Stimulating Post

"Why did opponents gullibly swallow the stimulus terminology, and thereby defeat? Any ideas?"

Because there ARE ALMOST NO opponents of the stimulus terminology. There are maybe 2 or 3 people in the entire Congress who know that "stimulus" is a gross misnomer. The only effective debate on the political stage is how BEST to stimulate the economy. There is no debate about whether it is even possible for government spending to do so.

And as far as what to call it, as far as what e.g. objective newspapers should label it, how about simply "spending bill"?

"Why did opponents gullibly swallow the stimulus terminology"

Because it is so huge, that it enabled the proponents to pay off all of the opponents.

This is standard strategy for political actors.

How else could the military center for the projection of the U.S. empire be called the "Department of Defense"?

How else would threatening citizens with guns to force them to pay for the above be proposed as "altruism"?