Throw under the bus

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Throw (someone) under the bus is an idiomic phrase meaning to scapegoat or reject.

The phrase has been widely popularized by sports journalists since 2004 and was picked up by the mainstream media for the 2008 election. It has frequently been, of late, used to describe various politicians distancing themselves from controversial figures, most notably Barack Obama's renunciation of Jeremiah Wright. Washington Post writer, David Segal, called the expression "the cliché of the 2008 campaign."

In a March 2008 NPR report, linguist Geoff Nunberg noted that "under the bus" "has appeared in more than 400 press stories on the campaign over the last six months."[1]

[edit] Origins

Etymologists trace the popularization of the expression to Cyndi Lauper[1], who was quoted by The Washington Post in 1984: "In the rock ’n’ roll business, you are either on the bus or under it. Playing “Feelings” with Eddie and the Condos in a buffet bar in Butte is under the bus." It may be related to the phrase "throw to the wolves".

[edit] Examples

  • "He not only threw me under the bus, he backed up and ran over me again." Larry Craig on Mitt Romney
  • "He just threw me under the bus for the national media. I have had it." Bill Cunningham on John McCain
  • "His public performance in the last 24 hours has had the unintended consequence of throwing Senator Obama's campaign under the bus." Eugene Rivers on Jeremiah Wright
  • "Did the press secretary know it when he threw the president‘s own father under the wheels of the bus of history, last night?" Keith Olbermann on Tony Snow's comment in 2006 that the US abandoned Bin Laden in 1991

[edit] References

  1. ^ Primaries Toss Some 'Under the Bus'. NPR.