Speaking Politics word of the week: cordial
Cordial: A clich茅 that seeks to put the best face on a relationship or private meeting between rivals that normally is distant and/or hostile.
鈥淐ordial鈥� is considered a handy meaningless adjective in politics, because it can vaguely sum up pretty much any situation in which two people don鈥檛 resort to punching each other.
鈥淚'll just say they had a good conversation and it was very polite and cordial and normal," Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus after Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) met to discuss the upcoming Republican National Convention 鈥� at which Cruz subsequently agreed to speak.
Meanwhile, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott another meeting between Mr. Trump and GOP senators as 鈥渃ordial鈥� 鈥� although Trump reportedly did get with at least a couple of senators in attendance.
Those Trump sit-downs were just the latest in which the word has surfaced. In May, Trump had what South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham聽 as a 鈥渃ordial, pleasant鈥� phone conversation with his onetime GOP presidential rival (though Graham subsequently to criticizing Trump). Similarly, in June, strategist/activist Karl Rove 鈥渁 cordial conversation for about two hours鈥� with the presumptive Republican nominee at the home of Las Vegas casino magnate Steve Wynn, a mutual friend.
Former President George W. Bush some observers in 2013 by giving a tepid response about his relationship with Dick Cheney, his highly controversial vice president. 鈥淵ou know, it鈥檚 been cordial,鈥� Bush told C-SPAN, 鈥渂ut he lives in Washington and we live in Dallas.鈥�
The use of 鈥渃ordial鈥� has been in Congress during the past two decades, with Republicans invoking it more often than Democrats in recent years, according to the Sunlight Foundation鈥檚 invaluable CapitolWords.org.
鈥淐ordial鈥� sometimes is paired with 鈥渃andid,鈥� a euphemistic way of saying that both sides expressed their feelings without coming remotely close to changing the other鈥檚 mind. When President Obama met with House Republicans in 2013, both sides , along with the meaningless-but-polite adjective 鈥渟ubstantive.鈥�
And as President Bill Clinton in September 1995 of his dealings with then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich in a prelude to a shutdown of the federal government: 鈥淥ur personal relationship has basically been candid and cordial.鈥�
Two other words in this same family are 鈥渦seful鈥� and 鈥渃onstructive,鈥� generally employed to describe a closed-door meetings in which little progress was made, but the two sides are still talking.
In his biography of Ohio Gov. Mike DiSalle, 鈥淐all Me Mike,鈥� Richard Zimmerman a meeting between the governor and John F. Kennedy as latter was seeking to become president in 1960. 鈥淜ennedy called their meeting 鈥榰seful鈥�; DiSalle said the conversation was 鈥榗onstructive鈥� 鈥� political code words meaning little if anything was accomplished.鈥� But their talks eventually did lead somewhere; DiSalle the first big-state governor to endorse Kennedy.
Chuck McCutcheon writes his 鈥淪peaking Politics鈥� 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� is
