January 30, 2007 -- 12:35 PM EST // //
BUSH CLAIMS THAT HIS SAYING "DEMOCRAT" MAJORITY WAS AN "OVERSIGHT" -- EVEN THOUGH HE'S DONE IT AGAIN AND AGAIN IN THE PAST.
This is kind of funny. Via Political Wire, President Bush claimed in an interview with National Public Radio's Juan Williams yesterday that his use of the term "Democrat majority" in the State of the Union speech was a mistake:
MR. WILLIAMS: By the way, in the speech, you spoke about the Democrats. You said, you congratulated the Democrat majority. And I notice your prepared text said Democratic majority. I surely think that you know that for the Democrats, they think when you say Democrat, it's like fingernails on the blackboard. They don't like it. They like you to say Democratic.PRESIDENT BUSH: Yeah. Well, that was an oversight then. I mean, I'm not trying to needle. Look, I went into the hall saying we can work together and I was very sincere about it. I didn't even know I did it.
Really? If so, it's an "oversight" that Bush has committed an awful lot of times in the past:
President Bush, November 8, 2006:
Yesterday, the people went to the polls and they cast their vote for a new direction in the House of Representatives. And while the ballots are still being counted in the Senate, it is clear the Democrat Party had a good night last night, and I congratulate them on their victories. This morning I spoke with Republican and Democrat leadership in the House and Senate.
President Bush, November 5, 2006:
On these issues, the Democrat party has adopted a clear strategy of opposition and obstruction. Recently the House Democrat leader explained the advice she's been following since I was reelected in 2004. She said, you must take him down. That him would be me.
President Bush, October 30, 2006:
As a matter of fact, the top Democrat leader in the House made an interesting declaration. She said, we love tax cuts. But given her record, she must be a secret admirer. (Laughter and applause.)...Time and time again, when she and the Democrat Party had an opportunity to show their love for tax cuts, they voted no. If that's the Democrats' idea of love, I sure wouldn't want to see what hate looks like. (Laughter and applause.)
President Bush, October 20, 2006:
There is a difference of opinion between what we ought to be doing with your money, see. There are people in the Democrat Party who think they can spend your money far better than you can.
President Bush, October 19, 2006:
It's interesting, if you look at the history of tax cuts, the Democrat Party always -- didn't always feel the way they feel today. Back in the '60s, the Democrats understood that our economy grows when Americans keep more of what they earn, when Americans make their own decisions about how to save, spend, or invest.
President Bush, November 7, 2005:
And one area that we need to make progress on is with the Democrat Party. The Democrat Party is a free -- for many sessions was a free trade party.
It wasn't hard to find these past Bush quotes. All it entailed was going to the White House's Web site and plugging the phrase "Democrat party" into the search box. If you do that, you get this rundown. Nothing to it. Yet the Washington Post, which devoted a stand-alone story to this latest explanation by the President, apparently didn't take this elementary step and didn't share this crucial information with its readers. Instead, the paper described the phrase as a "long-standing Republican formulation."
But why not share this kind of info with readers? I just don't get it. What's the problem? It's easy and fun. Readers are grateful, too. And the White House wouldn't mind -- after all, the info is right there on its Web site.
Incidentally, anyone who wants to know why "Democrat" as an adjective is taken as a slur should read Hendrik Hertzerg's useful primer in The New Yorker.
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