stated that it was ā€œcomĀ­mitted to fishing—er, I mean finding—the ā€˜truth’ about what hapĀ­pened in BengĀ­hazi three years ago.ā€ 1

AcĀ­cuĀ­saĀ­tions against the Obama adĀ­minĀ­isĀ­traĀ­tion of everyĀ­thing from mere inĀ­comĀ­peĀ­tence to a cover-up followed.

Of course.

After the first few Republican-chaired comĀ­mitĀ­tees found no wrong-doing, shouldn’t they have quit?

Of course.

But they haven’t and the atĀ­tack, its afĀ­terĀ­math, and the onĀ­going seĀ­ries of inĀ­vesĀ­tiĀ­gaĀ­tions are reĀ­ferred to as BengĀ­haziĀ­gate, which is seen around the world as a seĀ­ries of parĀ­tisan atĀ­tacks that have fanned the flames of haĀ­tred against curĀ­rent PresĀ­iĀ­dent Obama and fuĀ­ture PresĀ­iĀ­dent Clinton while failing to unĀ­cover a single shred of evĀ­iĀ­dence to use as a founĀ­daĀ­tion for that haĀ­tred or the investigations.

Alas, that is how the Vast Rightwing ConĀ­spiracy works.

 

Trent Gowdy, Benghazi committee, lipstick on a pig, political committee, political cartoon

This carĀ­toon by Jeff Danziger for The New York Times is tiĀ­tled ā€œTrent Gowdy’s LipĀ­stickā€ and refers to the rhetorĀ­ical exĀ­presĀ­sion ā€˜To put lipĀ­stick on a pig.’ This idiom refers to making cosĀ­metic changes in an atĀ­tempt to disĀ­guise the true naĀ­ture of something.

The void that is the Internet

As usual, when I comĀ­pose at my comĀ­puter, I have acĀ­cess to the InĀ­ternet and the stagĀ­gering array of facts and figĀ­ures and even opinĀ­ions. And I can get lost there: open up Google and type in a phrase and sudĀ­denly I am looking at someĀ­thing else only tanĀ­genĀ­tially reĀ­lated but nonetheĀ­less reĀ­lated to my topic that sends my mind caĀ­reening off in a new diĀ­recĀ­tion and I just have to add this stuff to my essay and someĀ­times I do but mostly I don’t.

For exĀ­ample, yesĀ­terday a friend posted a line from a ’60s album on one of my FaceĀ­book enĀ­tries: ā€œbut still you can say ā€˜darker and darker’.ā€ I knew I knew that line but at first I thought it was FireĀ­sign TheĀ­ater. So I typed those words into Google, but I erĀ­roĀ­neously subĀ­stiĀ­tuted and for but and that alĀ­tered the reĀ­sults of the search. Still, I had more than 43,000,000 sites to choose from! 2

On the first page, I had links to sites about Fifty Shades Of Darker, Donald Trump, lake surĀ­faces, and staying out of the sun. The second Google page was even better beĀ­cause I found an arĀ­ticle tiĀ­tled ā€œWhat The Color of Your Urine Says About You.ā€

And that alĀ­lowed me to use a line from that arĀ­ticle as a non-sequitur reĀ­sponse to the ā€˜darker and darker’ quote. (You had to have been there.)

When using a search enĀ­gine, the reĀ­sulting posĀ­siĀ­bilĀ­iĀ­ties may be pracĀ­tiĀ­cally endĀ­less if one keeps his mind open to those posĀ­siĀ­bilĀ­iĀ­ties and out of that search came this . . .

 

Gate_cartoon2

This carĀ­toon by Clay BenĀ­nett of the ChatĀ­tanooga Free Press deĀ­picts Hillary Clinton nonĀ­chaĀ­lantly fending off the many swords of the many BengĀ­hazi comĀ­mitĀ­tees out to flay her.

I stuck mostly to the subject

I find hisĀ­tory and polĀ­iĀ­tics and popĀ­ular culĀ­ture and rock & roll and grammar and word-play alĀ­most equally fasĀ­ciĀ­nating topics, and I someĀ­times comĀ­bine two or more in one essay. YesĀ­terday I did not.

I stuck to the subject.

Mostly.

But I did get sideĀ­tracked with the use of gate as a suffix and started babĀ­bling on with my two typing finĀ­gers when I reĀ­alĀ­ized that I was off on a sideĀ­track that would make for a more fun main track as its own post. So I exĀ­cised it from ā€œanĀ­other fishing exĀ­peĀ­diĀ­tion without a biteā€ and saved it for this piece today.

