No malarkey? Biden's old-school slogan gets mocked and praised in Iowa

[JoeOtterbein]

[link:https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/02/democrat-voters-biden-malarkey-campaign-slogan-074727|

"I’m afraid he’s going to be disregarded as, 'Ok, boomer,'" says one Iowa voter.

By NATASHA KORECKI 12/02/2019 05:01 AM EST

CARROLL, Iowa – “NO MALARKEY!” screams the campaign slogan on Joe Biden’s bus chugging through 18 Iowa counties this week. At stops along the way, aides hand out stickers and posters featuring the rallying cry.

But when one high schooler attending the former vice president’s event in Council Bluffs was asked whether she knew what malarkey means, she squinted up at the massive bus with a puzzled look.

“Malarkey?” Cece West asked. “I’ve never heard of it before.”

West’s response highlights a potential problem with a term that Biden has put at the center of his candidacy in the first-in-the-nation caucus state. And some of the complaints about it are an extension of how Biden skeptics feel about the candidate himself.

They don’t love or hate the slogan. Some of them said it’s kind of funny; others, kind of corny. While some voters welcomed the slogan as a throwback to a calmer era, others said it will only alienate younger voters.

But many said, bottom line, they don’t quite get it.

snip

more malarkey at the link

[elleng]

1. According to Oxford Dictionaries, malarkey is "meaningless talk;

nonsense," it came into use in the 1920s and its specific origin is unknown. There is an Irish name — Mullarkey.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Yes it's an Irish expression and Biden is Irish

Blarney means about the same thing.

[elleng]

4. Right.

Kind of: talk that aims to charm, pleasantly flatter, or persuade.
"he had the “street charm” of an Irish politician, but this blarney concealed his inner self"

Kissing the Blarney Stone is said to bestow "the gift of eloquence," otherwise known as the gift of gab or just being a really good talker, upon those who pucker up. ... To properly kiss the Blarney Stone, the kisser must lean backwards and essentially kiss the stone upside down

[virgogal]

29. I'm Boston Irish....we would say, "Cut the malarkey." when

people were giving us bull****!

[Rhiannon12866]

64. He actually has the definition painted on the side of his tour bus:

[Autumn]

3. Most young people won't get it but the little old ladies in the Bingo group will love it.

No Malarkey there, and I'm not Irish.

[TwilightZone]

6. Those little old ladies vote.

And at a pace roughly double that of the young.

Alienate them at your candidate's peril.

[Autumn]

9. Yeah, the article said older people vote, and we sure do. I've never missed an election in my life.

My candidate will do just fine. The article also said young people don't get the term. Maybe we shouldn't alienate them.

[Gothmog]

11. Here is some history

Link to tweet

The heyday of “malarkey” on the pages of The Post came in the 1980s. There were a few little bursts before, including in the late 1800s, when Washington Senators pitcher John Malarkey was racking up a grim 2-10 record over three seasons. In the 1940s, Western High School slugger Jack Malarkey got fairly regular write-ups in the paper. By the 1980s, though, the word’s appearances were mostly of the sort that Biden would appreciate. By the 2000s, the popularity of the word had died again.

Google’s extensive index of books allows us to see how the popularity of words evolves over time. Its Ngram tool shows the frequency of words as a percentage of all words from books published in a particular year.

That data shows that use of “malarkey” spiked in books in the 1980s, just as it did in The Post. Interestingly, “malarkey” seems to have edged out “malarky,” with the latter spelling dying out from the 1960s on, as use of the former continued to gain steam. There’s a slight drop-off beginning about 2004; the Google Books data only goes through 2008.

[Autumn]

15. I've seen you post that in several Ops today, I know the story behind his name for his tour.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

28. Talk about living in the past... and that's no malarkey!!

Bernie/Elizabeth or Elizabeth/Bernie 2020!!
Either way, they're stronger together!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[myohmy2]

38. I'm sort of curious...

...what trump's going to do with it in the next couple of days...

...I'm sure he'll have fun with it...

[Thekaspervote]

5. How many Biden bashing posts does this make for you in the past 2 days?

Trying way too hard!!

[ChubbyStar]

31. Alert if you don't like it

Oh that's right you have. They have not gone your way. You have no problem with Bernie being shit on, but Biden is special. Give it a rest.

[Thekaspervote]

43. If you look at my posts I don't "shit" on ANY candidate. As far as things going my way, who's the

Front runner????

