In Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary (1994), p. 272, "claptrap" is defined as "1. pretentious but insincere or empty language . . . 2. any artifice or expedient for winning applause or impressing the public[.]"

"Babble" is foolish or meaningless speech, not uttered with an intent to impress.

See also The Free Dictionary:

"claptrap: Pretentious, insincere, or empty language"

"babble:
"1. Inarticulate or meaningless talk or sounds.
"2. Idle or foolish talk; chatter.
"3. A continuous low, murmuring sound, as of flowing water."


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Note added at 2 hrs (2009-01-27 02:52:23 GMT)
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I think either "political claptrap" or "political jargon" will work equally well here. See an example of "political claptrap" in a leading U.S. newspaper at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10...

"Jargon" on its own can mean the language used by a particular trade or profession and need not be empty of meaning. But "political jargon" is empty per se, in my view and probably in the view of many observers of politics. It was certainly part of what Ibsen was targeting in "Samfundets støtter."

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Note added at 4 days (2009-01-31 02:37:09 GMT)
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Thomas,
"Rhetoric" is probably too neutral for what Ibsen was attacking, in my opinion. I just checked in Michael Meyer's biography of Ibsen. Meyers quotes an Ibsen letter to Jonas Collin from the time that Ibsen was beginning work on "Samfundets støtter." The text of the original letter is available at http://www.dokpro.uio.no/litteratur/ibsen/hi16.txt -- scroll down to "Dresden 4de Januar 1870." Ibsen wrote: "Af de Angreb, der er kommet mig for Øje, synes det at
fremgaa at man deroppe betragter Frasemageriet, Hulheden og Lumpenheden som nationale Ejendommeligheder, der ikke maa røres ved."

Meyers translated "Frasemageriet" as "empty phrase-making": "'From the attacks that I read, it seems that in Norway people regard empty phrase-making, hollowness and mean-mindedness as national characteristics which are therefore sacrosanct."

I now consider Meyer's choice as better than "claptrap."