From today’s WaPo:
"As we move forward with our efforts to talk about the problem and the need for reform, administration officials are talking about what leaders of the Democrat Party have said about the problem," White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said.
Christ, at least get the goddamn name right. It’s the "DemocratIC" party. I don’t know why the Republicans have decided that it’s so important to misstate the party’s name (Tom DeLay has been a leader on this particularly bizarre initiative), but "Democrat" is a noun. It cannot modify another noun.
Others have picked up on this before. And there is some interesting history on this curious semantic quibble here (apparently the issue goes back at least to FDR). But the line in the sand needs to be drawn now. We Democrats have let Republicans define us in almost every way for the last few years, and the results have been catastrophic. When we let them define us to the point that they even tell us what to call ourselves, we’re in deep, deep trouble.
IT’S CALLED THE DEMOCRAT PARTY. You call yourself a Democrat… right?You also have taken the Lord’s name in vain for a really, stupid issue. Bad form… shows a lack of maturity/respect.Besides, you sound more like a ‘wild-eyed’ socialist rather than a DEMOCRAT.
I’m sick of it too. There was a post on dailykos or eschaton a while ago, not the one you linked to. Basically, it compared two nearly identical stump speeches by Bush. The difference? one said Democrat Party and the other said Democratic Party. Why was there a difference? The “Democrat Party” speech was in a red county where he was rallying his base. The “Democratic Party” speech was in a swing district where he wanted to sound more appealing and moderate.You have to learn, the Republican Party polls and focus groups EVERYTHING. That’s why they went from privatization to private accounts, then to personal accounts. They tailor their language specifically to manipulate people.
Re: Right’s use of “Democrat” as an adjective. As much as I abhor the use of the word “Democrat,” when “Democratic” is appropriate, on grammatical grounds, it is the manipulative political effort of the right wing to twist people’s thinking that is even more troubling. By using ‘Democrat? instead of ‘Democratic,? they are:1. Choosing for another party its name, an act whose intent is, at the least, to disempower.2. Disassociating the Party from the inclusive concept of democratic values and ideals.3. Associating the Party with other words ending with ‘-crat,’ like autocrat, plutocrat, aristocrat, bureaucrat, ones that have negative connotation (whereas some, in their adjectival form, like ‘aristocratic,’ do not carry the same weight of negativity). It is quite troubling, as well, that many Democrats with tin ears, lousy educations and spineless spirits have adopted this misuse. Some people fought to be called women, not girls. Some fought to be called Black or African-American, not Negro. Others fought to be called gay, not queer. In every case, the issue was not so much the accuracy of the particular name, but the empowering nature of naming one’s self. Shouldn’t Democrats fight to have their party be called the Democratic Party? Shouldn’t every Democratic politician correct, on the spot, every Republican who refers to the party as the Democrat Party? ?In responding to my dear colleague, the distinguished senator from Mississippi, I must first say: It is the Democratic Party, sir, to which you so witheringly refer. Get it right, you idiot! Now, sir, if may I address your brilliant points….? It is time to call them on it–each time, every time. It is not the right’s right to change someone else’s name.