"It sounded good at the time"

I heard rumors about this, but only recently have I been able to validate it. Evidently, George Bush included Iran and North Korea in the “Axis of Evil” because it sounded good? George Bush’s advisers thought he was focusing to much on Iraq in the 2002 State of the Union Address, so they advised him to include some equally despicable countries into the fray. George Bush personally chose the phrase “Axis of Evil” to embody the past speeches of Ronald Regan and Theodore Roosevelt, on Fascism and Communisms. Good for George Bush! Its good to know he can learn from history and that he is a really marketable salesman (as Cheney well knows).

In a pattern that would become familiar, however, a chill quickly followed the warming in relations. Barely a week after the Tokyo meeting, Iran was included with Iraq and North Korea in the “Axis of Evil.” Michael Gerson, now a NEWSWEEK contributor, headed the White House speechwriting shop at the time. He says Iran and North Korea were inserted into Bush’s controversial State of the Union address in order to avoid focusing solely on Iraq. At the time, Bush was already making plans to topple Saddam Hussein, but he wasn’t ready to say so. Gerson says it was Condoleezza Rice, then national-security adviser, who told him which two countries to include along with Iraq. But the phrase also appealed to a president who felt himself thrust into a grand struggle. Senior aides say it reminded him of Ronald Reagan’s ringing denunciations of the “evil empire.”
Once again, Iran’s reformists were knocked back on their heels. “Those who were in favor of a rapprochement with the United States were marginalized,” says Adeli. “The speech somehow exonerated those who had always doubted America’s intentions.”
http://www.matthewyglesias.com/archives/2007/02/worst_speech_ever/