GOP rolls out *new* -ism to defend war

[fryguy]

Ever re-branding the Mess-o-Potamia.....seriuosly, when is someone going to quote the wisdom of Ferris Bueller to these guys......


The new GOP buzzword: Fascism

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/08/30/gop.fascism.ap/index.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush in recent days has recast the global war on terror into a "war against Islamic fascism." Fascism, in fact, seems to be the new buzz word for Republicans in an election season dominated by an unpopular war in Iraq.

<snip>

While "fascism" once referred to the rigid nationalistic one-party dictatorship first instituted in Italy, it has "been used very loosely in all kinds of ways for a long time," said Wayne Fields, a specialist in presidential rhetoric at Washington University in St. Louis.

"Typically, the Bush administration finds its vocabulary someplace in the middle ground of popular culture. It seems to me that they're trying to find something that resonates, without any effort to really define what they mean," Fields said.

<snip>

Stephen J. Wayne, a professor of government at Georgetown University, suggested White House strategists "probably had a focus group and they found the word `fascist.'

"Most people are against fascists of whatever form. By definition, fascists are bad. If you're going to demonize, you might as well use the toughest words you can," Wayne said.

<more>

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. Go with what you know

And the GOP are experts in fascism.

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. Dumb it down to the point where you catch the attention of of the

nascar people.

[Beelzebud]

3. Right from the Rove playbook. Attack your enemey for YOUR weaknesses.

We are fighting terrorists and fascists.

And both reside in Washington D.C.

[calimary]

4. K&R! What's REALLY cool about this is how the press is actually

starting to analyze a little, instead of just regurgitating what was said.

Damn - where did I read this? It was a think piece about various opinions on journalism - where some in the business assume their job/obligation is merely to report what was said, and NOT to consider what was meant, or the truth or the agenda behind what was said. And it seems to me that, anymore, with the spin machine so much a part of official discourse, you HAVE TO look more closely at what is said, to dig out the real truth in it (or lack thereof). Otherwise you have what we suffer now, which is a still tragically uninformed public. You HAVE to do some analysis. You can't just be a stenographer anymore and merely report what was said. You have to go into a least some depth to see if what was said actually has any merit.

Stories like this actually give me some hope that the media really is waking up. They're starting to pick apart the republi-CON spinworks. Maybe it's because, by now, they've been so badly burned, and so often, that they've become skeptical, and know better than to take anything that comes out of these monsters' mouths at face value. But then again, that's part of a journalist's job in the first place - to be skeptical.

It's REALLY great that they're doing this. It's critical that we begin to delve into the mechanics of what's being sold to us by the snake oilers in the White House and elsewhere. In probably every single instance in which what the administration has said has been taken at face value, we've ALL gotten burned. And not just the press corpse.

I, for one, am VERY glad and encouraged to see this!

:headbang: