A Modest Proposal

In watching the Bush administration fall all over themselves in the last few days over "stay the course" - Bush said they'd never said that, then video is shown of him saying that a few dozens times, then Rumsfeld jumped in - it occurs to me that we need a new cabinet-level position: a Secretary of Catchphrases. Someone to keep track of the overly simplistic, virtually meaningless politico-speak that dominates the nation's discourse. Someone who can make sure that everyone knows what they're supposed to say. No more getting confused over whether today we're talking about "staying the course" or about the other party wanting to "cut and run." They can put the other administration officials through drills and training sessions involving cue cards so they won't mistakenly talk about the "global war on terror" when they're supposed to be talking about the "global war on extremism." This will help avoid public confusion over the simplistic little soundbytes that we have in lieu of actually having to think.

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thought that was Rove's job...The Architect...

Nope. Rove's job is Creating New Realities.

Frank Luntz used to do this, it's just that Bush is not as disciplined as most other Republicans. Perhaps they do not have a good slogan-control-guy any more...

Bush actually claimed he'd never said that!? Maybe it's true that he just stands there dreaming about clearing brush while Rove's arm is up his ass, controlling him puppet-like. Or maybe it depends on what your definition of "said" is...

I hear that a few former editors of Pravda are available. The Bush White House could sure use them. Maybe they could even put out a newspaper "The Truthiness of Bush."

Having a Secretary Of Catchphrases could lead to people remembering that the Bush administration harped on nothing but WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION for months before the invasion of Iraq.

This could be cross referenced in the Office of Lessons Learned ... or maybe they didn't learn any lesson from this ...

"But we've always been at war with Eurasia..., er I mean but we've never said that "staying the course" was our strateegury...heh, heh, heh, heh."

It was "global war on terror," then, very briefly during the summer of 2005, it was the "struggle against violent extremism," then they brought back "global war on terror."

how 'bout "The Department of Truth Enhancement"?

By Loren Michael (not verified) on 26 Oct 2006 #permalink