By Christopher Gabriel, CGabriel.com

Election years are a funny thing.  From Democrats to Republicans, incumbents to hopefuls and insiders to wannabees, our country turns into something along the lines of a sideshow at a county fair.  There are promises, accusations, denials, smiles, handshakes, hugs, speeches, ads, signs, buttons, music, dancing . . . and that all transpires at a single rally. 

Another aspect of an election year is words.  Not the ones that come from the candidates themselves, but the ones that come from the surrogates, advisors and strategists.  The ones used over and over and over again to the point you want to reach through your television and hand these folks a dictionary.

This year’s celebrity words, or versions of them, ridiculously overused to the point of nausea that now seem ready for induction into the Word Hall of Fame: Dangerous, Frightened and Marginalized.

• The George Bush presidency has been dangerous for America
• Democrats are frightened of Sarah Palin
• Barack Obama’s experience is being marginalized

When you turn on CNN, Fox or MSNBC the folks are lined up, like kids waiting to get on the carousel, to offer their unique take on Barack Obama, John McCain, Joe Biden or Sarah Palin.  And yet, when the mouth of one of these Surrogates/Advisors/Strategists – let’s call them SASmasters – opens up, we invariably hear something that uses one of our locks for the Hall of Fame.

But it’s not just the SASmasters.  Hollywood is in on the fun as well.  Pick a star, any star, they’ll share their fear over who is dangerous for what has become a country marginalized.

Stick a microphone in front of a star or SASmaster and you may hit a trifecta:  You might hear “John McCain is walking a dangerous path when he marginalizes the collective intellect of this nation with a frightening vice presidential choice like Sarah Palin.”

And it cuts both ways.  “Barack Obama does little more than marginalize the importance of our national security and the thought of him as president, with his dangerous associations, frightens me.”

Suddenly, everyone is frightened.  A vote for this one or that one is dangerous.  And would you please stop marginalizing everything.

Did I miss a memo?  Was there a meeting I forgot to attend?  Why was this year’s VNC (Vocabulary National Convention), where the words Dangerous, Frightened and Marginalized were nominated as this year’s Words to be Used to Insufferable Extremes, kept so secretive? 

In just a few weeks, the election will be over.  Either Barack Obama or John McCain will be elected as our next president and the words Dangerous, Frightened and Marginalized will depart on lengthy, much-needed vacations.  Following shortly thereafter, their spokespersons have indicated they will retire from public life.

They have, however, uniformly reserved the right to return in four years if conditions warrant.

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