Division and the New Political Correctness

January 21, 2005

Hah! I think this headline ought to go down as one of the greats:

*”Poll: Nation split on Bush as uniter or divider”:http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/01/19/poll/index.html*

As often as Bush has played the “culture war,” “class war,” and “us vs. them” card it’s surprising to me that there is anyone who can seriously believe Bush brings people together. Then again, there are people who believe increasing attacks and violence against American troops in Iraq are a demonstration of how well the flypaper strategy is going there, so I guess I shouldn’t be all that surprised.

In other news, “Bush takes the Washington Post to task”:http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_01_16.php#004503 for using the newly-politically incorrect term “privitization” when refering to, well, privitization. I have suspected for some time now that when the Republicans say “the media is biased” what they _really_ mean is “the media doesn’t always stick to our talking points.”

bq. The Post: Will you talk to Senate Democrats about your privatization plan?
THE PRESIDENT: You mean, the personal savings accounts?
The Post: Yes, exactly. Scott has been –
THE PRESIDENT: We don’t want to be editorializing, at least in the questions.
The Post: You used partial privatization yourself last year, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes?
The Post: Yes, three times in one sentence. We had to figure this out, because we’re in an argument with the RNC [Republican National Committee] about how we should actually word this.

As TPM points out in the link above, the RNC used the word “privitization” a great deal — until they found out that it didn’t poll well on this issue.

??Headline story “seen at TPM”:http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_01_16.php#004482??

Posted in So Called Media