Biden And The "War on Terror"

Ben Smith points out that Joe Biden's been waging war on the "war on terror" usage for some time now.

Comments

This combined with a front page paean to Biden at MyDD leads me to suspect that the long-awaited Biden Moment has finally arrived. Also, I suspect it will be over by Memorial Day.

Posted by Aaron S. Veenstra | May 7, 2007 2:23 PM

I love how Ben Smith states that the "War on Terror" usage has "spilled over into common speech," as if it happened by some mysterious hand. He rightly notes the GOP efforts to make this a reality, but completely ignores what I'm sure is a much bigger influence -- the media's use of this term quite matter-of-factly, as if the term was a neutral one that referred to an actual, definable, thing. All of the major news outlets do it, and it drives me nuts. But of course the media would never agree that they actually are doing anything other than just reporting the facts...that they could actually be influencing the world rather than just holding up a mirror.

Posted by Glenn | May 7, 2007 2:50 PM

And he knows where to find good speechwriters too!

Posted by Neil Kinnock | May 7, 2007 2:53 PM

And he knows where to find good speechwriters too!

Posted by Neil Kinnock | May 7, 2007 2:54 PM

The problem always has been: what do you replace GWOT with?

Rumsfeld tried to change it to GSAVE, which is probably a better phrase. I think Matthew mocked him for it.

Posted by Al | May 7, 2007 4:14 PM

The problem always has been: what do you replace GWOT with?

How about the Neocon War against Stability Anywhere?

Global War on Terror is a dumb name because the policy is dumb. It shouldn't be a war; but it is, because Bush is juvenile. It shouldn't be against Terror (meaning enemies of Israel); but it is, because Bush is an ignorant bigot.

Of course we could also call it the Republican war against ever getting elected again.

Posted by Gary Sugar | May 7, 2007 6:03 PM