After Paris, Republicans renew bitter fight over semantics
Maddow Blog
After Paris, Republicans renew bitter fight over semantics
By Steve Benen
During Saturday night’s debate for the Democratic presidential candidates, CBS News’ John Dickerson posed the one question Republicans often consider the single most important aspect of U.S. national security.
“Secretary Clinton, you mentioned ‘radical jihadists,’” the moderator noted. “Marco Rubio, also running for president, said that this attack showed and the attack in Paris showed that we are at war with ‘radical Islam.’ Do you agree with that characterization, ‘radical Islam’?”
Clinton explained that we’re “at war with violent extremism,” not a major world religion. When Dickerson posed the question to Clinton rivals, Bernie Sanders explained, “I don’t think the term is what’s important.”
For Republicans, however, the issue of word choice is extraordinarily important. During the debate and on each of the Sunday shows, conservatives were practically hysterical in their preoccupation with semantics.
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http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/after-paris-republicans-renew-bitter-fight-over-semantics?cid=eml_mra_20151116