It's an old cliche that language is the most potent weapon of all.

If you can control what things are called, you can define and guide public discourse. This is something the Republicans learned well, exemplified by their skillful substitution of "Death Tax" for "Inheritance Tax." Makes it all seem so unfair. On the other side, "pro-choice" sounds much more benign than "abortion advocate."

The term "War on Terror" --which is really absurd when you deconstruct it-- was carefully crafted to act as a template for using military involvement to address a problem, when the rest of the world saw it as a law-enforcement issue.

The "what constitutes torture" debate that is going on right now is more than some abstruse argument over semantics. Its outcome will not only define what we intend to stand for as a nation now and in the future, but it could also have a real impact on whether or not certain people are going to be treated as criminals and sent to prison.

"Enhanced interrogation" sounds like a questioner who just shouts at you a little louder under the bright lights, not someone who is busy trying to fill your lungs with water. I heard somewhere that it was the Nazis who first invented the term.

And they sneer at Obama for emulating Lincoln.