Fuck the word "gaffe"...

[weemadando]

...And fuck those who hide behind it.

Saying "I'm happy to be here in Ohio" when you're actually in Illinois on your 5th campaign stop of the day. That's a gaffe.

Even saying "billion" instead of "million" can be a gaffe.

But stating your repugnant beliefs in public and then backpedalling when you realise that you should never have revealed how you truly felt about your opponent, the poor, blacks, muslims - whatever - that's not a gaffe. That's just you showing that you are a terrible fucking person.

And it certainly doesn't deserve to be even remotely seen as equal to a misremembered fact or momentary forgetfulness.

So stop fucking treating it like it is.

This scree has been brought to you by a person sick to fucking death of people getting away with saying whatever they want on the grounds that they later went: "Ooops, never meant to say that."

[eion]

The first thing you are talking about is a mistake, but gaffe has a very specific definition. The words originator, journalist Michael Kinsley, says a gaffe is "when a politician tells the truth - some obvious truth he isn't supposed to say."

It isn't just a politician spewing hateful rhetoric or things which are even incorrect, it has to be something that everyone knows to be true, but for the sake of propriety or political expediency does not acknowledge. Like, "One reason America is suffering an epidemic of obesity is the cheap availability of sweeteners like corn syrup, and such sweetners are so cheap because the growing of corn is subsidized by the government." This would likely be reported as "Congressmen Smith makes corn gaffe. Farmers protest"

Gaffes are great actually, well played they can show a candidate as an independent who is willing to puss off entrenched special interests by telling the truth. Badly played demonstrate a candidate doesn't know how to act strategically.

[Haruko]

So gaffe is used by politicians as a euphemism. What else is new.

[The Yosemite Bear]

remember psychotic projectionism, broderism, and outright lies, require a whole new thesarus to allow for the shinanagiens of the even righter than we were five minutes ago to be seen as fair and balanced to the media....

[Sriad]

edit: It's late, I'm tired, and other people have already said the same things better.