Bush and Cheney spoke yesterday. I always find it interesting to read their remarks and observe their use of language.
“In their sorrow, these families need to know — and families all across our nation of the fallen — need to know that your loved ones served a cause that is good and just and noble,” Bush said. “And as their commander in chief, I make you this promise: Their sacrifice will not be in vain.”
Now certainly, you can read the remarks and take them the way he wants you to. Or you can notice the use of pronouns and phrasing. He acknowledges the families’ suffering, but not his own through the choice of a different pronoun, and it’s their loved ones that serve the good cause, not his. And this little gem: “families all across our nation of the fallen”. We are a nation of fallen people. Good to know. And note where he uses “I”, when he makes the promise that their sacrifice will not be in vain. Does he explain? No. You can think noble thoughts about that, and you probably will, but he may just as easily be referring to how this war has fulfilled PNAC plans for a permanent presence in Iraq.
What strikes me is how he tells the truth in this little paragraph, if you read it correctly. He’s only lying if the listener/reader appends his or her own conclusions to everything. And since that’s what he wants us to do, in that sense he is manipulating more than lying.
“These men and women saw the future of the terrorists’ intent for our country and they said with clear voices, ‘Not on my watch,’” Bush said of the troops.
“America is blessed to have such brave defenders. They are tomorrow’s veterans and they are bringing pride to our country. Their service is noble and it is necessary,” he said. “The enemies who attacked us six years ago want to strike our country again, and next time they hope to kill Americans on a scale that will make 9/11 pale by comparison.”
And how does he know that, pray tell?
Meanwhile, Dick Cheney spoke at Arlington.
In a 10-minute speech, Cheney said soldiers from World War I to “the current fight against terrorism” have served their country valiantly and “kept us free at the land we call home.”
I’m sorry, but that’s just awkward phrasing. Very unnatural, stiff. Also, lumping the current war together with other wars, particularly WWI and WWII, is just a cheap way to make the Iraq war noble by association.
“Free to live as we see fit, free to work, worship, speak our minds, to choose our own leaders,” the vice president said. “May the rest of us never take them for granted.”
What if the “we” is him and his cabal? I bet it is. The rest I take as sit down and shut up you ingrates.
“Our conduct of our military today and throughout our nation’s history makes this country very proud,” Cheney said. “It is our prayer they will return in victory, safely home, to live out their lives and be here to observe many Veterans Days to come.”
Our conduct of our military, eh? I don’t know about that, Sir. And it’s not our country that’s proud, it’s this country. But it’s our prayer for their return, not necessarily his. He could have said we pray, or even I pray, but he did not. Maybe he’s not the praying type.
These guys spend so much time manipulating people’s emotions with the clever use of pronouns, shifting their crimes away and spreading responsibility around on the one hand and borrowing good intentions on the other. Unfortunately, you have to parse everything they say in order to find out what the hell is going on.
