Inflammatory Bandying About of Hot-Button Words
When President Bush writes his own speeches, they use words like fascist.
Not a great idea for presidents to use the language imprecisely. Too much of the world out there watching. Probably ill-advised to do so, but still in all, they’re out there paying attention.
And so it is, President George W. Bush found himself at the end of a tether, looking forlorn and certainly diminished by the scale of airport upon which he stood, using a hot-button word--fascist.
Ill-advisedly, one might add, but then there was no advice. He was reported to be off the linguistic leash (not a comfortable place for George) and to have written his brief message to America himself.
So, the President of the United States reintroduced us to fascism. Yep, right out there in the sun, squinting into the glare and addressing his ‘fellow citizens,’ the unedited man made himself and his notions of the world just a little more plain. Plain-spoken presidents are rare. Harry Truman was one, Ronald Reagan another, but to para…