Can We Elect Him Grand Vizier?

Quote:  “Well, that warm welcome is almost enough to make me want to run for office again.  Almost.”  Vice President Cheney, fundraising in Topeka, Kansas.

Figure of Speech: antistasis (an-TIS-ta-sis), a repetition that changes a word’s meaning.  From the Greek, meaning “opposite stance.”

With approval ratings slightly below Darth Vader’s, Dick Cheney is forced to travel deep into the heartland to feel the love.  He reciprocates with an antistasis, which repeats a word in a way that flips its meaning.  The result can be mildly funny (very mildly, in Cheney’s case) or devastatingly persuasive.

The first “almost” sounds as if he is actually thinking of running for office again, presumably in an undisclosed location.  The second “almost” cancels out the first. Translation: “No [gerund deleted] way.”

No one can growl a good figure like Dick Cheney.

Snappy Answer:  “Just tell Capitol Hill to make Halliburton a congressional district.”