So here we are at that post!

 

Gate_cartoon3

This carĀ­toon by Signe Wilkinson of the PhiladelĀ­phia InĀ­quirer & Daily News tells it all!

All gates are not Watergates

The use of gate as a suffix in BengĀ­haziĀ­gate and WhiteĀ­waĀ­terĀ­gate does not refer to that wooden conĀ­trapĀ­tion that you have to swing open to enter a garden. Adding gate to a noun is taken from and refers to WaĀ­terĀ­gate, which most people know has someĀ­thing to do with the resĀ­igĀ­naĀ­tion of Richard Nixon from the Presidency.

AcĀ­tuĀ­ally, the WaĀ­terĀ­gate is a hotel in WashĀ­ington, DC. The 1972 scandal asĀ­soĀ­ciĀ­ated with it and PresĀ­iĀ­dent Nixon inĀ­volved breaking into the DeĀ­moĀ­cĀ­ratic NaĀ­tional Committee’s headĀ­quarĀ­ters along with larĀ­ceny, unĀ­docĀ­uĀ­mented slush funds, and obĀ­strucĀ­tion of jusĀ­tice, among others. These crimes and misĀ­deĀ­meanors were carĀ­ried out by Tricky Dick’s henchmen, a clanĀ­desĀ­tine coĀ­terie of creepy charĀ­acĀ­ters from C.R.E.E.P., a Rep*blican verĀ­sion of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. (Look it up!)

The term WaĀ­terĀ­gate has come to enĀ­comĀ­pass an array of clanĀ­desĀ­tine and often ilĀ­legal acĀ­tivĀ­iĀ­ties and gate has beĀ­come a common suffix. At least common among elected Rep*blican ofĀ­fiĀ­cials in the DC area in the past twenty-five years.

In brazen atĀ­tempt after brazen atĀ­tempt to create columns of smoke where only a match had been lit (if that!) during the presĀ­iĀ­dency of Bill Clinton, those repĀ­reĀ­senĀ­taĀ­tives have acĀ­cused the ClinĀ­tons of one non-event after anĀ­other, giving us such non-scandals as:

•  TravĀ­elĀ­gate of 1993, in which we learned that the ClinĀ­tons had the right to fire anyone they wanted to, inĀ­cluding memĀ­bers of the White House Travel Office;

•  TroopĀ­erĀ­gate of 1993, in which we learned that memĀ­bers of the Arkansas State Troopers were paid to give tesĀ­tiĀ­mony against former GovĀ­ernor Clinton; and

•  WhiteĀ­waĀ­terĀ­gate of 1992, in which we learned that the ClinĀ­tons may or may not have made a profit in a priĀ­vate busiĀ­ness venĀ­ture inĀ­volving the WhiteĀ­water DeĀ­velĀ­opĀ­ment CorĀ­poĀ­raĀ­tion during the 1970s and ’80s.

There were more.

 

ā€œWaĀ­terloo! I was deĀ­feated, you won the war. WaĀ­terloo! Promise to love you forĀ­ever more. WaĀ­terloo! Couldn’t esĀ­cape if I wanted to. WaĀ­terloo! Knowing my fate is to be with you. WaĀ­terloo! FiĀ­nally facing my WaĀ­terloo.ā€ See, I got ABBA into this thing after all!

Finally facing my Waterloo

WaĀ­terĀ­gate has taken on meaning simĀ­ilar to that of WaĀ­terloo, the deĀ­ciĀ­sive battle in 1815 in which Napoleon lost not just the battle but also his power, abĀ­diĀ­cating his role as EmĀ­peror of France. As an idiom, to refer to someone’s WaĀ­terloo is usuĀ­ally a refĀ­erĀ­ence to a deĀ­ciĀ­sion or acĀ­tion that deĀ­cided the course of that person’s caĀ­reer or life—always negatively.

How could I not pay a nod to the grandeur that was ABBA? WaĀ­terloo was their first record to hit the charts where it matĀ­tered: in the US and the UK. As a refĀ­erĀ­ence to WaĀ­terloo, it is probĀ­ably better known than the battle that caused Napolean to step down from power in France. Such is the power of popĀ­ular culture . . .

