From Kenneth P. Vogel, “GOP operatives crash the tea party“, Politico 4/14/2010:
As for the bus tours, [Sal] Russo said “they work for us. It’s a great vehicle to go to a lot of places and get a lot of people involved and engaged. I am proud of what we do. Who else goes out there and motivates people and insinuates involvement and activity and actually is making a difference in what is going on?”
It surprised me to see Mr. Russo taking credit for insinuating something.
The relevant OED gloss for insinuate is “To introduce tortuously, sinuously, indirectly, or by devious methods; to introduce by imperceptible degrees or subtle means”.
The American Heritage Dictionary has “To introduce or otherwise convey (a thought, for example) gradually and insidiously”.
Merriam-Webster online has glosses of
1 a : to introduce (as an idea) gradually or in a subtle, indirect, or covert way <insinuate doubts into a trusting mind> b : to impart or suggest in an artful or indirect way : imply <I resent what you’re insinuating>
2 : to introduce (as oneself) by stealthy, smooth, or artful means
Encarta has “to hint at something unpleasant or suggest it indirectly and gradually” or “to introduce yourself gradually and cunningly into a position, especially a place of confidence or favor”.
I doubt that Mr. Russo would characterize his actions as “devious”, “insidious”, or “covert”. Instead, he seems to have used insinuate to mean simply initiate. I looked around for other evidence of an insinuate=initiate trend, but didn’t find anything much, except for a completely different malapropism insinuate=intimate (“H20 soluble liniment enhances a comfort as well as ease of insinuate activity…”).
[The political issue under discussion is the role of Russo, Marsh, and Associates in the Tea Party Express bus tours and various other “Tea Party” branded activities. And as usual, we need to note that the word-substitution might have been the reporter’s (or a spelling-corrector’s) rather than the source’s.]
[Update — I’m persuaded by Mr. Fnorter’s suggestion in the comments that the intended word might have been instigate — note that there was a flap last year when Maxine Waters apparently said that Castro “insinuated revolution to kick out the wealthy”, which seems to be a similar malapropism.]