Why it's a good idea to steer clear of 'worst case scenarios'

I found this quote in the Toronto Star today, in a story about the rising costs of Prime Minister Harper's security detail. The reporter asked Chris Mathers, an international security expert, to comment on the PM's rising security costs and what factors might impact those costs. Mathers offers up the following quote:

"Whether the prime minister chokes on a chicken bone or someone tries to shoot him and he's injured, they have to know where the closest hospital is, how to get him there, is there a helicopter to Medevac him out – right down to who takes him and who stays and shoots it out if it's a group of terrorists."

I don't know about you, but for me, the first thing that came to mind while reading this brief quote was the George Bush pretzel-choking incident of 2002. The next image that came to mind was Ronald Reagan getting shot outside the Washington Hilton in 1981. And the third image was one of a shootout between terrorists and the PM's security personnel.

Anything that can be said in a negative way can also be phrased positively. In this case, another approach might have been to reinforce the positive benefits associated with the Prime Minister's security detail, the extent of their training, the wide range of situations they're prepared for, etc. This is more palatable than reciting a list of things that could go wrong (and in the process, generating a series of extremely negative images in the minds of the readers).