# The Bush Administration's Strange Fondness For Certain Nazi Terms. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 29, 2003, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bush-administrations-strange-fondness-for-certain-nazi-terms/221523 "2003-12-29T04:13:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Blackeyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@Blackeyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackeyes)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bush-administrations-strange-fondness-for-certain-nazi-terms/221523/21 "2004-01-02T07:58:42Z")
Coldfire! I’m so shocked! ---
**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bush-administrations-strange-fondness-for-certain-nazi-terms/221523/22 "2004-01-02T13:11:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bryan Ekers \* > Well, in parts at least, Bush is similar to Hitler. So Bush has only one testicle? Or are you referring to some other “part”? ---
**Author:** ![NotMrKnowItAll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6bbea6/32.png) [@NotMrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotMrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bush-administrations-strange-fondness-for-certain-nazi-terms/221523/23 "2004-01-02T17:07:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AdamP \* > \*\*\ > > So, my question for any posters familiar with the intricacies of this administration: who’s the Nazi buff in the Bush administration and how the hell did he manage to slip these terms into the national discourse? \*\* Richard Armitage is believed to have coined it in the 1990s. > [@](#): > > Or as conservative analyst Jay Nordlinger has lamented, “How did we get into this?” > The short answer: It’s a Washington word, long incubated in the defense establishment and in conservative think tanks staffed by ex-Reagan-administration officials. Reagan himself used the word as early as 1981, and it is widely believed that “homeland security” was coined during the '90s by Reagan hawk Richard Armitage, now a deputy secretary of state. [cite](http://hnn.us/comments/5571.html). While denying sole authorship, he does takes some credit for it: > [@](#): > > A spokeswoman for Armitage says, “he doesn’t feel comfortable taking responsibility for coining the term, that it was a joint effort.” [cite](http://www.globalpolicy.org/wtc/media/1010homeland.htm). So the word is apparently not of nazi origin, but of miliary circles and hawkish think tanks. ---
**Author:** ![bagkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ab992/32.png) [@bagkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bagkitty)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bush-administrations-strange-fondness-for-certain-nazi-terms/221523/24 "2004-01-02T18:40:03Z")
I actually have a good deal of sympathy for AdamP’s original post… indeed, I was very surprised when the term was first bandied about… one would have thought that the public relations hacks the American government uses to spin everything would have been alert to how bad the term “Homeland Security” really sounds… I think the OP is being unnecessarily hounded for drawing attention to it. Perhaps other dopers from outside the US will join in and let the rest of you know how it plays from a distance… unless they have been “shocked and awed” into silence. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bush-administrations-strange-fondness-for-certain-nazi-terms/221523/25 "2004-01-02T21:13:30Z")
Well, I never said I DISAGREED with the guy. I just have to move threads around once in a while, or **Zotti** withholds my crusts and earthen jug of water. ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bush-administrations-strange-fondness-for-certain-nazi-terms/221523/26 "2004-01-02T22:24:41Z")
The Nazis called Germany the “Vaterland” (fatherland), not the homeland. There are, however, thousands of websites that claim the Nazis started a “Department of Homeland Security”. How could so many alarmists be wrong? No fact checking. The Nazis did no such thing. Home (where I live) + land (what my home rests on) = Nazi? I never was good at math. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bush-administrations-strange-fondness-for-certain-nazi-terms/221523.md?page=1)