The Slippery Slope of Trying to Sound Different

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In trying to sound and look different than George Bush and his administration, Barack Obama and his admininstration are going through several verbal gyrations designed to make their policies appear different than Dubya’s, while of course maintaining the policies intact. This is called appeasing the far left (and the middle and regular left).

Case in point: The Obamian Justice Department sent its minions off to the D.C. District Court recently to argue the administration’s power to incarcerate and detain indefinitely what Bush used to call "enemy combatants"–except they were forbidden to use the words "enemy combatants" so as to appear to be diverging from and rejecting the previous administration’s policies. In fact, of course, they argued they had the same power to detain indefinitely without criminal charges.

So what did they use instead of "enemy combatants"? Try "individuals captured in connection with armed conflicts and counterterrorism operations," also "members of enemy forces," and finally, those who "substantially supported" al Qaeda or the Taliban. Oops, forgot one: "persons who [sic…should be whom] the president determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, and persons who harbored those responsible for the September 11 attacks."

Anyway, these whatevers are still holed up in Quantanamo, which Obama says he will close…as soon as he finds another Quantanamo with a different name. (Why not just rename the place?)

Categories: Grammar Sucks

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