Wow! Ruth Marcus column on Rs using "Democrat Party"...

[Skidmore]

and how it has contributed to the conflict and lack of civility in politics. Just read on Washington Journal. I hve to find a link for it.

The times they are achanging.

[wicket]

1. Link here:

Excellent article!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/21/AR2006112101223.html

[Skidmore]

5. Thanks, Wicket.

I'm glad to see this finally addressed publicly. Perhaps we can get some of our elected officials to start calling people on it.

[Canuckistanian]

19. Didn't Tweety call someone on that earlier this week?

And the guy backed down and got embarassed, as I recall.

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

41. You recall correctly...Good for Chris..If Chris keeps that up, I think we should drop "Tweety"

from our vocabulary.

[Kolesar]

47. Wasn't that the moniker that mediawhoresonline used to use?

You won't find him anymore -> www.mediawhoresonline.com

[HCE SuiGeneris]

53. I prefer the Repuplick party moniker

:evilgrin: as they all seem to be lap dogs anyway.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

70. Instead, I add the syllable that they take from us

That's why I call them the Republicanites. :evilgrin:

[wicket]

45. He sure did!

Here's the GD thread on this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=2745969

[wicket]

35. You are very welcome!

:D

[hlthe2b]

8. Required reading of all DUers--specifically those few who

have cluelessly questioned "what the big deal is" about the use of Democrat as an adjective. By suggesting we are being "grammar police," they are unwittingly reinforcing the RW in its use as a (very much intended) perjorative. :eyes:

[Captain Hilts]

29. Someone tell The Guardian, yes THE GUARDIAN, to stop using this term. nt

[muriel_volestrangler]

39. The Guardian probably does it because the Liberal Democrat party in the UK does

and so it doesn't sound bad to British ears.

[wicket]

43. Good point

n/t

[wicket]

36. Agreed, as should the Wikipedia entry on this phrase

Democrat Party (sic) -

Democrat Party is a political epithet<1> used by some conservative commentators (as on talk radio) and in speeches and press releases by some Republican Party members to refer to the opposition Democratic Party. The term places an emphasis on the sound "rat" at the end of the word to imply a general criticism of the Democratic Party.<2> The term is meant to suggest that the Democratic Party is not "democratic" in its policies.<3> As a noun, "Democrat" describes a member of the Democratic party. <4> Many Democrats strongly dislike the term, and see it as a sign of disrespect.<5>

Much more at the link.

[Lasher]

66. It's all about the contempt behind the slur

It's a handy way to work in a sneer when they refer to us. I wish Pelosi would start calling them Publics.

Edit: Or maybe Publicans.

[Buzz Clik]

24. Sorry, I just don't get it.

Democrat, Democratic. Bush dropping a syllable is hardly unusual. It doesn't bother me in the slightest.

[Straight Shooter]

26. It's code to his base.

It was deliberate.

IMHO.

[Captain Hilts]

30. It is a deliberate dig that Republicans use. It's not just bad grammar. nt

[reclinerhead]

56. Here's why I don't appreciate them using that term:

I think it goes beyond a preferred nickname:

Democratic Party -> a group of citizens committed to democratic ideals.
Democrat Party -> a group of democrats.

By leaving off those two little letters, the Republicans try to strip away the essence of our party.

It's subtle but important. When caught doing it, they just claim it's a matter of grammar.

Do we embrace our party and our democratic ideals, or do we relegate ourselves to being defined as some giant social event?

I choose the former, and that's how I explain it to people when they think I'm being picky.

[SoCalDem]

31. It matters because it was a concerted effort to "change" the name

and done as a slur.

It's just like having the name William, and asking people to call you William...BUT a Few disparaging people INSIST on calling you "Willie"..

and they go to all your friends and coworker & tell THEM they should also call you "Willie"..

and if you say, "Please call me William".. They roll their eyes innocently and say "Don't be so TOUCHY, WILLIE..it's no big deal"..

"democRAT party/democRAT senator/democRAT policies/etc" are the "gang signals" of the elite republican word-smiths. They are signaling their "base" , by verbally diminishing the Democratic party.

Unfortunately as they started doing it more and more, our own leaders chose to "ignore it and it will go away". Just as unanswered Swiftboating did not go away, this did not either, and as a "show of no-hard-feelings", some democrats joined in. (Kind of how the fat kid joins in the derisive laughter, to show how good a sport he is)

Remember too, that the democrats have NOT had very many venues to even respond, and given the little tv/radio time they have gotten for decades, perhaps the lucky ones with some air-time, decided this was less important than what they actually talked about when given the chance...or perhaps they feared just being mocked after their interviews were over, and there was no competing media to defend their actions, so they chose to "ignore it"..

