The Washington Post’s front-page headline this morning—“Democrats Extend Debate On Bolton”—struck me as curious. Why the longer, less lively phrase “extend debate” rather than the punchy “filibuster”?
As it happens, a search of the Post’s archives reveals that the Post has used the term “filibuster” in headlines a total of 1,775 times. Until today, it had never used “extend debate” in a headline as a synonym for “filibuster”. (The only time the Post had ever previously used “extend debate” in a headline was in a 1999 article titled “Commissioners Extend Debate on Teacher Fee”.)
Might the Post be providing rhetorical cover for Democrats?
