“Fascist” – word only newsworthy when used by GOP

Last updated on: March 17, 2017 at 8:12 pm by Elizabeth Scalia

“Fascist” – word only newsworthy when used by GOP 2017-03-17T20:12:17+00:00 Elizabeth Scalia

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This is pretty funny – we’ve heard folks on the left throw the words “fascist” and “fascism” around for decades now, at the drop of a hat. I still remember Liz Smith asking Hillary Clinton how it felt to be running for the senate against “a fascist,” (that would be Rudy Giuliani, who was called a fascist throughout his two terms as Mayor of NYC, excepting those post 9/11 months.)

Hillary simply “giggled” at the question. She didn’t have a problem with the word being applied to the man. No big deal.

But now, since a few folks on the “other” side of the aisle dare to use the words (and not about their political opponents but about an enemy and mindset), it’s a big freaking deal worthy of headlines and an 800-word piece by Tom Raum:

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.
[…]
“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.

Pollster Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center, said the “fascist” label may evoke comparisons to World War II and remind Americans of the lack of personal freedoms in fundamentalist countries. “But this could only affect public opinion on the margins,” he said.

“Having called these people ‘evildoers,’ fascism is just a new wrinkle,” he said.

The tactic recalled the first President Bush’s 1990 likening of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein to Adolf Hitler.
[…]
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.’

Really interesting, isn’t it? When the president or conservatives use the word “fascist” and “fascism” to describe a means of movement and an ideology, well…that’s all a “tactic.” It’s been focus-grouped. It’s just a cynical ploy to which no one need pay attention. They’re just floundering around with that word, they don’t really know what it means, after all. Of course they don’t. They’re too stoopit.

But when the left uses the same words, it’s not cynical, it’s not a political tactic – it’s apparently something real and noble.

Interesting, too that the piece recalls G.H.W. Bush calling Saddam “Hitler,” and the ensuing controversy which arose from that…but never mentions that G.W. Bush is routinely called “fascist” and “Hitler” to…to…to the sounds of crickets chirping and a hollow wind blowing all around. No controversy, there!

It’s amazing what is “remarkable” to some people. It is even more amazing to me that when the administration finally gets around to using the right word, some in the press immediately work to dull the effect. I keep wondering: whose side are they freaking on?

But then again, I know the answer: Any side that won’t possibly help President Bush, as they gladly admit, these days.

Bush needs to fail, and it doesn’t matter the cost, btw. Got that?

Now, what word will we use to describe people who are so enthralled with their own “well-reasoned” hate that they would rather see a mission to defeat a deadly and blood-ravenous enemy fail than co-operate with the democratically-elected leadership? No, it’s not “fascism.” It’s another word, entirely. Can you guess it?

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