From NPR "It's All Politics" Blog
When 'Not About Politics' Means 'All About Politics'
By Alan Greenblatt
Politicians are notorious for sometimes saying the opposite of what they mean. That seems to be especially true when they insist an issue "isn't about politics."...
But aside from motherhood and apple pie, there are issues where there is, in fact, near-universal agreement — the injustice of slavery, for instance, suggests Geoffrey Nunberg, a linguist at the University of California, Berkeley.
Politicians saying an issue "isn't about politics" are similarly trying to lift their position above the partisan fray, Nunberg says, "depicting political issues as really matters of consensus and hence not subject to debate."
Of course, he adds, nobody ever says something isn't political unless, in fact, they're treating it as political — by sponsoring legislation, say, which is an inherently political act....