[hlthe2b]

46. Excellent summation of the relevance, SoCalDem

This comes up frequently, so I will point to your posting when people suggest we are just being "grammar police." :toast:

[Captain Hilts]

52. EXCELLENT analogy 'William'. nt

[Lone_Star_Dem]

34. If it were just bush I don't think any of us would care

He's not know for his diction after all. However, it's been a movement from most of the Republicans since bush has been in office. Many lifetime politicians all of a sudden forget their grammar? No, I don't believe that for one moment.

[wicket]

37. It's not just Bush, it's a concerted effort by the right-wing

See the Wikipedia entry:

Democrat Party is a political epithet<1> used by some conservative commentators (as on talk radio) and in speeches and press releases by some Republican Party members to refer to the opposition Democratic Party. The term places an emphasis on the sound "rat" at the end of the word to imply a general criticism of the Democratic Party.<2> The term is meant to suggest that the Democratic Party is not "democratic" in its policies.<3> As a noun, "Democrat" describes a member of the Democratic party. <4> Many Democrats strongly dislike the term, and see it as a sign of disrespect.<5>

More at link.

[Occulus]

63. Would it bother you if they were saying 'kike party' or 'nigger party'?

Because that's how they intend it. They mean it- 'Democrat Party'- in exactly that way.

And you just know they would call us the 'Nigger Party' if they thought they could get away with it.

What's to not get?

[Eurobabe]

64. Haha, I sent her an email

I attribute Bush's lack of pronunciation of 'Democratic' to his sheer stupidity.

Anyone who says "nook-ya-lar, decider, strategery" or one of a hundred other mispronunciations, grammatical gaffs or malapropisms shows their true makeup the minute they open their mouth. I can't believe this mental midget passed through Yale!

[malaise]

2. Just saw that on WJ

Thanks for the link. Great read.

[chimpymustgo]

3. Here's more:

One Syllable of Civility
By Ruth Marcus
Wednesday, November 22, 2006; Page A21


-snip-

The derisive use of "Democrat" in this way was a Bush staple during the recent campaign. "There are people in the Democrat Party who think they can spend your money far better than you can," he would say in his stump speech, or, "Raising taxes is a Democrat idea of growing the economy," or, "However they put it, the Democrat approach in Iraq comes down to this: The terrorists win and America loses."

But even as he promised to work to change the tone in Washington after the elections, the president couldn't manage to change his language. In his day-after-the-elections news conference, Bush employed this needling locution five times. "This morning, I spoke with Republican and Democrat leadership in the House and Senate," he began, adding, "it is clear the Democrat Party had a good night last night." That was followed by references to "Democrat leaders," "Democrat leadership" and "Democrat votes," as in, "We got some tax cuts passed with Democrat votes." Geez, you'd think he'd at least give them the -ic when they vote for his tax cuts.

The president isn't alone in his adjectival aversion to "Democratic" when it comes to the party. The provenance of the sneering label "Democrat Party" stretches back to the Harding administration. William Safire traced an early usage to Harold Stassen, who was managing Wendell Willkie's 1940 campaign against Franklin D. Roosevelt. A party run by political bosses, Stassen told Safire for a 1984 column, "should not be called a 'Democratic Party.' It should be called the 'Democrat party.' "

Democrat Party was used, pardon the phrase, liberally by Wisconsin Sen. Joseph McCarthy. According to the Columbia Guide to Standard American English, " Democrat as an adjective is still sometimes used by some twentieth-century Republicans as a campaign tool but was used with particular virulence" by McCarthy, "who sought by repeatedly calling it the Democrat party to deny it any possible benefit of the suggestion that it might also be democratic." The word also achieved a prominent run with Bob Dole's especially ugly reference to "Democrat wars" during the 1976 vice presidential debate.

But Democrat-as-epithet has seen its fullest flowering -- on talk radio, among congressional leaders and, more than with any of his predecessors, from the president himself -- during the recent Republican heyday. As Hendrik Hertzberg pointed out in the New Yorker in August, the conservative Web site NewsMax.com takes pains to scrub Associated Press copy "to de-'ic' references" to the party.

-snip-

[AnnInLa]

20. I think it is just the politically "aware" that know of the distinction

I don't think the general population is aware that one term is offensive over the other term.

[reclinerhead]

57. My suggestion

I would suggest, then, that it's our duty to educate them to the contrary. One friend/family member/co-worker at a time.

