Figures of Speech Served Fresh

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?”

Learn more about the enthymeme here and here.