Damn It: I Need A Dictionary To Read The WSJ

ab⋅strac⋅tion  [ab-strak-shuhn] –noun

1. an abstract or general idea or term.

2. the act of considering something as a general quality or characteristic, apart from concrete realities, specific objects, or actual instances.

3. an impractical idea; something visionary and unrealistic.

4. the act of taking away or separating; withdrawal: The sensation of cold is due to the abstraction of heat from our bodies.

5. secret removal, esp. theft.

6. absent-mindedness; inattention; mental absorption.

"So, to sum up, in the name of an abstraction ('making the United States a more equitable society') and because it fits their 'political calculus,' Obama and Nancy Pelosi are planning to impose upon the country a massively expensive burden that can never be lifted. And they're lying to us about it ('some subterfuge is historically necessary')."

-- James Taranto

"It is odd to see such hard-line tough-guy political players—and that's how they see themselves and in part are—governed, really, by abstractions, by things that look big-time but are actually small-time: our legacy, our greater historical meaning, the Aristotelian purity of getting at least a partial public option established so that it will grow and history will look back and say, 'Ah, after 40 years of waiting they delivered what America never had and needed.'"

-- Peggy Noonan