The Liberal Dictionary: Part III

The Tribune ran an article on Wednesday, Peace Groups get Boost in Evanston , about a resolution to be presented to the City Council urging the U.S. withdraw its troops from Iraq. If passed, Evanston would join Gary, Indiana in sending the resolution to President Bush and Congress. The article centered on strength in numbers:

"Speaking through you strengthens and empowers our individual voices," Dickelle Fonda of Neighbors for Peace told the city's Human Services Committee on Monday. "It might actually influence policy on a national level."

Reading the article, you sensed the grass roots support for the resolution. The Tribune referred to it as an “Evanston Coalition” saying that it was “church, neighborhood, student and political groups who addressed aldermen”. Certainly sounds like a force to reckon with. While the President and Congress are unlikely to utilize this resolution to shape America’s foreign policy, when a city of over 75,000 stands up, it should send a message.

But wait a minute . . . Is the city of Evanston standing up? It took me two reads to pick up the liberal bias in the article. ONLY 13 people showed up at the meeting – and that includes supporters and dissenters. In fact, the sentence to referring to the group stated:

"This is not a Democratic or Republican issue. It is an American issue," said Sue Schell of the Democratic Party of Evanston, one of more than a dozen people from church, neighborhood, student and political groups who addressed aldermen.

More than a DOZEN people? Out of a population of 75,000? Hundreds show up at the same building to debate whether or not the city should buy injections to save its dying elm tree population. A couple of folks representing a church, the neighborhood, a student group, and a political group can hardly be deemed a “coalition”.

If I had written the article, the article would have been about the LACK of support by the people of Evanston for the proposed resolution. The headline should have read “Barely a Dozen Turn Out for Proposed Resolution”.

But hey, if liberal speak didn’t abound, there would be nothing for me to write about.