So if you don’t like it....

[ChubbyStar]

48. Really?

Keep going it is very telling and quite funny.

[Thekaspervote]

53. Really!

[still_one]

32. Padt two days? More like every chance he gets

[Docreed2003]

7. Seems like everyone has forgotten the 2012 VP debate

"Malarkey" was the best line of the night and iconic Biden. He's playing off of that and I think it's great, and I'm no boomer for whatever that's worth.

Not surprising some people have forgotten all about 2012 though, considering some folks at that time were pretty vocal about having Obama primaried

[Autumn]

12. That was a great line. Do you think 10 year old kids were impressed with it though? nt

[Thekaspervote]

16. Besides the fact that 10 yr olds don't vote.. what do 10 yr olds get outside of their world?

Seriously... it’s not meant to appeal to pre teens

[Autumn]

20. Eighteen year olds certainly do vote. And they were bout 10 when that debate happened.

But our politicians should make an attempt to appeal to and draw them in.

[TwilightZone]

22. They vote at half the rate of the "old ladies" that you summarily dismiss.

And Biden wasn't targeting 10-year-olds in that debate. The assertion that he should have been speaking to them in preparation for an election eight years later is ridiculous. And hilarious.

[Thekaspervote]

44. Thank you!!

[Autumn]

81. Who said he was targeting 10 year olds? No one ever. I pointed out that in the article, that

I actually read, it was said that young people didn't know what the word malarkey means. Why? Because they would have been about 10 when he used that word. And few 10 year old kids listen to debates. Now those kids are young 18 year old voters and listening to the candidates.. How you came up with anyone saying

that he should have been speaking to them in preparation for an election eight years later is ridiculous. And hilarious.

is in fact actually sad.

TwilightZone

22. They vote at half the rate of the "old ladies" that you summarily dismiss.
View profile
And Biden wasn't targeting 10-year-olds in that debate. The assertion that he should have been speaking to them in preparation for an election eight years later is ridiculous. And hilarious.

They will vote after we old ladies are gone. I don't know how old everyone here is but myself and some of the people here that I know IRL don't have that many elections left. No one lives forever. Dems should start including them, listening to and addressing their concerns and make an effort to get them in our party. ymmv.

[OilemFirchen]

27. Should candidates start flinging boogers?

Pretty sure that 10-year-olds have always been impressed by that.

[ChubbyStar]

33. Maybe you were

I have 4 children and none of them were impressed by boogers at the age of 10.

[OilemFirchen]

37. Thanks for sharing. (n/t)

[ChubbyStar]

39. Have fun with boogers

[OilemFirchen]

47. I do rather enjoy using them to yank out hairs.

It may one day be my only true pleasure.

[Autumn]

73. My 10 year old granddaughter paid more attention to Obama when he was first running than I did

The disdain for young voters by many is disgusting.

[Autumn]

71. Right over your head. They aren't 10 years old anymore, they are old enough to vote.

[OilemFirchen]

85. Yet you presume they vote based on what "impressed" them when they were?

How did we end up with Ronald Reagan instead of President Bobby Sherman?

n.b.: For you whippersnappers...

[PatSeg]

34. I'm sure there is a plethora

of words that young people are unfamiliar with, but like all of us they will learn them over time. Meanwhile, they can very quickly pull out their phones and Google it! This is a non-issue.

[Thekaspervote]

46. +1000.... oh but there are those that want it to be an issue!

[PatSeg]

62. Yeah

And next week it will be another silly issue. Primaries really do get goofy.

[Autumn]

72. Who said it was an issue? I simply made a point that Dems should make the attempt to draw

in the young people.

[PatSeg]

74. Yes, they should

It was the original post that made it an issue.

[Autumn]

76. I don't see how it's an issue. No surprise that young people wouldn't know that word

and old people do. An article pointing that out is posted and the outrage commences.

[TwilightZone]

13. It seems that a lot of people weren't politically active before 2015.

Particularly supporters of certain candidates. So, the context might be lost on them.

[Cha]

19. Yeah "the mockers" have no clue.. Here's the Vid of the famous Malarkey

in the 2016 debate when Paul Ryan, the loser, spewed his bullshite.. Biden said "Malarkey!"

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287363939#post9

Winning is Never out of date!

Thanks, Docreed!

