Smith of TX Pushes Holder to Use the Term 'Radical Islam.' Huffpo's Linkins Nearly Dies Laughing

[BurtWorm]

Hilarious shredding of Smith by Jason Linkins on Huffington Post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/14/lamar-smith-really-wants_n_576764.html

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Fighting terrorism is hard. But for the Liz Cheney set, there can be no success in the War on Terror unless you are using the magical words! You must say, "war," for example -- in fact, preferably -- "WAAARRRRRR!" -- whilst stamping your itty-bitty feet and screwing up your face into a rictus of impotent, jelly-livered rage. Also, you apparently must always say, "radical Islam," or your counter-terror efforts just don't count, sorry! And so the wingnuts are going nuts over this video of Attorney General Eric Holder -- who wants to have adult discussions about important matters -- and Representative Lamar Alexander (R-Tex.)<sic, he must have been laughing too hard to remember the asshole's name>, whose only job is to exploit whatever free-floating anxiety he can find so he can keep his his ass in his Congressional seat and his itching, baby-soft palm outstretched.

Basically, Smith is on a mission: to get Eric Holder to use the words "radical Islam," because he thinks that you fight terrorists in the same way that you fight Rumplestiltzkin.

<WATCH>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSikSNcjrHc&feature=player_embedded

[no_hypocrisy]

1. To the best of my knowledge, there is no legal term for "radical Islam".

[wtmusic]

2. Awww, Smith couldn't get Holder to cuddle up to his talking point

Ideologuing is hard, hard work.

[JDPriestly]

3. This need to use the magic words is related to being brought up in

or converting to fundamentalist Christianity. That movement uses catch phrases too. "Washed in the blood of the Lamb" used to be a favorite. "Saved" is definitely a favorite these days. "Born again," a very reassuring phrase.

I suppose that all movements have these favorite catch phrases. What makes the magic words of the Fundamentalists different from the magic words in law or in bridge, for example, is that the Fundamentalists' magic words are generally defined in a circular way and carry a heavy emotional and social load. Also, you can't question what they mean or whether they are being properly used in a particular situation because those who use those terms are very defensive about them. They are sacred and magical after all. You have to use the right terms or you might go to some bad place when you die. If you don't use the right term for terrorists, you might be punished in some way. That gives the people who dictate the language a lot of power over the conversation.

[Scurrilous]

4. K & R

:thumbsup:

[csziggy]

5. That was good! But so is the following article about "Radical Islam Tourettes"

http://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2010/05/lamar-smith-has-radical-islam-tourettes.html

Louis Black has started a new meme.:rofl: