Re: What axis of evil?
Maybe the reason that he included N. Korea is to show that our focus is not only on Islamic countries.
I agree that the characterization is mostly rhetoric but most people would agree that all of these states are anything but nice. Worrying about their sensibilities is like worrying that our perceived bad treatment of al-Qaeda prisoners might result in bad treatment for our people that may ever become prisoners. Fear not, they will be tortured and treated like animals before they are killed.
The only reaction likely from "the evil axis" on the Bush comment is a smirk at the rise it getting from some quarters.