238. Pyrrhic victory

From, "In Obama's Victory, A Loss For Congress," by James B. Stewart, The New York Times, 6/30/12:

"We finally won a three-decades-long battle over the commerce clause," John Eastman, a conservative constitutional scholar and a professor at Chapman Univerity, told me hours after the court's decision.
This might seem a paradox, given that the court upheld the legislation. But the decision may ultimately prove a Pyrrhic victory for supporters of expansive Congressional power.

Pyrrhic victory: achieved at excessive cost; also : costly to the point of negating or outweighing expected benefits

237. Kerfuffle

From, “Here Comes Nobody,” by Maureen Dowd, 5/19/12, The New York Times:

[extract from an article addressing the attitude and activities within the catholic church]

The latest kooky kerfuffle was sparked by the invitation to Kathleen Sebelius, the health and human services secretary, to speak at a graduation ceremony at Georgetown University on Friday. The silver-haired former Kansas governor is a practicing Catholic with a husband and son who graduated from Georgetown. But because she fought to get a federal mandate for health insurance coverage of contraceptives and morning-after pills, including at Catholic schools and hospitals, Sebelius is on the hit list of a conservative Catholic group in Virginia, the Cardinal Newman Society, which militates to bar speakers at Catholic schools who support gay rights or abortion rights.

Kerfuffle: a disorderly outburst, disturbance, commotion or tumult

236. Platitude

From, “Heat Feel Bosh’s Absence in Conference Finals,” by Howard Beck, 6/4/12, The New York Times:

“He was our most important player,” Spoelstra said in a pregame news conference Friday, and you could sense the muffled snickers around the room.

Few took the statement seriously, in part because Spoelstra,the Heat’s unfailingly self-serious head coach, is prone to broad platitudes and important-sounding coach-isms, such as, “play to our identity,” a phrase he invokes about 15 times per interview.

Platitude:  a trite or banal remark or statement, especially one expressed as if it were original or significant

235. Treachery

From, “The Enigma Beside Edwards,” by Frank Bruni, 6/4/12, The New York Times:

What was Cate Edwards thinking? What went through her mind and heart as she walked with her father into court every morning, took a place in the row behind his, listened to fresh accounts of his treacheries and her mother’s torment, nervously twisted her long hair, and then walked with him back out of court, day after queasy-making day?

Treachery: betrayal of trust

234. Virtuous

From, “Why We Lie,” by Dan Ariely, The Wall Street Journal, 5/26/12:

We tend to think that people are either honest or dishonest. In the age of Bernie Madoff and Mark McGwire, James Frey and John Edwards, we like to believe that most people are virtuous, but a few bad apples spoil the bunch. If this were true, society might easily remedy its problems with cheating and dishonesty. Human-resources departments could screen for cheaters when hiring. Dishonest financial advisers or building contractors could be flagged quickly and shunned. Cheaters in sports and other arenas would be easy to spot before they rose to the tops of their professions.

Virtuous: having or showing high moral standards