In my mind, the absurdity of the Republican Party can be summed up in two words that have recently made their way into every set of conservative talking points since Connecticut voters ousted Bush kisser, Joe Lieberman, in favor of Iraq war critic, Ned Lamont.
These words are: “Defeatocrats” and “Islamofascists.”
I’ve already
covered the ridiculous “Defeatocrat” label unleashed on the Democrats by, as I now choose to call them, the “Retard-licans,” so I’m going to focus here on the word “Islamofascist,” or the variation, “Islamic Fascism.”
George Bush has used it several times, including a recent
press conference. In a recent
column, Cal Thomas used variations of the word 5 times, and even found room to increase the revulsion factor by expanding it to “Islamofascist plague.” Likewise, other conservative pundits seem to be racing to prove they can use the new GOP “word-of-the-day” in a sentence!
I’m not an historian, so I won’t bother trying to pick apart the historical reasons for why the use of this word is ridiculous (although Newsweek covers some of them
here). I’ll just cite the
definition of Fascism in Webster’s Dictionary.
Fascism: A political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.
The radical Islamic factions currently promoting violence toward the West are decentralized and anarchic, not autocratic and regimented. There is no dictatorial leader -unless you believe that somehow Osama bin Laden is controlling everything from a cave in Northern Pakistan next to his dialysis machine - using a satellite phone the size of
Maxwell Smart’s shoe!
That’s what the GOP would like us to believe! The Bush Administration wanted a reason for war from the day they first stepped into the White House. When their “War on Terror” after 9/11 turned out to be as unwinnable as the “War on Drugs,” and no longer served as an acceptable justification for pursuing their goals in the Middle East, they needed a new reason to continue. Enter “Islamofascism”, and calls for their followers to see actions in the Middle East as “World War III,” even though the current insurgency seems to have less to do with “Fascism” than does Bush’s “Unitary Executive” theory. Generally, Republicans know that people associate the term “Fascism” with Hitler, the holocaust, and the circumstances of a “just war.” So they use it, over and over and over!
But they are just words. Stupid, misleading, meaningless words!
“Defeatocrat” and “Islamofascist” make no more sense than a liberal campaign urging Americans to:
Vote Democratic in November to stop the dreaded Bush the Ripper from continuing his rampant serial conservacide spree! (actually,
that kind of makes
more sense!)
All in all, they are nothing more than made-up words - another extension of the ongoing campaign of Republican viral fear marketing known as:
Sheiks on a Plane!(hat tip to
Mike Malloy who apparently beat me to the use of this phrase)
If you have not seen Keith Olbermann's commentary regarding Donald Rumsfeld last night - you must.
