Remember in 1994 when the mainstream media had a conniption fit over the loss of Congress to Republicans? Words like “coup,” “takeover,” and “insurgent” were used to describe the choice made by the American people via the ballot. A similar reaction has occurred (and is still occurring) at The News & Observer over the conservative wins in the last Wake School Board election.
And check out the lead paragraph in an Associated Press story about the meaning of the huge crowd at the “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington yesterday (emphasis added):
If Democrats had doubts about the voter unrest that threatens to rob them of their majority in Congress, they needed only look from the Capitol this weekend to the opposite end of the National Mall.
You see, Democrats can only lose power if they are “robbed.” I’m sure the reporter of this story would claim poetic license and say I was overreacting, but the choice of word here is consistent with a time-honored tradition.
