My dictionary defines an extremist as one who advocates extreme measures or holds extreme views, one who carries something to excess.
A radical is defined as one who carries his theories or convictions to their furthest application; an extremist.
So tell me, disregarding the ‘conventional wisdom’ that says you cannot/do not call the President of the United States a radical extremist, does such a description fit President Bush?
Here’s the bonafides:
Social Security – President Bush’s initial ‘solution’ had absolutely nothing to do with reforming any sort of Social Security insolvency in 2042, his preference and proposal was to undertake a drastic change. Setting aside his lies that accompanied his initial proposal and continue to this day, wouldn’t it be accurate to call his Social Security proposal radical and extremist?
Iraq – There as yet is no ‘absolute’ smoking gun but there is an vast stockpile (and growing daily) of ammunition that President Bush chose to go to war with Iraq for reasons other than a reality and actual evidence that Saddam Hussein was a threat to the United States. Again, setting aside President Bush’s lies and those of his comrades-in-arms (literally), wouldn’t it be accurate to call his behavior and decision-making about going to war with Iraq radical and extremist?
Tax Cuts – The United States has been hocked. Our national debt and issuance of ‘promissory notes’ grows daily–spending conceived of and approved by President Bush and a Republican Congress. Yet President Bush vows to make his tax cuts permanent. Disregarding the fairness of his tax cuts and the lies he has stated about them, wouldn’t it be accurate to call his desire for the perpetuity of his tax cuts, in view of the soaring national debt and fiscal rat hole of Iraq, radical and extremist?
Torture – Our American government has never been a signatory to any document or agreement among nations formalizing the use of torture against enemies, however they may be described or labeled. To the contrary, the United States is a signatory to the Geneva Conventions outlawing and banning torture. Yet torture, applied at the behest of President Bush, has been formally documented. Wouldn’t it be accurate to call his implementation of torture radical and extremist?
The list goes on. The evidential behavior is there. Radical. Extremist. Dangerous.
Conservative, no. That would be one favoring traditional views and values; tending to oppose change.
But you wouldn’t know it by the cooing from and of the mainstream media. Their velvet gloves remain intact despite the volumes of corroborative documentation.
This link is to Robert McElvaine’s guest opinion column in today’s Clarion-Ledger – Jackson, Mississippi’s Gannett-controlled daily paper. Occasionally they actually print something worth reading…
I’m sure there will be plenty of letters in reply claiming that he hates America…
“A radical is defined as one who carries his theories or convictions to their furthest application; an extremist.”
Defined by whom?
My American Heritage Dictionary states: radical — adj., 1. arising from or going to a root or source; 2. departing markedly from the usual or customary; extreme 3. favoring or effecting fundamental or revolutionary change in current practices, conditions, or institutions. n. 1. one who advocates fundamental or revolutionary changes in current practices, conditions or institutions.
The rightwing really doesn’t need any help re-writing the English language–though they do seem to be doing a heckuva job.
Bush is an extremist reactionary, there is nothing “radical” about him–he certainly couldn’t even find a root if it jumped up and bit him in the ass while out clearing bruch, he does not depart markedly from the usual or customary in this country (he just takes what Reagan era conservatives made “usual and customary” to its furthest extreme), nor does he favor fundamental or revolutionary change (he just seeks to institutionalize and legalize the criminality, corruption and racism that have long been driving forces in the corporate world and in many other sectors of this society);
“reactionary” according to AmHer: adj. Characterized by reaction, especially opposition to progress or liberalism; extremely conservative; n. an opponent of progress or liberalism, an extreme conservative.