The word "strategery" ( ) was used in a ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...

'' sketch, written by James Downey, airing October 7, 2000, which satirized the performances of

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

and

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic no ...

, two candidates for

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

, during the first presidential debate for election year 2000. Bush, played by Comedian

Will Ferrell John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show '' Saturday Night Live'', where he performed from 1995 to 2 ...

, 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 Bushisms are unconventional statements, phrases, pronunciations, possible Freudian slips, malapropisms, as well as semantic or linguistic errors in the public speaking of former President of the United States George W. Bush. The term ''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 Jargon is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular communicative context and may not be well understood outside that context. The context is usually a particu ...

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". 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 after the political comic strip ''

Doonesbury ''Doonesbury'' is a comic strip by American cartoonist Garry Trudeau that chronicles the adventures and lives of an array of characters of various ages, professions, and backgrounds, from the President of the United States to the title character, ...

'' 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 Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American conservative political commentator who was the host of '' The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nationally syndicated on AM and FM r ...

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. In a 2017 interview on '' Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', Bush recalled a joke argument with ''SNL'''s

Lorne Michaels Lorne Michaels (born Lorne David Lipowitz; November 17, 1944) is a Canadian-American producer, screenwriter, and comedian. He is best known for creating and producing ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1980, 1985–present) and producing the '' La ...

about whether an ''SNL'' writer or Bush himself had actually coined the term.

Other uses

Sarah Palin used the term in an interview with Bill O'Reilly on his television show. Speaking of

Charles Krauthammer Charles Krauthammer (; March 13, 1950 – June 21, 2018) was an American political columnist. A moderate liberal who turned independent conservative as a political pundit, Krauthammer won the Pulitzer Prize for his columns in ''The Washingt ...

and his political contacts, Palin commented "they're meeting people and they're doing their strategery". The term is also a centerpiece of the fictitious firm Strategery Capital Management, LLC, a satirical website, which mocks the Treasury's $700 billion "Troubled Asset Rescue Plan" (which itself is a spoof of the real-world

Troubled Asset Relief Program The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is a program of the United States government to purchase toxic assets and equity from financial institutions to strengthen its financial sector that was passed by Congress and signed into law by President ...

, 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 Robert Lane Gibbs (born March 29, 1971) is an American communication professional who served as executive vice president and global chief communications officer of McDonald's from 2015 to 2019 and as the 27th White House Press Secretary from 20 ...

with "From the standpoint of leverage or strategery..." The question, about Iran, drew laughs and a quip from Gibbs.

Shepard Smith David Shepard Smith Jr. (born January 14, 1964) is an American broadcast journalist. He served as chief general news anchor and host of ''The News with Shepard Smith'' on CNBC, a daily evening newscast launched in late September 2020; but his p ...

, 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.

Notes

References

* Itskoff, Dav
'SNL' Writer Narrows The Gap Between Politics and Farce
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', March 3, 2008 *

Becoming a Bush catchphrase

Other uses

Notes

References

See also