Benen: Cheney has a problem with euphemisms?!

[BurtWorm]

:spray:

Steve Benen from Political Animal:

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_05/018288.php


One of the concerns that stood out for me, though, was Cheney's frequent references to "euphemisms."

"Behind the overwrought reaction to enhanced interrogations is a broader misconception about the threats that still face our country. You can sense the problem in the emergence of euphemisms that strive to put an imaginary distance between the American people and the terrorist enemy.... In the category of euphemism, the prizewinning entry would be ... It's one thing to adopt the euphemisms that suggest ... "


Since when does Cheney find "euphemisms" so offensive? We are, after all, talking about the leader of an administration that came up with some doozies in the euphemism department.

"Terrorist surveillance program" is euphemism for warrantless wiretaps. "Enhanced interrogation program" is a euphemism for torture. Indeed, the previous administration used euphemisms as the basis for an entire national-security strategy: "war on terror," "weapons of mass destruction," and "mushroom clouds" were standards for quite a while.

Cheney probably thought it would raise his stature to speak after the president on the same subject. The strategy was half-successful -- he got the media to characterize this as some kind of showdown between relative equals. But the other half was a humiliating failure -- Cheney came across as a small, petty man, trying a little too hard to undermine the nation's elected leadership while salvaging some shred of personal credibility.

He failed.

—Steve Benen 1:10 PM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (30)

[rudy23]

1. "Unitary executive" = Dick-tatorship n/t