Are the state of Nevada and Marco Rubio really both 'firewalls'?
Firewall:聽The ubiquitous-to-the-point-of annoyance political word for a state, region or group of supporters that serves as an all-important barrier against disaster.
鈥淔颈谤别飞补濒濒鈥� and originally referred to an actual structure that could protect against encroaching flames. In , it鈥檚 a traffic-monitoring security system. But it has completely been usurped by presidential politics these days as the horse race thunders along, because it鈥檚 both punchy and vaguely authoritative-sounding.
鈥淭he emergence of the word 鈥榝irewall鈥� everywhere is very 鈥榁eep鈥�-like,鈥� Washington Post political writer David Weigel on Twitter, a reference to the Emmy Award-winning HBO that so wickedly and accurately mocks Washington convention.
鈥淔颈谤别飞补濒濒鈥� is, indeed, everywhere. Fox News鈥� Howard Kurtz this week headlined, 鈥淭he media鈥檚 firewall against Donald Trump: The voters must be dummies or racists.鈥� Buzzfeed did 鈥淭ed Cruz鈥檚 Southern Firewall Turns Into a Danger Zone.鈥� Politico Magazine, in an article about South Carolina鈥檚 historic importance as a GOP sorter of serious candidates, also the term.
And before Hillary Clinton prevailed in Saturday鈥檚 Democratic caucus in Nevada, news outlets referred to the Silver State and its relatively large concentration of Hispanic voters and 鈥� and then 鈥� as her firewall.
Candidates themselves can be firewalls, too. Pollster John Zogby wrote in Forbes that Senator Marco Rubio鈥檚 Hispanic background is a to Republicans: 鈥淎fter yesterday鈥檚 results in Nevada, we see that Hispanics will vote in big numbers in 2016. And they will come out to vote against Trump. Rubio is the firewall. He cannot win against a Democrat among Hispanics, but he could stop some bleeding.鈥�
Complaints about 鈥渇irewall鈥� actually have surfaced in other campaigns. Back in 2008, the now-defunct media magazine American Journalism Review as one of three particularly overused pieces of pundit jargon, along with 鈥渕oving the goalposts鈥� and 鈥淜umbaya.鈥� Veteran journalist Rick Dunham one of the worst political clich茅s of 2012.
But in this race, pundits have had a new excuse to pull it out 鈥� as a with 鈥渇eeling the Bern鈥� in reference to Mrs. Clinton鈥檚 rival for the Democratic nomination.
Chuck McCutcheon writes his "Speaking Politics" blog exclusively for Politics Voices.
Interested in decoding what candidates are saying? Chuck McCutcheon and David Mark鈥檚 latest book, 鈥淒oubletalk: The Language, Code, and Jargon of a Presidential Election,鈥�
