I was reading the Times this morning, and I just got to the end of disgust with a certain distortion. Why is it that every single reference, no matter what media it appears in, to Bush's property in Crawford calls it a Ranch and not an Estate? I mean, I just googled "Bush Estate," and there's not one single entry! Well, I'm putting an end to that right here!
Here's the deal: on a ranch, you've got cattle. Bush doesn't have any cattle. Ergo, it's not a ranch. What is it? It's an Estate. Fine, I know there actually are some 200 cattle grazing on his property; he leases grass to the former owners. But they've got nothing to do with him, and vice versa, because he's scared of horses and cattle. It's a 1583-acre estate, with only the faintest pretense of productivity.
Now, I know that the SCLM will be slow to pick this up, but I think the responsible leftie media should stop accepting the spin that gives some kind of Texan rural machismo to our President, who is really a Connecticut garden pantywaist. Stop calling his estate a ranch!
Here we go. Two definitions from Dictionary.com. First, ranch:
ranch
An extensive farm, especially in the western United States, on which large herds of cattle, sheep, or horses are raised.
A large farm on which a particular crop or kind of animal is raised: a mink ranch.
A house in which the owner of an extensive farm lives.
Next, estate:
es·tate
A landed property, usually of considerable size.
The whole of one's possessions, especially all the property and debts left by one at death.
Law. The nature and extent of an owner's rights with respect to land or other property.
Chiefly British. A housing development.
The situation or circumstances of one's life: A child's estate gives way to the adult's estate.
Social position or rank, especially of high order.
A major social class, such as the clergy, the nobility, or the commons, formerly possessing distinct political rights.
Archaic. Display of wealth or power; pomp.
Okay, so what do you call a 1583-acre expanse of grassland with an artificial pond for stocked bass fishing, a multi-million dollar high-tech house, and, golly, way out there at a safe remove, a handful of the neighbor's bovines?
This is not productive land. It's not used to produce anything, no crops, only incidental cattle. It's just the Texas version of a Kennebunkport estate, where our poser wussy president can go and pose as a rugged outdoorsman. Heck, we all know he's not even safe on a bicycle. They probably only let him hold a power tool with an ambulance standing by. And we all know he hasn't done an honest day's work in his whole life. Clear brush? Puhleeeze. He probably doesn't even know the names of the men who clear his brush.
So I say that people of conscience should all stop calling Bush's property a ranch. It's not. It's an estate. It's exactly the sort of estate that the estate tax is for. And if we call an estate an estate, then maybe people will understand better why we have such a tax.
Poll follows