Waste, Fraud and Abuse

Beginning of article

It's time to end waste, fraud and abuse. I don't mean in government. I mean in our campaign messaging. We have become so adept at finding a phrase that works that our collective creativity has withered. Political technology neutered what could be gutsy messaging.

"Waste, fraud and abuse" has about 193,000 references in Google. Among them, press releases such as "Governor Paterson created the Task Force to Eliminate Waste, Fraud and Abuse," "An Oversight Hearing on Waste, Fraud, and Abuse in U.S. Government Contracting in Iraq," and "Call Toll-Free to Report Waste, Fraud, and Abuse." I suspect many of the press releases were written by former campaign workers who went to work for candidates they got elected.

The phrase actually meant something in 1940 when the Truman …