Oh, Just Stop It!

See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.

This quote is from President Bush, and this weekend, liberal sites are leaping all over it with glee, saying that President Bush has admitted to engaging in propaganda.

First off, why is this such a big deal? When was the last time you met a politician who DIDN'T engage in spin and story control? Politicians lie, that's almost a mantra in this country. Take political promises with a grain of salt. If, in fact, Bush had intended to admit that he does it too, good for him, it would make him at least an iota more principled than the rest in this one instance.

But second, and more importantly, this is clearly just another Bush malaprop. It seems clear to me that if you change the word "catapult" to "leap frog", you get something closer to what Bush was trying to say. He was not saying that he has to repeat propaganda over and over in order to make it stick, he was saying that he has to repeat the truth over and over in order to overcome the propaganda from the other side.

Now, we can leave for other posts whether his use of the words "truth" and "propaganda" are correct or not, certainly I think it's no secret that regardless of my politics, I think Bush needs to go. But it irks me to see people leaping on this example as if it is somehow newsworthy. It merely weakens the arguments of those who have LEGITIMATE complaints about the Bush administration, and strengthens pro-Bush rhetoric that there's a left-wing campaign to smear anything Bush says.

Copyright (c) May 29, 2005 by Liam Johnson. http://www.liamjohnson.net