Gate as a transitive verb

The Urban DicĀ­tioĀ­nary deĀ­fines the non-capitalized word waĀ­terĀ­gate as ā€œtaping over a door latch to preĀ­vent the door from locking,ā€ which is news to me as I have never heard or read the word used that way. But I haven’t read everyĀ­thing, so maybe it’s so, so I don’t want to conĀ­fuse the sitĀ­uĀ­aĀ­tion by giving yet anĀ­other meaning to whiteĀ­water.

What I sugĀ­gest here is that we emĀ­brace gate as a tranĀ­siĀ­tive verb: to gate someone is to acĀ­cuse them of scanĀ­dalous beĀ­havior without a shred of acĀ­tionĀ­able evĀ­iĀ­dence beĀ­lieving the mere acĀ­cuĀ­saĀ­tion will do them damage.

ExĀ­ample: During his presĀ­iĀ­dency, Bill Clinton’s poĀ­litĀ­ical enĀ­eĀ­mies gated him over the WhiteĀ­water investments.

ExĀ­ample: On OcĀ­tober 22, 2015, the Trey Gowdy-chaired comĀ­mittee gated Hillary Clinton for more than ten hours.

It would probĀ­ably be best if we kept the use to gate to poĀ­litĀ­ical sitĀ­uĀ­aĀ­tions, but it could easily break out of those confines.

ExĀ­ample: Throughout the 1990s, Neal Umphred’s proĀ­fesĀ­sional enĀ­eĀ­mies gated him in print about his work as the auĀ­thor of price guides for record colĀ­lecĀ­tors. Would that be ColĀ­lecĀ­torsĀ­gate? PriceguideĀ­gate? O’Sullivan-Woodsidegate?

Somehow, using gate that way doesn’t carry as much clout, so I’m thinking we should just use gate for poĀ­litĀ­ical conundrums.

That’s it: so I would like to hear from both of my readers where they stand on the use of gate as a verb . . .

Th-th-th-that’s all, folks!

 

ABBA_posed

HEADER IMAGE: Benny AnĀ­derĀ­sson, Anni-Frid ā€œFridaā€ LynĀ­gstad, AgĀ­netha FƤltĀ­skog, and Bjƶrn UlĀ­vaeus. What is there to say? Oh, I know: Find yourĀ­self a copy of the 1994 movie The AdĀ­venĀ­tures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert with Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce, and the bloody amazing TerĀ­ence Stamp as three drag queens stuck in the outĀ­back of Australia.

 


FOOTNOTES:

1   What hapĀ­pened in BengĀ­hazi three years ago was an unĀ­proĀ­voked atĀ­tack on the US emĀ­bassy there on SepĀ­tember 11, 2012. During this atĀ­tack, four AmerĀ­iĀ­cans were murĀ­dered: J. ChristoĀ­pher Stevens, ForĀ­eign SerĀ­vice InĀ­forĀ­maĀ­tion ManĀ­ageĀ­ment OfĀ­ficer Sean Smith, and CIA conĀ­tracĀ­tors TyĀ­rone S. Woods and Glen Doherty.

2   The line is from a piece of nonĀ­senĀ­sical diĀ­aĀ­logue is from a secĀ­tion tiĀ­tled Bit Of NosĀ­talgia from Frank Zappa’s 1967 album LUMPY GRAVY.

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I’m late to this, but, since you ask:

1. ā€œWhat I sugĀ­gest here is that we emĀ­brace gate as a tranĀ­siĀ­tive verb: to gate someone is to acĀ­cuse them of scanĀ­dalous beĀ­havior without a shred of acĀ­tionĀ­able evĀ­iĀ­dence beĀ­lieving the mere acĀ­cuĀ­saĀ­tion will do them damage.ā€

I’m guessing this means ā€˜swiftĀ­boating’ just ain’t gonna catch on. Which makes me sad, beĀ­cause I’m reĀ­ally tired of ā€˜-gate.’ Dammit this country needs a new euĀ­phemism for scandal, phony or otherwise!

2. And just as an aside: If ABĀ­BA’s take on the conĀ­cept of ā€˜WaĀ­terloo’ has inĀ­deed trumped the purely Napoleonic asĀ­soĀ­ciĀ­aĀ­tion (which is cerĀ­tainly posĀ­sible), then does it now stand for both vicĀ­tory and defeat?

As in, ā€˜Yeah we’re standing up here singing about how our sigĀ­nifĀ­iĀ­cant others (who wrote this song) have deĀ­feated us, and won the war....but we’re also on our way to selling so many records that no one will be able to keep count,...as of RIGHT NOW.ā€

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