Why Does President Bush Hate Ray Bolger and Kansas?

Don’t expect to see this in your favorite Big Media newspaper, but AP actually did an excellent review of how Bush uses the straw man argument to the extreme whenever he wants to be seen picking a rhetorical fight. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2006/03/18/national/w095252S08.DTL&type=printable

Straw Man argument, of course, is setting up an exaggerated and false picture of what the opponent believes or says, and then knocking it down – and in the case of a wannabe cowboy like GW, with a flourish such as the quick puff to the smoking gun barrel. Do you want to have a simple picture of what’s going on here? Think Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow. Remember how the Cowardly Lion picked on the Scarecrow because he was afraid of a fair fight? That’s Bush.

As soon as you hear him say, “Some say,” or Some think,” a little light should flash on: “There goes the Cowardly Lion again.” He can’t beat the real argument, so Karl, ever mindful of the need to be seen in attack mode, and never missing a chance to slander the opposition, shows him how to set up a “Straw Man” for all the tough questions. For clarification, obviously the words “some say” may be an attempt at excruciating accuracy, as in “Some say we probably should not have gone into Iraq without a better plan.” But for Bush, rest assured, here comes a whopper that he can knock down easily so he can look really, really tough. Man, isn’t it great to see him pummel Helen Thomas! A man who stands firm, who stands tall, even tall in the saddle, definitely unbending. We all know that a good man is firm to find – well, it was something like that.

Of course, if he hates Ray Bolger, then he hates Dorothy. That means he hates The Wizard of Oz, and anybody who hates the Wizard of Oz certainly hates Kansas, and anybody who hates Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz and Kansas certainly hates America. Some say George W. Bush really hates America.