IOKIYAR
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
IOKIYAR is an acronym standing for It's OK If You're A Republican. This has become a shorthand way for some liberals -- especially liberal bloggers -- to express what they perceive as a double standard in criticism or media treatment of Republican or conservative misdeeds. The abbreviation has become a neologism, pronounced "ee-YOKE-ee-ar". (The obverse is INOKIYAD -- It's Not OK If You're a Democrat, although it is rarely used.) As of December 2006, a Google search showed 73,600 Web hits for "iokiyar."
The first use of IOKIYAR has not yet been identified. It appears in a USENET posting in ca.politics on 17 December 2003. The poster, Greg Bernath, wrote, referring to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger: "The GOP adores sexual harrassment, and will defend and praise any of its members caught doing it. IOKIYAR. (It's okay if you're a republican, the new mantra of conservatives)."[1] Blogger Duncan Black (a.k.a. Atrios), posted two days later on 19 December 2003: "IOKIYAR: If you're a Republican you can lie with impunity and engage in corrupt practices because God says it's okay. You can have children out of wedlock. No matter what - It's Okay If You're A Republican!"[2]
The acronym gained widespread usage when New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote in a January 7, 2005 column entitled "Worse than Fiction":
- Either way, when the Senate confirms Mr. Gonzales, it will mean that Iokiyar remains in effect, that the basic rules of ethics don't apply to people aligned with the ruling party. And reality will continue to be worse than any fiction I could write.
[edit] Examples
Other examples cited include:
- US Vice President Dick Cheney shooting his hunting partner in the face and chest with a shotgun, for which the victim, Harry Whittington, said: ""My family and I are deeply sorry for everything Vice President Cheney and his family have had to deal with."[3]
- Newt Gingrich was having an adulterous sexual affair with a young staffer, at the same time the US House pursued impeachment of President Clinton for having an affair.[4]
- Dennis Hastert protected Mark Foley for over a year, even though he knew Foley was engaging in sexually-explicit text conversations with 17-yo boys (former pages).[5]
