It's remarkable to me how consistently conservatives' attempts to refute accusations of prejudice, antagonism and spite end up instead providing further evidence of their accuracy.
Is there an English word which describes someone becoming more like what they're being accused of, even in the denial of the accusation?
@sumpnlikefaith Not that I know of but I found a big list of synonyms for #hypocrisy.
@danielbsmith Hypocrisy is stirred into this, for sure.
But to me hypocrisy is a little different -- it's usually defined as doing what a person is accusing someone else of.
What I'm getting is that they're doing the very thing they're being accused of in the way they deny it.
It's like almost like a self-fulfilling accusation.
@sumpnlikefaith Reaching out to someone like Grammar Girl might be useful as well.
@sumpnlikefaith I see your point but that's not the dictionary definition. Surely someone has coined a term for what you're describing but I have no idea how to find it. Perhaps in another language?
"Hoist by his own petard" has a similar connotation. Maybe searching along that line would be fruitful.