The "ic" factor, again!
Congressional reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg made a rare appearance on the Times political blog Tuesday afternoon to address a point not included in her print story Wednesday, which involved Bush's criticism of Congress for failing to move on an Iraq war spending bill.
Stolberg's blog post was titled "Bush [1]on the Democrat-ic Congress [1]."
"As he was assailing Congressional Democrats for delays in passing an Iraq war spending bill, President Bush stopped to make sure he got his Democratic terminology straight.
"'The Democrat leaders in - Democratic leaders in Congress are bent on using a bill that funds our troops to make a political statement about the war,' Mr. Bush said, renewing his threat to veto any spending measure that includes a timetable for troop withdrawal. 'They need to do it quickly and get it to my desk so I can veto it, and then Congress can get down to the business of funding our troops without strings and without further delay.'
"The mid-sentence correction came during a talk to an American Legion post in Fairfax, Va., and immediately brought to mind the recent flap over Mr. Bush's State of the Union address in January, where he referred to the 'Democrat Party.' That reference irked some Democrats, who believed Mr. Bush was using a pejorative term. Later, addressing House Democrats at their annual retreat, Mr. Bush said he didn't mean any ill will by dropping the ic."
"Immediately brought to mind" among oversensitive Democratic activists and Times reporters, anyway. Jim [2]Rutenberg [2]has addressed the topic in print on no less than three occasions.