"Breach in protocol" -- that's the newest example of government gobbledygook. Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control, used the phrase in response to the infection of a Texas nurse who had treated a Liberian man for Ebola, who later died. Frieden was widely criticized for "scapegoating" the nurse, who was wearing protective clothing. The CDC needs to face up to its failure instead of hiding behind bureaucratic jargon as a CYA defense.

 Dr. Nancy Snyderman, chief medical editor for NBC News, set a shamefully bad example in the ongoing battle against Ebola. Snyderman and other members of a crew that had been working in Liberia had been under quarantine since a cameraman they were working with contracted the disease. But the TV doctor wanted some soup from a favorite New Jersey restaurant, so she violated the quarantine and went out and about. A Daily Caller columnist acidly observed: "I always thought doctors were supposed to treat diseases, not spread them."
 
The Washington Post is not known for being friendly to Republicans so some eyebrows were raised when the paper's Election Lab gave the GOP a 95 percent chance of winning the Senate majority. Other polls project a Republican victory, but only in the 50-plus percent range. What's up? Is the Post trying to fire up Democrats or make Republicans overconfident - or both?