Quibbling semantics

It turns out that Sarah Palin doesn't think people who bomb abortion clinics are terrorists.

"There's no question that Bill Ayers by his own admittance was one who sought to destroy our US Capitol and our Pentagon. That is a domestic terrorist," Governor Palin said, referring to a 1960s leftist who founded a radical violent gang dubbed the Weathermen and who years later supported Senator Obama's first run for public office in the state of Illinois.

"Now, others who would want to engage in harming innocent Americans or facilities that it would be unacceptable to ... I don't know if you're gonna use the word 'terrorist' there,"

So, what does terrorist mean?

Dictionary.com says that a terrorist is

1.	a person, usually a member of a group, who uses or advocates terrorism.

2.	a person who terrorizes or frightens others.

3.	(formerly) a member of a political group in Russia aiming at the demoralization of the government by terror.

4.	an agent or partisan of the revolutionary tribunal during the Reign of Terror in France.

–adjective

5.	of, pertaining to, or characteristic of terrorism or terrorists: terrorist tactics.

It defines terrorism as

1.	the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, esp. for political purposes.

2.	the state of fear and submission produced by terrorism or terrorization.

3.	a terroristic method of governing or of resisting a government.

So, on one account Palin is correct that they weren't an agent or partisan of the revolutionary tribunal. But then, neither was Ayers. What was the goal of the people blowing up abortion clinics? To punish the people for killing babies? To make others realise the consequence of abortion?

Sounds like terrorists to me.

But to be fair, lets look at some other definations

American Heritage:

n. One that engages in acts or an act of terrorism. adj. Of or relating to terrorism. Word.com by Princeton noun a radical who employs terror as a political weapon; usually organizes with other terrorists in small cells; often uses religion as a cover for terrorist activities

Ah, semantics