Strategery
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The word "Strategery" gained popularity when it was used in a Saturday Night Live sketch aired October 7, 2000, satirizing the performances of Al Gore and George W. Bush, two candidates for President of the United States, during the first presidential debate for election year 2000. [1] Comedian Will Ferrell played Bush and used the word "strategery" (a mock-Bushism playing on the words "strategy" and "strategic"), when asked by a mock debate moderator to summarize his approach to foreign policy, thus satirizing Bush's reputation for mispronouncing words. The episode was later released as part of a video tape titled Presidential Bash 2000.
After winning the 2000 Presidential Election, people inside the Bush White House reportedly began using the term as a joke, and it later grew to become a term of art among them meaning oversight of any activity by Bush's political strategists. Bush's strategists also came to be known within the White House as "The Department of Strategery" or the "Strategery Group".[2]
A February 9, 2001, transcript of a CNN interview attributes George Bush using the term, presumably as an intentional nod to the comedy sketch. [3] Affectionately embracing satirical portrayals has been a Bush tactic at other times as well, such as when he quipped with a broadcaster's association about looking for weapons of mass destruction in the Oval Office after the political comic strip Doonesbury satirically portrayed him on a similar bizarre search.
The term is now widely used in popular discourse, often by Bush's critics to ridicule his oratory skills. Actual damaging quotations made by Bush have sometimes been dubbed "Bushisms" by his political opponents. However, many supporters of Bush also use the term in endearing fondness of Bush's quirky way of talking. Rush Limbaugh picked up the usage soon after the SNL airing and has been instrumental in popularizing the word, using it in an ironic sense in support of President Bush. A trial exhibit from the 2007 "Scooter" Libby trial included the term, in Libby's daily schedule for June 13, 2003, where Libby had a 6:00 pm "Strategery Meeting" scheduled to last 90 minutes. See http://wid.ap.org/documents/libbytrial/feb5/DX1030.pdf
A book by political reporter Bill Sammon titled "Strategery" was published by the conservative publishing group Regnery in February 2006, and is the author's third book on the inner workings of the Bush presidency.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Dana Milbank (April 22, 2001). Serious 'Strategery' As Rove Launches Elaborate Political Effort, Some See a Nascent Clintonian 'War Room'. Washington Post . Retrieved on October 23, 2006.
- ^ (Jan 1, 2003) "See, Why Are These Men Laughing?". Esquire.
- ^ Military Puts President Bush on Defensive; How Should the New Administration Handle the Conflict in the Middle East?. CNN (February 9, 2001). Retrieved on October 23, 2006.
