Krauthammer on Gibson, Palin, and the Bush Doctrine

Some folks are crowing in unashamed glee about Palin's supposed "gaffe." One lefty friend of mine said she was "an idiot" and proceeded to indulge in some happy Palin-hatred. I just sighed. The constant game of political "gotcha!" is widespread, and while it produces in its players a certain amount of juvenile glee or unhappiness depending on who made a gaffe or not, "gotcha!" has ZERO redeeming value or capacity for engaging in a real discussion about policy.

Krauthammer makes a decent point about the ambiguity of terms and the reductionism in their usage. This is especially true for controversial ideas and the rather arbitrary, hot-button labels used to describe them.

So . . . The Bush Doctrine and journalist Charlie Gibson. This could well be the Bush Doctrine and everyone else who wants to use it as a club against people who aren't lefties. The Doctrine isn't only about pre-emption, despite all the journo-babble about it. If you've paid any attention at all, you know that the Bush Doctrine is actually much more complex than that. Read the Krauthammer commentary.

THE BUSH DOCTRINE:
"You keep using that (term).
I do not think it means what you think it means."