January 23, 2007 11:28AM 

# Spin Doctors Left and Right 

By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) 

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Never say the Republicans don’t learn from their adversaries. On NPR, [historian Timothy Naftali discusses responses](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6952545) to State of the Union speeches. He notes a tough response by House Republican leader Robert Michel to President Clinton in 1993, in which Michel complains about the way the “Clinton spin doctors” are changing the meaning of words. In particular, he grumbles, “Patriotism now means agreeing with the Clinton program.” That’s certainly a definition that (with the change of one word) the Bush spin doctors and their conservative supporters have endorsed wholeheartedly.

##### Related Tags 

[General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics) 

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