In mentioning Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, in his State of the State speech last week, Gov. Mark Sanford was attempting to make a valid point. Just as Ataturk's secularization of Turkey in the early 20th century unleashed that nation's potential in commerce and world affairs, so, too, could his reform recommendations unleash South Carolina's potential to become an economic powerhouse.

The problem with this comparison, as Sanford knows only too well now, is that to South Carolinians of Greek and Armenian descent, Ataturk is remembered as a butcher, not a reformer. Prior to helping initiate Turkey's revolution against the Ottoman Empire, he was a military commander reputed to have had a lead role in slaughtering millions of Christian Armenians and Greeks. The facts of the slaughter are in dispute, with Turks vehemently denying it took place.

Regardless, Sanford's valid point was lost in the furor that ensued. And the governor has had to put energy that might better have gone into the pursuit of his bold agenda before the General Assembly into public apologies for his remarks.

The hope must be that Sanford derives a critical lesson from this harrowing experience: Words under consideration for public utterance must be checked not only for clarity of meaning but also for connotative baggage.