From a reader:
Jonah,
You mention Katie Couric’s sensitivity to the word “we” to describe the United States in wartime. I have, perhaps, the opposite sensitivity, the sensitivity to the words “the Bush Administration,” when describing the United States. Foremost in my mind was watching the Today SHow on the day that Zarqawi’s death was announced and hearing Matt Lauer say that this was a great victory for “the Bush Administration.” Not “the United States military,” not “the United States,” certainly not “us,” not even for the citizens of the world, but merely for “the Bush Administration.”
I wonder, can one claim to be patriotic or can one be accused of being unpatriotic, when one rejects the notion of a patria?