I love, love, love that the White House is taking journalists to task for using the term "Social Security privatization" to refer to the issue of Social Security privatization, which the White House not only designed but introduced as such. Now it appears that "private accounts," another verbiage the President invented, is also forbidden. I'm guessing that now we're being directed to discuss the Freedom Accounts component of President Bush's Social Freedom Liberation (Freedom Liberty) plan.
Personally, the feature of life under the USSR I most admired was the Hymn to the Soviet Union, and were I cutting whole cloth from Red history I'd pick that before the fundamental opposition to transparency and revisionist wordplay. But I guess those were fun, too.
Posted by Kriston at January 24, 2005 3:36 PMI don't follow polls--unless Frank Luntz comes in and tells me that the word I've been using for Social Security phase-out "privatization" makes it sound like the Wall Street giveaway it is and scares the bejesus out of everyone over the age of 10. Then I call it "personal accounts."
Posted by: Rob W at January 24, 2005 4:28 PMFunny how words come in and out... I remember how everyone was using "salacious" in every other sentence in the Lewinsky debacle.
I sorta like that word: salacious!
Posted by: Lenny at January 24, 2005 5:45 PMIsn't it time for them to remove the commie "Social" from the program? They're already removing the "Security" part.
"Phase out" is not accurate because it implies the whole program is going to be eliminated.
"Privatization" is misleading because it implies that the entire program will be "privatized."
I prefer partial privatization and or personal growth accounts. Call it what you want, but it's too late to stop the reform that is going to increase the size of the investor class, much to white liberals' consternation.
Posted by: j.scott barnard at January 26, 2005 3:39 PMupdate: it's "individual investment accounts" now. update your dictionaries!
legal fiction puts it best:
"It's really a bad sign when every focus-group-tested frame you come up with for your program ends up developing a negative connotation."
Posted by: at January 28, 2005 11:07 PM