US - The Obama camp has pulled the plug on any further interviews with WFTV a Florida t-v station after a news anchor asked v-p candidate Joe Biden about Obama being a marxist by wanting to spread the wealth

Name-calling and labeling are nothing new on the campaign trail but our rhetoric expert says many times they're nothing more than "Devil Terms" ways to stir emotion and at best matters of opinion not fact.

"If we come up with a devil term, socialism...you all know you're against socialism. You may not be able to go through all of the particulars of his tax policy. But if we can get you all to identify Barack Obama as a socialist, you know you oppose, let's continue this mantra, 'OBAMA IS A SOCIALIST' ... it's really unfair. but similarly unfair is the attack against John Mccain that he is a racist when there's been no racism from John Mccain."

Vatz says political parties sometimes even re-define a previously accepted label as a "devil term"

For example he says democrats have swapped out "Liberal" for "Progressive"
Election Rhetoric