Media Matters is tracking the adoption of Bush spin as a way of describing one of his policies:
Following the lead of Fox News and The Washington Times editorial page, an article by the Associated Press adopted a variation of the White House terminology “terrorist surveillance program” to describe the Bush administration’s domestic spying program.
Seems to me, if we’re going to call a surveillance program with a documented success rate of < 0.5%1 as “terrorist-related”, we could also call lightning a steady source of electrical power, and my past PowerBall wins as a steady source of income.
1Estimate based on published reports that “thousands” of people have been wiretapped, with approximately 10 terrorist-related connections successfully logged.
So a “terrorist surveillance program” is only aptly named if it catches a lot of terrorists?
Good thing you’re not in charge of Fire Prevention Week…
It’s aptly named if it surveils a lot of terrorists. If it’s proven to surveil mostly non-terrorists — well, I can aim a ceiling camera into the women’s locker room and call it a security camera. What would you call it?
Porkys IV – Revenge of Jeff?