Point stands – both about Denny and the business end of a shovel (has he ever held a private sector job?) and the people who havae to pay the estate tax have gone to great lengths to convince us that their problem is really our problme, And Denny is self-interested – in 2003, 88 Montana estates had to pay estate tax. As of this moment, Deeny and his family are among may several hundred families that would be liable for the tax.

But Denny says it’s about family farms. He’s using Montana farmers as a human shield.

Put it another way – right at this moment, 154,000 Montanans are without health insurance, thousands of others underinsured. Denny’s concern? That top 1% that might have to pay the estate tax.

I stand by my judgment of Denny – he’s an elitist who has enlisted ordianry people to fight hsi battles.

Somebody tell Mark.

By your definition, where do you classify a property tax (is it a “fee” for the ownership of property)? What about a sales tax (levied on a specific consumer action that can be avoided)?

If the difference is that the funds are earmarked, then is the cigarette tax that pays for Children’s Health Insurance a tax or a fee?

Maybe you classify the difference as whether you make direct use of the funds you pay – in which case, does a gas tax become a fee when you drive on the roads it pays for?

My point isn’t to split hairs, but merely to suggest that there isn’t a clear bright line between the two. Language is a slippery thing. Cap and Tax is an accurate description from a different perspective.

But then, aren’t progressives all about acceptance of different perspectives?

“Privatizing” was a mischacterization of what Bush was proposing. His plan called for “Personal Accounts” which gave consumers an option to put some of their social security into approved markets. It was just a different form of “lock box” – but Democrats did a great job of scaring people by mis-labeling it.

Tester has been calling the stimulus the “Jobs Bill” since he voted for it. I wonder why you didn’t post about his “changing the names of things that already exist in order to confuse or promote.”

“Tax Cuts for the Wealthy” dramatically misconstrues the tax policy – which cut taxes for everyone.

I think Republicans actually refer to the Employee Free Choice act as “Card Check” which is what it has been known as for years.

Either way, you’re acceptance of left-wing word games as “common sense” and right-wing word games as “confusion” and “denigration” speaks more to your inherent bias toward left-leaning rhetoric than anything else.

His examples:

“Privatizing” does not sound deceptive to me. Both parties use it, I believe, to describe certain proposed changes in Social Security.

I’m not sure what “Jobs Bill” he is referring to. Does it have some other name that I would know it by?

“Employee Free Choice” may be deceptive, but it is the term both sides use to refer to that bill. I suspect that unions, not Democrats, came up with the name.

The other terms I dealt with in an earlier comment.

If all of this is so dang obvious, then help me see it.

The notion of a “death tax” was a PR stunt – the term came from the Republican campaign of 2001, likely traceable to Frank Luntz. The idea is to create a false impression of the intent of the tax – that it affects anyone but the upper crust. The job of the PR people was to convert an isolated problem of extreme wealth into a matter of public concern affecting all of us. “Death” tax is dark and gloomy and ominous. Brilliant stroke!

Another false impression deliberately conveyed is that the Estate Tax affects “family farms”. In Montana, one of the few “farmers” affected by the tax, a man who has never touched the business end of a shovel, is Denny Rehberg. He inherited his wealth, and was likely a little PO’d that his Dad’s estate was subject to the tax. He is self-interested, and ought to recuse himself from the debate. Not a chance.