World Class Philosopher Ben Affleck explains to Bill Maher exactly how President Bush's bellicose language made the Axis of Evil even more eviler by hurting its feelings:

In terms of the history of Iran, you had a fairly reform-minded guy who then was followed by Ahmadinejad because here, we’re a little afraid, we don’t know culturally how to reach out to the United States, and then you hear “Axis of Evil,” and that only emboldens the reactionary, the far-right within Iran (side chatter). In terms of North Korea, you know, they had their nuclear program, there were, you know, inspectors there, it was taped up, there were cameras, as soon as they heard “Axis of Evil,” boom, the inspectors were thrown out, the cameras were turned off, and they began resuming this program. And, I think it’s a sign of how this kind of bellicose, one-linerisms in politics have consequences.

From the very outset, the Left has been accusing Bush of being “selected, not elected,” a “thief” and a “dictator.” That he was an agent of dark forces like Halliburton. And now they have the gall to complain at how he acts? Clearly, the Left must accept a share of the blame for what their bellicose rhetoric has produced.

(I would be remiss in posting Affleck's quote without noting that in her response to it, Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute ran rings around both he and Maher. And yes, that's setting the bar awfully low, but don't miss this transcript and video clip.)