What I meant in my original statement is that “neocon” seems to be one of those terms that all the 9/11 troofers and “Bush’s fake war” types like to throw at people like it’s supposed to be the worst insult that could ever be laid on someone.
I’m not so sure if these people even know what it means. They are kind of like little kids who repeat swear words when they don’t even know what those words mean.
Everyone I ever heard use that term was always a rabid 9/11 troofer who blamed everything on “Bush and the neocons who lied to get us into that war and make contractor buddies rich”, yadda, yadda, yadda.
So when someone uses that word, I have a tendency to roll my eyes, ignore them and get on with life.
I think you're right. The left has made lots of hay by co-opting the language, and by using certain terms and phrases they hear, and by changing the meaning or context, they can use it to their advantage.
Another important point to remember is that the MSM lives in a "sound-bite" world. They are happy to repeat almost anything that puts conservatives in a bad light, including, but not limited to bastardizing the language.
That is reason enough to pay attention to what is being done to our language.