"The Accounts Formerly Known as Private"

As you've no doubt heard, the White House is backing down from private account-speak on their Social Security schemes. To that point I must direct you to an article from Molly Ivens Flip-Flopping on Social Security Linguistics:

Rather than the old liberal habit of creating linguistically awkward phrases to avoid hurting people's feelings – such as African-American rather than Negro or colored people, or special-needs children rather than retarded – this is twisting language for purely political purposes.

And then she goes on to describe exactly how this is done (on a variety of issues, not just Social Security Insurance), the catch-22 it intentionally creates for all media (left and right alike) and in the end how, to avoid falling into the new double-speak reframing trap, one can (must?) use such lines as this post's title - hysterical! Another must read article.

(Sshhh - this flip-flop of BushCo.'s is a sign; they are feeling vulnerable! Pass it on.)