[grizmaster]

4. K&R

[Hav]

6. .

The title of the article is so fitting: "One Syllable of Civility".

[Cameron27]

7. It's their clever way of giving us the finger.

Thanks for the article.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

9. one of the key reasons is to "avoid the positive connotations" of the name

it's nice to have truth pointed out every now and again.

[Dinger]

10. I Saw That - Once This Is Called Out, I Think It Will Be Used A Lot Less If At All

So childish - It's like a kid on a playground taunting his playmates. Pffft, even little kids know better. Will repuglicans never learn?

[Jim__]

11. Glad to see that in print.

The reference to "Democrat" party always irritated me. I'm glad that its intent to be deraogatory has been pointed out.

[liberaldemocrat7]

33. CAN you say R E P U B L I K L A N ?

Keep referring to the GOPranos as the REPUBLIKLAN PARTY and they will stop deriding our party.

Also refer to them as the GOPranos and yes I have t shirts and mugs referring to the GOPranos and the REPUBLIKLAN party

[nuxvomica]

12. Good article. That usage drives me nuts!

Especially considering that you can't even use the term "democratic" to describe our form of government without some wingnut coming out of the woodwork and reminding you that we live in a "republic," not a "democracy." (Which is usually followed with the classic hooey about freedom "of" religion doesn't mean freedom "from" religion.) If they consider "democratic" to be so innapropriate for the US, why take pains to avoid using it to describe their enemy party? :shrug:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

71. Yes, the ignoramuses don't even know that a "republic" is nothing more than

a country without a monarch, so that Iran, China, Uzbekistan, and North Korea, and all sorts of other places that have terrible human rights records are republics, but Norway, the UK, Japan, Belgium, and Thailand are not.

The next time a right-winger says that "the United States is a republic, not a democracy," I'm going to ask them what they think "republic" means.

They seem to think that it means "representative democracy" as opposed to "direct democracy."

As usual, facts are irrelevant to RW talking points.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

13. There is the Democratic Party and the Undemocratic Party

Sometimes referred to as the Republican Party.

[WernhamHogg]

55. LOL!

:rofl:

I LOVE that! Excellent response!

[originalpckelly]

14. Poor dumb Republicons.

That's my default response, it is different enough, but just like Democrat, it isn't that different from the word to cause suspicion in most people.

[UTUSN]

15. Wow, didn't know it dated back to STASSEN. Thought LUNTZ invented it n/t

[Captain Hilts]

25. I worked for a Rep pollster and he said Lance Tarrance did the research on it. nt

[cascadiance]

16. There all Republicysts to me until they can call us by the right name!

[Jade Fox]

17. Wow, I didn't realize it had such a history. n/t

[progressoid]

18. I know at least one Republican that hates it...

but she's an English teacher.

However, if the pretzledent keeps saying it, hopefully it will fall out of favor since everything he touches turns to crap.

[Captain Hilts]

51. I worked for a Rep pollster and he disliked it and wouldn't use it. nt

[Patiod]

21. Thom Hartmann ALWAYS calls folks on it

He allows his conservative (and ultra-conservative) guests to have their point of view, but he does NOT allow them to use "Democrat" party or "Democrat voters".

If they say it three times, he'll call them out on it every time.

It's like nails on a chalkboard when Bush does it.

[struggle4progress]

22. Yay! She suggests "Publican" as an alternative to "Republican"!

I think it's a great word to use if necessary -- and it harkens back to an old JFK joke: "A Republican is a sinner mentioned in the Bible."

[Maeve]

27. Let's not insult the publicans! I don't care much for tax collectors, but

Most "publicans" nowadays run PUBS and we don't want on the wrong side of the folks who serve up the brew! :beer:

(A Publican can be the manager of a public house, or in New Testament times, a tax collector. ( from Latin `publicanus`)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publican)

[struggle4progress]

40. Well, I'd be careful of insulting "publicans" in the UK and Downunder

but in the US I've never heard anybody use the word except in a sermon or Sunday school class.

[NashVegas]

23. Are They Hoping We'll Respond With "Republic" Party?

We're not quite that stupid.

[Captain Hilts]

28. It was mentioned in the New Yorker Talk of the Town article last week. nt

[kentuck]

32. It may seem like a small, insignificant matter....

but it is important that the Repubs be called on this every time they do it. We are the Democratic Party. We are not a Party of one Democrat.

