Oxymore?

I love it when a new oxymoron just leaps off the page:
"The Democratic-controlled House issued a symbolic rejection of President Bush's plan to deploy more troops to Iraq " .

Actually, I take that back. "Symbolic rejection" is perhaps not an oxymoron - I believe there is a word for an adjective that deprives its noun of its essence; an example would be "counterfeit money", which is not money! or "faux doorway". or "crocodile tears". A "symbolic rejection" is not a rejection at all (which makes you wonder why they bothered). If anyone knows the word for this kind of adjective, I'd love to know!