[quote=Allan from Fallbrook]You said, clearly, that Bush was a demagogue and the implication was that Obama, as a result, was not.[/quote]
No, that’s not what I said. It’s kinda hard to have a discussion when you keep attributing things to me things I didn’t say.
Initially, you had called Obama the worst kind of demagogue, and somewhere along the way you lectured me on understanding the meaning of words (amigo).
I agree with you that words count. And I thought (and still think) you were engaging in hyperbole and posted the definition of demagoguery which appears again for your reference:
[quote=I]
a strategy for gaining political power by appealing to the prejudices, emotions, fears and expectations of the public — typically via impassioned rhetoric and propaganda, and often using nationalist or populist themes.[/quote]
I then said, just reading this definition, it fits the pattern of the previous administration. Much more so than the current one. That does not mean that I think that Bush was a demagogue (and for the record, I don’t).
But I do think that he and Cheney to a huge and really unhealthy degree used “impassioned rhetoric and propaganda, and often using nationalist or populist themes” and exploited that kind of talk for political purposes. You know, “Axis of Evil,” “You’re either with us or you’re against us,” that sort of thing. I could cite lots of examples but I don’t see the point.
I suspect you’re never going to agree with that assessment no matter what I cite, and the two of us probably aren’t going to agree on a lot politically. And the discussion is getting kind of meta- anyway. I dunno, maybe this is entertaining for the peanut gallery but frankly I find it rather tiresome and regrettable.
Shall we switch to discussing religion instead? 🙂
Cheers,
Hatfield
PS. Oh, and by the way, YOU mentioned Hitler. I did not. You lose, amigo. 🙂