[Thekaspervote]

49. Thx for posting Cha! Right winning is never out of date....that's Joe

[Gothmog]

8. Washington Post-Analysis: The unexpected nostalgia of Biden's "malarkey"

This amuses me. The Washington Post has a great discussion on this history and use of the term marlarkey

Link to tweet

Former vice president Joe Biden is aggressively and self-consciously the following things, in no particular order: Irish American, older, a regular guy. Were those traits structured into a Venn diagram, there would be few better words to sit at the center where all three meet than a single word: Malarkey.

Biden loves the word malarkey, so much so that it didn’t take much for me to dig into The Washington Post’s video archive to find this compilation of times that Biden has referred to things using the term. Asked what, exactly, the word meant during the 2012 vice presidential debate, he said that it meant “stuff,” which was his older, regular guy way of saying that it meant BS (which is itself a Post way of saying a particular expletive).....

Cultural phenomenons recur in a cyclical fashion, though the duration of those cycles isn’t constant. It seems feasible that the 1980s brought nostalgia for a term that had emerged 30-plus years earlier — and that Biden is single-handedly powering a renaissance another 30-plus years on. “Malarkey” may be doing for Biden what “Make America Great Again” did for Trump on a smaller scale in evoking the era of President Ronald Reagan.

Most of his embrace of the term is about branding, reinforcing his political identity, and the traits we identified at the beginning of the article. He’s the guy who called Republican ideas “malarkey” and he’s the guy who uses terms like “malarkey” because he’s old and centered and willing to use normal-guy terms like “malarkey” even if that is abnormal.

There’s a corniness to it that is on-brand for Biden. It’s the sort of thing that seems like it could appeal to older voters (and older white voters) more than anyone else. That’s a group that makes up a large chunk of the population, if only a smaller part of the Democratic primary electorate. (Biden’s distinctive strength in the primary is among black Democratic voters.)

[TwilightZone]

10. The Washington Post disagrees with Politico

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287365167

Hmm, I wonder which media outlet we should take more seriously. Politico exists to rile people up and generate clicks.

[Thekaspervote]

17. +1000

I used to read their site, support them... not anymore... not for some time

[Cha]

21. The "mockers" lose.. and so did Paul Ryan when VP Biden

told him "Malarkey!"

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287363939#post9

[Deb]

14. Yet "The corn is as high as an elephant's eye by the 4th of July" is common knowledge.

[Thekaspervote]

18. Now now... some might think that isn't cool or politically correct...

[madaboutharry]

23. He should have gone with "NO BULLSHIT!"

Seriously, who ever advised this should be fired. It makes Biden come off as a Twentieth Century man. Old and outdated. That is totally the wrong thing to be doing.

Biden is a good man and I think would make a good president. He needs better advisers.

[Thekaspervote]

50. Since he is the front runner why is it you are so sure he needs to "handle it" differently?

[oldsoftie]

24. Whats the over/under for daily number of Biden bashes ?

I need to make some quick cash!

[Thekaspervote]

51. Let me know... I could use some holiday cash myself!

[ChubbyStar]

59. Play the #5 horse at Woodbine in the 7th race

Really. If you know how.

[emmaverybo]

25. You go, Joe. You have been pushing back against malarkey for decades:

Last edited Mon Dec 2, 2019, 11:53 PM - Edit history (1)

Way before white candidates his age noticed black people.

[msongs]

26. Biden envy is going around lol nt

[emmaverybo]

30. Lol. Some form of delusional. It can hit the best people the hardest. Poor guy just happens to be

the best qualified and likable and it sets off mass fear.

[myohmy2]

35. " "I'm afraid he's going to be disregarded as, 'Ok, boomer,'" says one Iowa voter. "

...it does sound a little old-school corny...

...considering it's meant to contrast Joe with the lying Great Satan, it does seem to lack the necessary aggressiveness and teeth...

...my granddaughter asked me what 'no malarkey' actually meant...I started to answer, thought about it and said I wasn't sure...

...I prefer 'no bullshit'...

...but then that's me...

[emmaverybo]

41. So far, not disregarded. And he's the candidate with the most recent experience in national

governance at the highest level. Tell your little one about malarkey and drek, another Americanism.

[Thekaspervote]

52. +1000

[Cha]

45. " Malarkey!" is what Biden said to Paul Ryan when he beat him

at the debate in 2012.