[Brazenly Liberal]

38. I'd be happy if we could get DEMOCRATS not to use it.

The local Democratic Party has on their website:

Oct. 22nd 5:00 PM till 9:00 PM ,The Iroquois County Democrats will be holding their 25Th annual "Octoberfest" At Miss Karol's rt 24 Watseka IL. . Beer , brats and auction. There will also be keynote speakers from the Democrat party.

http://www.il-democrats.org/Iroquois/calendar.html

I asked them to change it and explained why, but never got a response.

[w4rma]

42. Quick and dirty method to tell if the Democratic leadership in various areas are doing their jobs.

If a local leadership can't get something as simple as this right then you know the leadership of that area is most likely behind the curve.

[Brazenly Liberal]

44. You can't even SEE the curve from here. hehehe

It's a strange place. A fair number of Dems are elected to local office, but it's largely because they're personally well-liked and socially well-connected rather than for any ideological reason - and they're only distinguishable from local Republicans by their T-shirts. There's no local push for any Democratic issues. The county gives the GOP a landslide for national offices.

[Kolesar]

49. Well thanks for trying anyway...eom

[Captain Hilts]

50. Right. Change starts within the DemocratIC Party. nt

[Captain Hilts]

48. Bad grammar. 'Democrat' Party is like 'Complex' situation. Both are incorrect. nt

[hlthe2b]

58. ok, you got me.... What is wrong with "complex situation?"

i.e., using "complex" as an adjective, synonomous with "complicated"?

Seriously.... I can't find any reference to suggest it is grammatically incorrect... :shrug:

[TransitJohn]

61. well...it's simple...'complex' is a noun (eom)

:hi:

[Skidmore]

68. 'Complex' is also used as an adjective, as in

'The situation is complex.' In that sentence the word serves as a predicate adjective describing the noun 'situation.'

[hlthe2b]

73. "complex" is also an adjective

That's why I am confused by the origina post...:shrug:

[WernhamHogg]

54. I quit trying to correct them

I quit trying to correct Republicans when they use the term "Democrat Party" because they always continue to use the term, either accidentially or intentionally (although I suspect it's usually intentionally). Instead, I just refer to their party as the "Repuke Party" or the "Repub Party". After using those term, I usually get a response about how "mean and childish" those terms are and how "that's not the correct name of our party". Most of them get the point and start using the term "Democratic Party" (at least in conversations with me) and I stop using the term "Repuke Party". Of course, there are others who will NEVER learn...

[jannyk]

59. So why not refer to the Republic party? I know that

referring to us a the Democrat party is supposed to be an insult. However, I just don't get why we have to make such a fuss about it and let them succeed. An insult is only effective if the one being insulted reacts - we play right into their hands every time we do. In the big scheme of things this is so irrelevant it's pathetic. 50 million US citizens with no health insurance, nearly 3000 dead troops in Iraq and the mess we have made of the middle east, the low standing we have in the world, homelessness, job losses, wages, corruption, corruption, corruption, ad infinitum.

This is just taking discussion time away from the 'real' issues. I don't care what they call us - their ignorance is their problem - not mine.

[Occulus]

65. Why not?

Because they (very loudly) insist we are a republic and not a democracy.

They do that because democracy is democratic (literally), and that is part of the actual name of our party.

They would love to call us the Democrat Party, because we don't live in a democrat. However, we do live in a democracy, and that is by definition democratic- hence their desire to get away from calling us the Democratic Party, while at the same time loudly insisting we live in a republic. Even if that be true, its effects still feed their cause in the same way.

I know, I know. It only makes sense a weird, twisted sort of way, but then- these are weird and twisted people.

ed.: clarification

[Jim Sagle]

60. "Republiscumbag Party" works for me.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

62. K/R. I heartily agree with Ruth Marcus, great article.

[hfojvt]

67. I read Somerby's comment on it

http://www.dailyhowler.com/

"Over the past fifteen years, for example, they have heard, again and again, a string of bogus mantras. Like these:
Bill Clinton’s haircut shut down LAX!
Al Gore said he invented the Internet!
When Reagan cut taxes, federal revenues rose!
Social Security will run out of money in the year 2040!
Aw heck, let’s even include: John Kerry seems French! Different problems afflict those statements, but they all represent flights from fact or logic. And guess what? Kooky-con voters hear such statements again and again. And again and again—and again and again—they see us Dems sitting silent."

Well, Dems are silent, except in LTTEs and now on the Internets.

[kskiska]

69. "…like saying 'Jew' instead of 'Jewish.'"

Good analogy.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

72. Excellent analogy!

Anti-Semitic bigots are always saying things like "Jew celebrities."