While watching CNN this morning, while they were reporting on the Terri Schiavo case, Carol Costello, CNN's Daybreak anchor slipped up and used a term I have not heard used by a television anchor previously.
In tying in the Terri Schiavo conversation to the left-wing and right-wing supporters and the direction this fight is taking, Ms. Costello referred to the Pro-Choice movement as the "Pro-Abortion" movement.
Update [2005-3-25 10:51:55 by 2care4others]: A few people questioned the validity of the term Pro-Abortion being used on the program. I went and looked up the transcript which I have referenced below in a blockquote and a link to the transcript. She DID say Pro-Abortion.
Now, I've never been informed as to which side of the political spectrum Ms. Costello resides on, but I would bet it's probably the radical right. Why do I say that?
We of the Pro-Choice movement realize the difference between being for choice and being for abortion. The term "Pro-Abortion" is not language that a member of the Pro-Choice movement would use, nor have I ever heard Pro-Life Dems or Pro-Life Libertarians use this language either. The only time I have ever heard this kind of inflammable language is when it comes from a right-wing radical hatemonger.
People learn to gear their language toward the company they keep. Different groups have preferential terms that are generally used. I cannot think that a slip up such as the term "Pro-Abortion" just happened to be a mistaken pattern of speech that is not used on a fairly regular basis by Ms. Costello.
Is this acceptable language to be used by a television anchor reporting the news? I think not.
If I were in charge of programming and heard that sort of hyperbolic piddle coming from Ms. Costello's mouth, I'd be screaming up a storm. The right-wing gets its ratings by subtle prodding of the language, not by "in-your-face" radical right-wing hatemongering.
Ms. Costello is a right-wing crazy, and needs to be put back in her place. I have sent her an email calling her out on the use of this term.
Is Ms. Costello spending too much time with her friend Daryn Kagan and Daryn's boyfriend Rush Limbaugh these days? I wouldn't doubt it. It sounds like language Rush uses.