This reeks of classic Rove.
The AP — and therefore official mainstream media — wording for Bush/Cheney’s warrantless wiring taping program is suddenly the new and improved “warrant-free program” or alternatively, “warrant-free eavesdropping.”
Think about it. Warrantless wiring taping sounds as if what you did was without a warrant, which would make it illegal. Warrant-free just means you were unfettered by warrants. That sounds so much nicer, doesn’t it? Like sugar-free is superior to sugarless, or law-free is better than illegal.
And eavesdropping is what Lucy did to Ethel when she was trying to find out what Ricky was getting for her birthday. Wiring tapping…well, that makes makes you think of Watergate.
Here was yesterday’s debut usage, picked up by CNN:
The Senate subpoenaed the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney’s office Wednesday, demanding documents and elevating the confrontation with President Bush over the administration’s warrant-free eavesdropping on Americans.
And here’s today’s, picked up by newspapers everywhere:
Just Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenaed the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney’s office, demanding documents pertaining to terrorism-era warrant-free eavesdropping. “It’s an outrageous request,” White House press secretary Tony Snow said.
I like that “terrorism-era” tacked in front. That tells you these are dangerous times we’re living in, and they call for desperate measures. Which it’s really not AP’s job to tell you.
Meanwhile at trustworthy Reuters, it’s still warrantless, plus it’s domestic spying:
The assertion of executive privilege to the congressional subpoenas for material related to the probe on the firings of the prosecutors comes one day after Leahy’s committee subpoenaed the White House for documents related to the administration’s warrantless domestic spying program.
Right on, Reuters.
Just look at all the ways this “Newspeak” could be used.
Instead of calling it a bank robbery, one could say that they were engaging in a “non-sanctioned withdrawal of funds.”
Instead of shooting someone, just call it an “accidental transfer of lead.”
Gosh, is the Bush-Cheney Gang adroit at making up new phrases or not?
hmmmm…. “constitution-free government”
[…] “Warrantless Wiretaps” Now Spun into “Warrant-Free Eavesdropping” This reeks of classic Rove. The AP — and therefore official mainstream media — wording for Bush/Cheney’s warrantless wiring taping program is suddenly the new and improved “warrant-free program” or alternatively, “warrant-free eavesdropping.” […]
NO, unConstitutional illegal searchs and seizures of US citizens’ communications and records. And IMPEACHABLE high crimes.
Using the same spin, it would be accurate to say that Bush and Cheney are “pre-owned”, like used cars that someone else had already bought and paid for.
We need to stop calling the corporate propaganda industry “Main Stream Media”. Call it Corporate Media or Establishment Media. Call it what it is.
What’s wrong with “unwarranted”?
The word has been in the language for some centuries, it means exactly what it says, and it is concise.