On Wed, 29 Aug 2001, Adam C. Lipscomb wrote:
> "Shrub" has been a nickname for GWB in Texas for years. I defend my use of
> it on that basis alone.
>
> Besides, it sums up his accomplishments, IMO.
>
> And that's all I've got to say on the matter, and those that disagree with
> me are EVIL.
Besides, Gautam, if you think "Shrub" is uncivil, you should see how we
liberals talk about him when you conservatives aren't listening in, like
when we don our olive-drab caps with the hammer-&-sickle logo and very
solemly refer to Mr. Bush as "Mammon's Butt Boy Number One." ;-)
Seriously, though, the only reason civility is a "conservative" virtue is
because courtly manners are associated with the upper classes of yore, and
modern conservatives do their best to ape those halcyon regimes for the
sake of the air of inevitable authority associated with them. The more
powerful one becomes the more "uncivil" it becomes for the peons to
remind one of one's fundamental accountability or, dare I suggest it,
possible illegitimacy. Not that this is a fault solely associated with
political conservatives, mind you, but since they're the ones getting
puffed up at the moment, they get the pin.
Of course, once our precious conservatives step down from their rostrums,
and once the TV lights go out, their language coarsens up very nicely,
just like everybody else whose excrement is brown and smelly.
The exception, of course, are those people with exemplary home training,
which the last time I looked wasn't a function of political orientation.
Marvin Long
Austin, Texas
My hero is Guy Forsyth! www.guyforsyth.com
"The ego that sees a 'thou' is fundamentally different from an ego that
sees an 'it.'" -- Joseph Campbell
