When over half the country casually uses it it would be difficult to read anything ominous into it. Grab what they are objecting to and make it your own.

This is what I thought Kerry should have done back when he was running. He had an open mike gaffe where he said something like “These are the biggest group of liars I’ve ever seen.” And like all open mike gaffes, it ended up a slight embarrassment and he let it be. What he should have done: Don’t disown it because it was criticized. Rather make it the unofficial motto for his campaign. Have his surrogates say “These are the biggest group of…” whenever possible such as when asked a question attacking his military service. The message would be clear and it would likely have been picked up by the general public as a catch phrase.