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April 13, 2006
Bush-bashers vs. Bush-haters
In my last post, I used the expression "Bush-bashers" when I should have used the expression "Bush-haters".
I define a "Bush-basher" as being someone who doesn't hate President Bush, but who bashes President Bush for saying or doing something that the person disagrees with. A Bush-basher can also be fair to President Bush by rejecting false charges made against the President. For example, the Washington Post has acted as a Bush-basher from time to time. Yet recenty, the Washington Post published an editorial that defended President Bush.
As it turns out, there are also plenty of conservatives and Republicans who have been Bush-bashers at one time or another, including the owner of this blog and me. Conservatives and Republicans have bashed President Bush for his policy concerning illegal immigration and for his tendency to sign every federal spending bill without concern for the growing federal deficit.
Plus, there are Democrat Bush-bashers who don't hate the President, either.
On the other hand, a Bush-hater is so blinded by hatred for President Bush that the person doesn't realize that she/he is blinded by hatred. Such a person will repeat false claims about President Bush even after the false claims have been thoroughly debunked. An example of such a false claim is the claim that President Bush had a sinister motive for sending the American military into Iraq.
In short, Bush-bashers have their eyes and ears open to both the bad things and the good things that President Bush says or does.
Bush-haters, in contrast, have their eyes and ears closed to anything good that President Bush says or does; they interpret everything that President Bush says or does as being bad.
Bashing the President can be helpful to the nation's political dialogue. Hating the President does nothing but poison that dialogue . . . as well as poison the soul of the person doing the hating.
Posted by Dodo David at April 13, 2006 09:39 PM
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Comments
That's a very convienient argument. It allows you to simply dismiss anyone who dissagrees with you as a "hater". My kidsw use that argument, too. It sounds just as stuipid when they say it. It's also wrong. Bush is a likable guy. He gets a lot of breaks from a lot of people because of it. But his policies, or lack of them. And his constant outright lying are destroying this country. It's always far more dangerous to blindly love and support a person who clearly is failing than to tell them they need help. They call that co-dependance. There seems to be a lot of that going on around here.
Posted by: IaintBacchus at April 14, 2006 10:47 AM
I think you make a good distinction. There are people I know that bash Bush, but when you discuss stuff by the issues, they tend to be less partisan and often times agree with the conservative approach (not necessarily Republican).
Bush haters are the people who refuse reality--who complain about everything and blame Bush, even when the facts are not with them. This is the Bush Derangement Syndrome which is found in such outlets like Air America, the Bill Maher Show, the Huffington Post and Media Matters for America.
Posted by: Aaron at April 14, 2006 11:51 AM
"his constant outright lying are destroying the country" Are not unqualified statements like this an example of Bush Derangement Syndrome?
Posted by: docdave at April 15, 2006 08:18 PM
I think it's still a false dichotomy. Why call criticism Bush-bashing? It still implies something sinister. It's not bashing bush. It's pointing out the fallicies of his policies (actually, calling them policy elevates his failings higher than they deserve.) My disgust with what's happening to our government and to our country has nothing to do with how I feel about bush, qua bush. It's about what he's doing. Or not doing. Why triangulate hate vs bash. It's, as usual, a diversion. Let's screw around questioning motives of criticizes: the more we do that, the less we have to address the criticism.
Posted by: Dr. Sid at April 15, 2006 08:38 PM
Thats the problem with bushhe has lied to the AMERICAN people for so long that nobody trust what he says anymore. Every time he says something the people of this great country get screwed.
Posted by: Jim at April 29, 2006 08:35 PM