Great examples of Beltway herd mentality. Rather like the 'word of the week" that some great Beltway Oz decides all the media munchkins will use to describe the current 'crisis'. Remember 'Dickensian', 'gravitas', 'quagmire', 'rises to the level of', etc.
Herd mentality, and culture in general. When's the last time you heard someone fail to use "hard" with "work" or "working". Another one that gets me is "the American people". 'You' is the strongest word in our language and W would be wise to use it, as opposed to refering to that third person "the American People.' Or how about Americans?