The new watchword is to replace “domestic spying” with “Terrorist Surveillance”. It consisted of a three-pronged assault of the news: Bush speaking at Kansas, A.G. Alberto Gonzales speaking at Georgetown University Law Center, and Karl Rove speaking at the Republican National Committee.

I won’t get into a defense or attack about this issue because it won’t convince anyone—we’ll rationalize our own view even in the face of facts.

Instead I don’t think this new frame will work. To me, at least, “domestic spying” sounds a lot more catchy than “terrorist surveillance”, which is a syllable longer and consists of two six-dollar words that actually don’t seem to go together. It seems to me that some RNC idiot is sitting there typing various phrases into GoogleFight to find one nearly as popular without understanding that it isn’t half as catchy.

Compare this lame attempt to reframe to the pre-war runup: “Knowing these realities, America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof—the smoking gun—that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.” Now that is a strong frame! Powerful imagery and pretty damn cool don’t you think?

Even the venue choice to push this new frame is pathetic: Kansas State? Georgetown Law? RNC? That’s really a mainstream audience with a lot of reach. Whatever happened to CNN, NBC’s Meet the Press, and CBS Face the Nation? I guess no one worth anything wants to guinea pig the right-wing talking points now that the War in Iraq is so unpopular?

Fool me twice…

My favorite comment has to be this editorial from Louisville, Kentucky. It looks like people have swung the other way to me.

Good. If this keeps up, in a couple years, I can sit back and ignore politicians again.