Quote of the Day (Joseph Epstein, on Cliches in Politics)

“In the realm of clichés in extemporaneous speech, politicians surely lead the field. Without such clichés as ‘bring to the table,’ ‘level playing field,’ ‘tipping point’ and ‘the American people,’ most would be reduced to stuttering, if not rendered speechless. The characteristic cliché-studded political sentence might run: ‘At the end of the day, given a level playing field, we have to bring to the table [blank] to allow the American people to go forward before we reach a tipping point.’” —Essayist-editor Joseph Epstein, “Having a Conversation, One Cliché at a Time,” Wall Street Journal, Sept. 19, 2019