20 September 2001 - crusade

Ordinarily, when Bush makes a verbal slip, like referring to the Crusades when all he meant to talk about was an ordinary war, we can blame it on his native inability to talk. Perhaps his speechwriters gave him a short word, knowing that he couldn’t pronounce a difficult phrase like “prolonged hostilities”.

But this time the explanation is simpler; it’s the fault of the Education President. In America, the Crusades are remembered only by a fusty few, those so under the academic thrall that they have opened history books. To an American, “crusade” means only “a cause that should sound important.”