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    « All the Vice President’s Men | Main | And I’m Like, What Are You Saying? »
    Monday
    Oct242005

    This Just In: Stupidity Discovered in Washington

    DateMonday, October 24, 2005 at 04:26PM

    feithdunce.jpgQuote:  "Seldom in my life have I met a dumber man."  Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, referring to Undersecretary of Defense (and top Iraq war architect) Douglas Feith.

    Figure of Speech:  anastrophe (ann ASS trow fee), the word-order switch.

    Good thing Lawrence Wilkerson doesn't have a CIA spy for a wife.  He doesn't simply slam the policies of his former employers.  He also engages in that time-tested rhetorical device, the ad hominem attack, through an anastrophe -- Greek for "turning back."

    The figure changes the usual word order to produce a nobler, more sonorous tone.  "I have seldom met a dumber man" would have been pithier but less emphatic.

    Snappy Answer:  "Are you looking for regime change or a book deal?"

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