Guest Thinkers — August 16, 2010

THE LANGUAGE OF WAR: Surge and Accelerate? Are They Serious? How the Bush Team Has Redefined the Terms of the Debate; Olbermann Channels Edward R. Murrow

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Stay the Course versus Cut and Run versus Surge and Accelerate. Over the past month, as the Bush team has unpacked its new language of “surge and accelerate,” they have successfully shifted the terms of discussion away from troop withdrawal and a timeline for handover to an absurdly sexual metaphor that in reality means simply “more of the same” and “stay the course.”

There is a lot to say about this new frame device, and its power, but I think last night on MSNBC, Keith Olbermann covered much of the ground in television commentary that channels the ghost of Edward R. Murrow.

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