Safire

WASHINGTON -- Civil liberties groups are concerned about the Justice Department's request to Congress for greatly expanded powers to fight terrorism. While they're at it, they would do well to consider as part of the same fight the State Department's recent attempted muzzling of the Voice of America. At issue was an exclusive VOA interview with Mullah Mohammad Omar, head of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. In it, Omar repeated that the Taliban would not turn over suspected terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and asserted that "America has created the evil that is attacking it."

"IS THIS as big as Crosby's?" asked Bob Hope when they gave him the Oscar.So -- tonight's the night again; another one of those glorious evenings sitting through those wonderful Oscar-nominated songs.TONIGHT MADONNA will appear in all her glory on the Academy Awards telecast, singing Stephen Sondheim's nominated ballad, "Sooner or Later," from "Dick Tracy." Millions of fans and critics will catch this Oscar debut. What we won't get to see is Madonna wearing a sequined bathing suit, astride a huge elephant.

With one swift deed and several strategically placed words, Maryland's official archivist has quietly revised the English translation of an ancient Italian motto that is an integral part of the state seal. "Strong deeds, gentle words" is the new translation. It replaces "manly deeds, womanly words," its predecessor, which had appeared in the online version of the Maryland Manual until it was replaced without ceremony yesterday afternoon. For centuries, lawmakers and linguists have quarreled over the meaning of the Tuscan "Fatti Maschii, Parole Femine," which appears prominently in the Great Seal, the state's symbol of authority dating from the 17th century.

WITH the presidential campaign finally in full swing, it is tim to refresh our memories on key political phrases. These two are from "William Safire's Political Dictionary":GIVE 'EM HELL, HARRY: a Truman battle cry in 1948, now used to characterize a slugging campaign.Enthusiasm for Harry Truman's candidacy was lacking among Democrats early in the 1948 campaign; signs at the convention read: "I'm just mild about Harry."On September 17, as he began barnstorming the country. . . Truman recalls he told his running mate, Alben Barkley: "I'm going to fight hard.

Texas Gov. Ann Richards won plaudits for her Democratic National Convention speech deriding George Bush as the president with a silver foot in his mouth. So why did even some Republicans squirm uncomfortably when Maryland's Republican Party chairman Joyce Lyons Terhes called President Clinton "a philandering, lying, draft dodger" at the recent state party spring convention in Ocean City?Because Governor Richards' remarks were funny and within the bounds of acceptable political assault. Ms. Terhes crossed the line into mud-slinging and personal vilification.

To use a Russian metaphor, Mikhail Gorbachev and his closest associates are like a group of men who have been holding a bear by the legs and ears. They don't particularly like it, but they don't know how to let go.Eduard Shevardnadze's stunning resignation yesterday means that a key player in this drama of bear-wrestling suddenly let go and walked away from the fight. While his act is understandable, the fact remains that his departure now means that the remaining players have to get control of that loose paw very quickly, or the bear of Soviet dictatorship will soon be loose again.

Whether the shape of American English is as contemporary as Quentin Tarantino, as rococo as Coolio, as orotund as Pat Buchanan, or as natural as Annie Dillard, an intrepid legion of language luminaries will try to take its measure in a lecture series that begins MondayMarch 11 at the Johns Hopkins University Homewood campus.The series, "English in America: The Shape of Our Language," promises a lively celebration of words and their abuse, power and evolution, from the provocative "dissing" of the inner city, to the TV talk of cops and killers, to the pastoral language of the land.

CERTAIN WORDS and phrases become taboo in the White House. Out of the loop, amiable dunce, malaise and crook come to mind. The Clinton White House, we are told by Glenn Burkins of the Wall Street Journal, is eager to make clear that it is "not being driven by a quest to establish" Clinton's legacy. cf01 The interviewer reports that John Podesta, the chief of staff, "has banned the use of that word in the White House." That's because the word, in its political sense, is most often being used in derision.

REMEMBER when politicians concluded their speeches with "Thank you and good night"?symbol for the other side's immorality, much as the American flag was used in previous campaigns as a symbol for the other side's lack of patriotism.A few years ago, Democrats answered the Nixonite flag lapel pin with heavy flag drapery; are Democrats now to counter Bush's wooing of the religious right with fervent protestations of morality, displaying red, white and blue crosses and stars?I hope not. The more effective response is to challenge the religious propriety of any political organization's claim to having God on its side.

WASHINGTON -- John H. Sununu asserted yesterday he is "not blaming anybody but myself" for the controversy surrounding his travel practices and issued denials to Jewish leaders that he considered pro-Israel groups part of a vendetta against him.The White House chief of staff issued a one-paragraph statement yesterday, saying for the first time that he held only himself responsible for recent missteps that have brought presidential rebukes and sharp restrictions...