This exchange between Mary Katharine Ham and a CNN panel on the differences between spying and surveillance is a few days old, but as Mollie Hemingway says below, we’re still “chuckling” over it.
In summary, there is no difference between the two words “because they’re synonyms”:
I keep chuckling over this exchange:
FINNEY: But why spying instead of surveillance if you know the difference.
TAPPER: Yes.
MARY KATHARINE HAM, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Because they're synonyms. That's why.https://t.co/8cx6QchBtB
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) April 16, 2019
HAM: Surveilling Americans is indeed a very large and scary deal… And it remains one now just as it was then.
FINNEY: …again, in using the word spying, he was trying to throw a negative connotation on —
HAM: There's a negative connotation on spying on American citizens.
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) April 16, 2019
Bonus exchange:
Listening to @mkhammer having to explain to the @CNNSotu table what the word "spying" means was comically tragic. Looking @jaketapper in the eye and saying, "If you're surveilling someone, you're spying on them." Jake graciously conceded the point. LOL
— PoliticalPopcornNews (@PPN_News) April 11, 2019
This, naturally, triggered Resistance warrior Seth Abramson, who asked MKH to apologize:
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4/ What @mkhammer could do, as could anyone who makes a mistake on TV, is go on social media and say, I made a mistake and said the Attorney General was talking about authorized surveillance when he was talking about unauthorized surveillance. And that apology should be accepted.
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) April 11, 2019
Er. . ., yeah. That’s not going to happen:
He clarified & said that’s what he was referring to; there is an open question & IG investigation into whether there was improper use of FISA here; & I’ve always been VERY wary of gov’t surveillance of American citizens bc there’s plenty precedent for abuse, even when authorized.
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) April 11, 2019
I fail to see how that makes me a dissembler. You think “spying” has negative connotations? Good, govt surveilling American citizens w/o their knowledge, esp through FISA Ct, should have negative connotations. It could just be that I…disagree with you.
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) April 11, 2019
And, if that puts me on the opposite site of the issue from someone like Clapper, who lied under oath to Congress about *spying* on American citizens by dragnetting our data, I’m okay with that.
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) April 11, 2019
***
Related:
THUD: Gina Loudon trips up Sen. Mazie Hirono in her rush to slam Trump & Barr on ‘rule of law’ https://t.co/4YjSRSDlya
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 12, 2019
‘This isn’t complicated’: Ari Fleischer explains why James Comey didn’t like Bill Barr’s use of the word ‘spying’ https://t.co/vHRxqRh12D
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 12, 2019
ICYMI ==> ‘OUCH!’ Donald Trump Jr. spied an Obama tweet that is NOT aging well (in the wake of Bill Barr’s testimony) https://t.co/MLMGnlwQtB
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 11, 2019
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