Winning is Never out of date.

The vid is posted here..

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287363939#post9

[emmaverybo]

61. "Winning is never out of date (Cha)." Never. Ever.

You go, Joe
America and the world need you.

[Cha]

63. Yes, I've been

going with that!

[Thekaspervote]

54. Who would write no bullshit on the side of a bus?

[emmaverybo]

69. Well, there is that. Who would? Amazing. Complaining that no one understands the word, then

that it’s a vintage word, now that Joe should have chosen the most vulgar translation of it.

MALARKEY!

[SCVDem]

36. If you think OK Boomer is fun and acceptable,

Wait until you find the cranky Boomer who really takes offense and kicks your ass!

Let's lose that expression before someone gets hurt for real!

It's insulting and at work may get you fired!

[Hassin Bin Sober]

40. Lol Ok

[Thekaspervote]

55. Just an FYI Joe is not a boomer

[SCVDem]

60. In general.

Nip it in the bud!

[tonedevil]

78. OK Boomer. /nt

[lambchopp59]

42. Again, I'll post my warning!

I'm in the camp, if not the age group that fears alienation of the youth vote we so desperately need.
It takes only one blundered response to a debate question to sink a candidate.
I've been bashed by the "Biden is the only choice" cabal here on DU so often I've lost count, and I'll likely elicit another such response by stating this:
Which of our candidates can maintain complete equanimity yet sharply retort every attack without a single hiccup stating only the facts and present realistic yet highly progressive plans will motivate a massive youth vote. Time and debates will tell, and adherence to sticking with the middle road, reach-across-the-isle, lukewarm politics during an era when our youth are at great economic uncertainty is a losing proposition.
Without that exact candidate, we're heading for a repeat episode of the 2016 false confidence debacle. We're up against far worse election rigging than ever before, and we need a candidate that excites the youth vote more than ever before.

[Thekaspervote]

57. If the youth voted I'd think differently. It's a different excuse every election cycle as to why

We could own this country and the government if they did...sadly they don’t.

[Autumn]

82. From what I see. It seems many Dems think that the young people are not needed, nor wanted

in their party.

[lambchopp59]

83. Exactly my fear, a repeat of the false confidence

And the number of write-in votes Bernie earned proves that "they don't vote" complacency wrong, very wrong. Many of those were co-workers of mine, frustrated with lukewarm candidates, fearful of environmental and economic uncertainty, and a few who albeit pleasant young folks to work with, are sadly lacking in intellect, and voted for the Orange menace we get sickened by daily.
This Gen-X'er "settled" for Hillary. I'll vote for whoever the Dem nominee turns out to be, but I'm hearing the same thing: they want change. They aren't (exception of one low intellect young voter I know) afraid of "socialism".

[Autumn]

84. The Democratic party should be the party that does things for the people. The party that

address their concerns and their needs. That's how we win, that's how Obama won. We won't win by saying that's not going to happen.

[applegrove]

56. It is perfect. Absolutely perfect. It is a word Biden has used often over

the years. Malarkey: it is a perfect description of the Trump WH and all Republicans. It speaks to an older, white generation of Obama voters who voted for Trump. If the rest of us will let it be it could garner Biden a landslide in the General Election. It needs to be repeated and repeated as MAGA was. Only No Malarkey is not only simple, it is also authentic to how Biden will run against Trump if Biden wins the nomination.

[Thekaspervote]

58. Perfect!! Thank you

[treestar]

65. Alienated by a word they never heard before?

Geez. Increase your vocabulary.

[betsuni]

66. Wait, why do "FDR Democrats" suddenly have a problem with old-school slogans?

And slogans from the '60s?

[voteearlyvoteoften]

67. Love No Malarkey

Now if we could just bring back Golly...

[Turin_C3PO]

68. I like the slogan.

[LanternWaste]

70. I suppose a benign word is as good a thing as any to throw at the wall.

Malarkey, indeed.

[LongtimeAZDem]

75. OMG; if high school girls don't get it, Biden is doomed! Doomed!

[C_U_L8R]

77. It was better before it became a tagline

It now feels like hamfisted marketing versus its off-the-cuff endearing origin.

[tonedevil]

79. I think you are correct /nt

[emulatorloo]

80. "He's saying 'no bullsh--,'" says 34-year-old Bear Unruh of Carroll, Iowa."

EOM