Quote: “In our free society, people have the right to choose how they live their lives. And in a free society, decisions about such a fundamental social institution as marriage should be made by the people, not by the courts.” President Bush.
Figure of Speech: enthymeme, the argument packet.
Seeking a little (platonic) love from the Christianists, the president supports a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. He presses his case with an enthymeme (“something in the mind”), which takes something the audience believes and uses it to support a conclusion.
Bush favors a particularly cynical kind of enthymeme, in which he takes a commonplace that argues against his point and pretends that it supports him. Commonplace: People have the right to choose how they live their lives. Conclusion: We should ban gay marriage. Bush knows the amendment will almost certainly die in Congress. But in this presidency, reality takes a back seat to rhetoric.
That makes Figaro hot.
Snappy Answer: “With freedom like that, who needs repression?”