strategery
{{Short description|American coined political word}}
{{wiktionary|strategic|-er|-y|||}}
The word "strategery" ({{IPAc-en|s|t|r|ə|ˈ|t|iː|dʒ|ər|i}} {{respell|strə|TEE|jər-ee}}) was used in a Saturday Night Live sketch, written by James Downey, airing October 7, 2000, which satirized the performances of George W. Bush and Al Gore, two candidates for President of the United States, during the first presidential debate for election year 2000.{{cite news
| url =https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/04/22/serious-strategery/5c15fc26-3cd6-4efd-bb0c-83be90a390e4/ | title = Serious 'Strategery' As Rove Launches Elaborate Political Effort, Some See a Nascent Clintonian 'War Room' | author = Dana Milbank | newspaper = Washington Post | date = April 22, 2001 | access-date = 2006-10-23 }} Bush, played by Comedian Will Ferrell, when asked by a mock debate moderator to "sum up, in a single word, the best argument for his candidacy", replied "strategery" (a mock-Bushism playing on the word "strategy"), satirizing Bush's reputation for mispronouncing words. SNL later released the episode as part of a video tape titled Presidential Bash 2000.
Becoming a Bush catchphrase
After the 2000 presidential election, people inside the Bush White House reportedly began using the term as a joke, but it later became a term of art meaning the oversight of any activity by Bush's political consultants. Bush's strategists also came to be known within the White House as "The Department of Strategery", or the "Strategery Group".{{cite news|last1=Susskind|first1=Ron|title=Why Are These Men Laughing?|url=http://ronsuskind.com/why-are-these-men-laughing/|publisher=Esquire|date=January 1, 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140315034140/http://ronsuskind.com/why-are-these-men-laughing/|archive-date=2014-03-15
| url-status = live}}
Affectionately embracing satirical portrayals has been a Bush tactic at other times as well, such as when he presented a self-parodying slide show at the May 2004 Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner about looking for weapons of mass destruction in the Oval Office{{cite web
| url = http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/03/26/bush.wmd.jokes/index.html
| publisher = CNN
| title = Bush takes heat for WMD jokes
| date = May 6, 2004
| access-date = 2008-03-06
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20040402111318/http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/03/26/bush.wmd.jokes/index.html
| archive-date = 2004-04-02
| url-status = live}} after the political comic strip Doonesbury satirically portrayed him on a similar comical search.
The term is now widely used in comic and popular discourse across the political spectrum. Rush Limbaugh picked up the usage soon after the SNL airing. A trial exhibit from the 2007 "Scooter" Libby trial included the term, in Libby's daily schedule for June 10, 2003, which showed that Libby had a 6:00 pm "Strategery Meeting" scheduled to last 90 minutes.[http://wid.ap.org/documents/libbytrial/feb5/DX1030.pdf Defense Exhibit DX1030 - Scooter Libby's Schedule, June 10, 2003] In a 2017 interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Bush recalled a joke argument with SNL
Other uses
Sarah Palin used the term in an interview with Bill O'Reilly on his television show. Speaking of Charles Krauthammer and his political contacts, Palin commented "they're meeting people and they're doing their strategery".{{cite web
| url = http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/oreilly/transcript/sarah-palin039s-tv-show-hurting-her-political-career
| title = Sarah Palin's TV Show Hurting Her Political Career?
| author = O'Reilly Factor
| publisher = Fox News
| date = December 16, 2010
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130320041459/http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/oreilly/transcript/sarah-palin039s-tv-show-hurting-her-political-career
| archive-date = 2013-03-20}}
The term is also a centerpiece of the fictitious firm Strategery Capital Management, LLC, a satirical website,{{cite web
| url = http://www.strategerycapital.com/
| title = Strategery Capital Management LLC
| author = Strategery Capital Management LLC
| url-status = dead
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090220092313/http://www.strategerycapital.com/
| archive-date = 2009-02-20 }} which mocks the Treasury's $700 billion "Troubled Asset Rescue Plan" (which itself is a spoof of the real-world Troubled Asset Relief Program, which Bush signed into law in 2008).
A White House reporter, during a September 29, 2009, press briefing, began a question for press secretary Robert Gibbs with "From the standpoint of leverage or strategery..." The question, about Iran, drew laughs and a quip from Gibbs.{{cite web
| url = http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/29/reporter-uses-snl-word-st_n_303442.html
| title = Reporter Uses "SNL" Word "Strategery" In White House Briefing (VIDEO)
| author = Danny Shea
| work = The Huffington Post
| date = September 29, 2009
| access-date = 2009-09-30}}
Shepard Smith, on his evening news program The FOX Report with Shepard Smith on July 10, 2012, described London officials' quoted "overall strategery" in placing anti-aircraft missiles on apartment buildings during the London Olympics.{{cite web|last1=Smith|first1=Shepard|title=The FOX Report With Shepard Smith|url=https://archive.org/details/tv?&q=overall%20strategery&fq=program:%22The+FOX+Report+With+Shepard+Smith%22|access-date=2 February 2017|date=Jul 10, 2012}}
The official podcast of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas is called, [https://www.bushcenter.org/podcast/the-strategerist "The Strategerist."]
See also
Notes
{{Reflist}}
References
- Itskoff, Dave [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/arts/television/03down.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin 'SNL' Writer Narrows The Gap Between Politics and Farce], New York Times, March 3, 2008
- {{IMDb title|0266934|Saturday Night Live: Presidential Bash 2000}}
{{Saturday Night Live}}
Category:Saturday Night Live catchphrases
Category:George W. Bush 2000 presidential campaign