Republicans redefine the word "fascism". It now means anyone who disagrees with them.

President Bush in recent days has recast the global war on terror into a "war against Islamic fascism." Fascism, in fact, seems to be the new buzz word for Republicans in an election season dominated by an unpopular war in Iraq.

Bush used the term earlier this month in talking about the arrest of suspected terrorists in Britain, and spoke of "Islamic fascists" in a later speech in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Spokesman Tony Snow has used variations on the phrase at White House press briefings.

Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pennsylvania, in a tough re-election fight, drew parallels on Monday between World War II and the current war against "Islamic fascism," saying they both require fighting a common foe in multiple countries. It's a phrase Santorum has been using for months.

And Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday took it a step further in a speech to an American Legion convention in Salt Lake City, accusing critics of the administration's Iraq and anti-terrorism policies of trying to appease "a new type of fascism."

Just when I thought that the Republicans had scraped the bottom of the barrel in terms of making new and frightening nouns to label their critics they come up with one that harkens back to the 1940's. So what is a fascist?

Here is what the Random House Unabridged Dictionary has for a definition: a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.

Hmmm. You know who that kind of sounds like?

Have you ever met somebody who labels everybody they dislike with terms that actually describe themselves? That is exactly what this administration has done constantly.

They call the Democrats weak on defense while they waste billions of dollars and the lives of our soldiers in a conflict which has destroyed our reputation around the world and left us weaker here at home. They also call those who disagree with them "fascists" while the term defines them to a "T'.

My only hope is that the under-educated voters amongst us are not fooled by this pathetic double speak and that when the November elections come we sweep the Senate and House clean of these liars and replace them with ethic leaders who will help to hold this White House responsible for all of the horrible lies that they have told the American people for the last five and a half years. (Don't you just love a good run on sentence?)