Dana Milbank puts his snarkiness on autopilot through Google Translator to deconstruct yesterday’s speeches by the candidates at the League of United Latin American Citizens convention.
Como se dice “pander” en Español?
The closest translation seems to be saconería, or insincere flattery. In some Latin American countries, the panderer is a sobón, or kiss-up. Others say he’s a chupamedias — literally, one who sucks socks.
He diagnoses both politicians with athlete’s mouth, though he seems to indicate that Obama sucked harder:
Both men closed their speeches in similar fashion — by dropping all dignity and pouring on the praise. It’s called el pander desnudo, the naked pander. “Let me close by briefly talking about my respect and gratitude for the contributions of Hispanic Americans to the culture, economy and security of the country that I have had the great honor of serving all my life,” McCain uttered. “I represent the great state of Arizona, where Spanish was spoken before English was.”
Obama had no problem surpassing that pander. He spoke of his work “to help end the outrage of Latinas making 57 cents for every dollar,” his toil “as a civil rights lawyer to register Latino voters and ensure that Hispanics had an equal voice in city hall,” and his view that “America has nothing to fear from our newcomers.
But the whole article whacks at such low-hanging fruit it actually made me wonder if pandering, in and of itself, is so horrible. Is it pandering if it’s sincere? What about if it’s true? Oh, I remember: It’s pandering if you don’t personally agree with it.