Good one! Still laughing.

But, working on the ancient principle that “thrice is he armed that gets his blow in first”, political parties in the US and the UK have also moved on to the offensive. No longer do they wait until an accusation has been made and then rebut it; instead they work out what the charge might be and issue a prebuttal before it appears.

The term was coined during the Clinton presidential campaign in 1996 and has since become a standard part of the political vocabulary.

President Clinton’s White House and campaign team have been drawing favorable reviews for their rapid response operation and penchant for picking off issues before Senate Majority Leader Robert J. Dole ... even gets his TelePrompTer warmed up. Vice President Gore calls it “prebuttal”.

Washington Post 26 May 1996 http://www.worldwidewords.org/turnsofphrase/tp-pre2.htm


Also, "preempt" has been around since the 1600s, "preemption" was the act or right of purchasing before others.