Learn English – What does “double-down” mean when used in a context other than Blackjack

meaningmeaning-in-context

I saw the phrase “double-down” in the following sentence of the Washington Post article (June 28, 2011) titled “Why Michele Bachmann is no Sarah Palin.”

“Palin is notorious for doubling-down on perceived missteps, typically blaming a biased media for not telling the whole story.”

I know "double down" is a term of Blackjack meaning the players’ option of doubling their bet and receiving one more card, but what does the phrase exactly mean in this particular context?

Does it mean Sarah Palin makes most of her missteps or gaffes to turn into her political (or campaign) advantages?

Is the use of "doubling-down" like this a casual usage to be applied to anything else, or a kind of "purple prose" that I recently learned?

Best Answer

A fuller quote from that article:

Bachmann, at least so far in the campaign, has shown a willingness to acknowledge mistakes she makes on the campaign trail. Palin is notorious for doubling-down on perceived missteps, typically blaming a biased media for not telling the whole story.

Since he contrasts "acknowledgement" with "doubling-down", it seems clear that Chris Cillizza (the political analyst here) is saying that Palin does not easily acknowledge mistakes. He unfortunately used a term which is rare enough that it is not in dictionaries.

In such cases, we go by context to understand the term. "Doubling-down on" means here that Palin wants to maintain face, and will sometimes not admit when she made a mistake.

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