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:

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

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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