Media May Need Rahm-to-English Dictionary

Now that Rahm Emanuel is back in the spotlight, political junkies can look forward to more of his malapropisms, Politico reports. Emanuel is affectionately remembered from his first White House stint as an inveterate phrase-mangler. When the President-elect’s chief of staff appeared on Face the Nation on Sunday, he talked of “crises you can no longer afford to kick down the can.”

The proper metaphor for an issue no one wants to deal with is “kicking the can down the road.” Emanuel did slightly better later in the day, on This Week, when he addressed issues that had been “kicked down the road, basically.” Clinton staffers used to keep lists of Emanuel’s impromptu aphorisms. A favorite? “We have to slam shut the revolving door.” (More Rahm Emanuel stories.)