"Entrepreneurs"

This word has popped up recently in Republican talking points, usually in reference to people the Democrats want to hurt by lifting the top tax brackets. It's become such a common refrain (Bush recently called astronauts "spatial entrepreneurs"), in fact, that it was obvious the Republicans are dissembling about something.

Apparently there's a real economic definition of the word, and the Republicans are pushing its boundaries in order to conjure up local people starting small businesses. In fact, according to today's Washington Post:

....Under Treasury's definition, both Bush and Vice President Cheney are members of the entrepreneurial class. In his 2002 tax return, the president reported $1,549 from rental real estate, royalties, partnerships, S corporations and trusts, including income from GWB Rangers Corp., a remnant of his days as co-owner of the Texas Rangers. Of the Cheney household's $1.2 million income, $238,682 was from business ventures within the White House's definition of small business.

Economists say the broad Republican definition of "small-business man" includes not only doctors, lawyers and management consultants but also chief executives who earn $3,000 renting out their chalets in Aspen or report $10,000 in speaking fees. An aide on the Joint Economic Committee conceded that the definition includes the army of accountants and consultants at such giant partnerships as KPMG LLP and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, not the firms that "small business" brings to mind.

(Italics mine.) The article goes on to say:

"Less than 4 percent, as a matter of fact, of the small businesses and the farm returns in America are bringing in $200,000 or more," Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) told Snow, confronting him with a chart on the tax rates paid by small businesses.

Pressed to respond, Snow replied: "You are asking me to comment on it, and I would like to think about it before I comment on it. The statistics we have -- I am trying to figure out how to reconcile them with the statistics you have."

In other words, just as "middle class tax relief" = "unsustainable tax cuts for the very wealthy" in Republ-o-speak, "entrepreneur" means "CEO."

Why am I not surprised?