EJ Dionne blasted Amnesty International in his column today for choosing the word "gulag" and letting the president obscure the issue with faux-indignation. Dionne misses the point. Amnesty's report didn't contain anything particularly new and stunning, at most it was a more comprehensive rundown of the situation than we've yet seen. Normally framed and delivered, it would've elicited a few articles, a quick flurry of blog posts, a McLellan obfuscation, and finally faded into obscurity. But the word gulag threw the Bush administration into such a tizzy that the news is still talking about the article, its contents, and whether or not America's actions have truly reached "gulag" levels. And that's why they used the word.
Now TNR is writing snotty comparisons between Stalinist Russia and America, Republicans are loudly trying to discredit Amnesty, and lefty columnists are condemning the word choice but endorsing the content. On the bright side, they're all talking about Guantanamo. In this case, all press is good press because the primary aim is forcing it back into the news. And, let's be honest, this is more press than Guantanamo has received in years. Amnesty chose their word perfectly.
