Politi-speak: Talk a lot, say little

When I hear a politician promise “transparency,” he or she likely means it as much as Barack Obama meant his vaunted “most transparent administration in history” would be forthcoming and accountable.

(It’s not.) When candidates talk up “comprehensive immigration reform,” they don’t want to reform immigration law, they want to gut immigration law.

At a recent editorial board meeting, Chronicle Editorial Page Editor John Diaz asked Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins what she meant by a “good reform” when she talked up plans to raise revenue to pay for state transportation infrastructure.

Later, Atkins tweeted, “Hopeful we can set aside rigid ideology & consider serious proposals to provide new funding stream that benefits CA.”

Policy wonks throw around phrases like “public-private partnership” that mean nothing to voters.

The Chronicle style guide directs writers and editors to reference immigrants “living in or entering a country illegally or without legal permission.”

Stories in many newspapers no longer distinguish between illegal and legal immigration.

While Democrats and newspaper-style conventions are scrubbing words such as “alien” from the immigration lexicon, universities are adding words for gender.

[...] really, doesn’t “genderqueer” — a catch-all category for gender identities that are not exclusively masculine or feminine, according to Wikipedia — cover “different identity?” Couldn’t they at least have limited the choices to five?

“UC is working hard to ensure our campuses model inclusiveness and understanding,” quoth UC President Janet Napolitano in a statement.

At a Wednesday news conference about the special session he called to address a gap in state transportation funding, reporters asked Dao Gov if he supports Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins’ push for more taxpayer dollars.

According to the Sacramento Bee, Brown also said, “As a brooding omnipresence, I stand above the fray here.”