[WSIS CS-Plenary] holiday amusement

[William Drake]

Hi Lisa,

> -----Original Message-----
> From: plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org [mailto:plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org]On
> Behalf Of mclauglm at po.muohio.edu

> Even Sidney Blumenthal calls her Condi...:-)
>
> Perhaps it's like calling George "Dubya," the nick-naming that the
> latter is reported to like to indulge in.

Yes it's common, but objectionable.  As your Dubya example suggests, using
nick-names for horrid public officials sort of humanizes and softens them,
as if they were our neighbors, just regular folks.  And sometimes it gets
taken further out into the realm of the surreal;  remember when the media
was variously referring to Rumsfeld as a 'stud' and 'babe magnet?'  Right,
and Stalin was sweet 'Uncle Joe'...

Cheers,

Bill