Nothing to do with semantics. Two different directions.
Please - you are the only one here that doesn't get it. If reading the postings here doesn't explain it, then go to the NOAA site at the top of the page, and read the latest data. Nobody here is guessing or making it up.
I think you're all talking about the same thing:
As Rita's projected track begins to extend less westerly and more northwesterly, her projected landfall moves easterly.
The storm is moving generally westerly, but her target is drifting generally easterly.