And, startlingly, I got this from DRUDGE!! (Could it be that Drudge is falling off the Bushite Bandwagon?)
President George W. Bush compared the war on terrorism to World War II on Wednesday but trimmed one famous Allied message and dropped the word "crusade."Look at that! He edited the word "crusade," which is obviously a word that Muslims react badly to, and also ones the Europeans would focus on sharply.
In a speech at the US Air Force Academy graduation, Bush recited part of General Dwight Eisenhower's message to troops ahead of the D-Day landings but carefully quoted around the term, which has deeply negative connotations in the Muslim world.
"'Soldiers, sailors and airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force,'" Bush quoted Eisenhower as saying. "'The eyes the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you."
Eisenhower's original message to the troops opened with: "Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force: You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months.
"The eyes of the world are upon you. The hope and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you."
So what does this mean? The rhetoric Bush has used in the past, of "either you're with us or you're appeasing Frenchies who eat snails," is fading now that Bush must go begging to the United Nations, an act that is a must if he is to have a hope of retaining his job. What is this? None other than the Shrub's chief skill. He's pandering. At least this time it isn't to the religious right.
Pardon me while I go get some mouthwash.
