Question about people saying "Democrat Party" etc.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

I had a discussion on another board where someone made the claim that right wingers made saying "Democrat Party" instead of "Democratic" so ubiquitous that even Democratic politicians said it.

This is something I would definitely notice and remember if it ever happened and I can think of no such instance. As far as I can tell the usage dates back to around the GWB era and was probably pushed by some propagandist like Rove, Frank Luntz or Gingrich.

I would say that it is virtually universal among the right to the point where even big name GOP politicians will say it, and I think I can even remember Mitt saying it a time or two, most likely to show he was "on the wingnut team" (although someone like Mitt would probably use it in selective settings to avoid having someone like Chris Matthews call him out and embarrass him on live TV).

But even if they were the kind of Dem who didn't consider right wingers saying "Democrat Party" to be a big deal, the idea of a politician using the incorrect name for their own party on purpose, a usage promoted by the opposing party, doesn't ring true.

I had just never heard anyone make such a claim but will stand corrected if there are any notable examples. The person I was discussing the issue with could not produce examples despite their claim that it was a common event for Democrats to say this.

[merrily]

1. Even the big name Republican politicians?

They haven't started saying it because they've heard it for so long. They're the ones who made a point of saying all along. They're the reason everyone's heard it for so long.

Yes, it was Rove. There was a TV ad for, I think, Dim Son. And there was text on the screen saying "Democrat" or "Democrat Party." (I never saw the ad myself. I am posting what someone told me.)

As the ad ended, only the letters spelling "rat" lingered on the screen, perhaps in an attempt to use subliminal suggestion to get viewers to associate Democrats with rats.

I've even seen and heard some right wing asshats call us the "Rat Party" or just "Rats," though not Senators, at least not where anyone likely to tell on them can hear them.

However, New Democrats are different. In both the House and the Senate, the official name of their caucus is the New Democrat Caucus, not the New Democratic Caucus or Caucus of New Democrats.

Chuck Toad has said "Democrat Party" all the time. I emailed into his morning show to protest, but, needless to say, he ignored my protest and continued saying "Democrat Party." Disrespectful partisan poser so and so. Maybe on MTP, he drop it so he doesn't unclass up MTP even more. I don't know. I don't plan to watch.

[Faryn Balyncd]

2. This 2006 Media Matters articles reviews the history of the GOP semantics coup:

Further, Hertzberg wrote that "among those of the Republican persuasion," the use of " 'Democrat Party' is now nearly universal" thanks to "Newt Gingrich, the nominal author of the notorious 1990 memo 'Language: A Key Mechanism of Control,' and his Contract with America pollster, Frank Luntz." While Hertzberg noted that Luntz "road-tested the adjectival use of 'Democrat' with a focus group in 2001" and "concluded that the only people who really dislike it are highly partisan adherents of the ... Democratic Party," he also wrote that Luntz had told him recently that "[t]hose two letters ['ic'] actually do matter," and that Luntz "recently finished writing a book ... entitled 'Words That Work.' "

http://mediamatters.org/research/2006/08/16/gop-strategists-christen-democrat-sic-party-and/136406

Apparently, Republicans as far back as Harding tried to deny the Democratic Party the use of the proper adjectival form of the name, since Republicans did not like the implication that the Democratic Party was democratic.

McCarthy, in particular, used "Democrat" rather than "Democratic" as an adjective..

But it was not until semantics expert Frank Luntz convinced Republicans of the importance of controlling the language that they achieved near universal acceptance.

[NYC_SKP]

3. Wikipedia has a page on Democrat Party used as an epithet:

It has a long history going back to 1890, revivals of use over time:

Modern usage

Following his inauguration in 2001, President George W. Bush often used the noun-as-adjective when referring to the opposition party.[21] Likewise, it has been used by former Texas Representative and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay,[22] Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner of Ohio,[23] Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa,[24] Representative Steve Buyer of Indiana,[25] and other Republicans. In 2006, Ruth Marcus, a columnist for The Washington Post, noted that "[t]he derisive use of 'Democrat' in this way was a Bush staple during the recent campaign", and she chastised Bush, alleging he was being intentionally offensive.[6] Marcus went on to say the argument about the term was "trivial, sticks-and-stones [...] linguistic bickering".[6]

Bush spoke of the "Democrat majority" in his 2007 State of the Union Address.[26] The advance copy that was given to members of Congress read "Democratic majority."[5] Democrats again complained about the use of "Democrat" as an adjective in the address: John Podesta, White House Chief of Staff for Bush's predecessor Bill Clinton, complained that it was "like nails on a chalkboard".[5] Some commentators ignored Bush's slur against the newly elected Democratic majority;[27] others debated whether Bush was intentionally using the term as a slur. Congressional historian Julian E. Zelizer said "It's hard to disentangle whether that's an intentional slight".[5] Political analyst Charlie Cook doubted it was a deliberate attempt to offend Democrats saying Republicans "have been doing it [using the term] so long that they probably don't even realize they're doing it."[5]

Bush later joked about the issue by talking about his leadership of the "Republic Party" the following month.[28] On February 4, 2007, Bush joked in a speech to House Democrats, stating "Now look, my diction isn't all that good. I have been accused of occasionally mangling the English language. And so I appreciate you inviting the head of the Republic Party."[29]

Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh uses the term exclusively when referring to Democrats.[30]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democrat_Party_%28epithet%29#History_of_usage

[w4rma]

4. Kansas Secretary of State, Kris Kobach

Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a Republican and strong Roberts supporter, had refused to remove Taylor's name from the ballot, saying the Democrat's formal letter didn't comply with a law limiting withdrawals. The Supreme Court concluded that it did, even though Taylor didn't spell out his reasons for exiting the race — something Kobach said was required.
…
"At this point, I am assuming that the Democrat Party will comply with the law," Kobach said at a news conference.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/kansas-court-remove-democrat-senate-ballot-25606333

[w4rma]

5. But, no. Democrats don't, and have never, tended to say "Democrat Party". (nt)

[moondust]

6. DemocRAT

I first saw it used like that by right wingers on the Internet years ago and kind of assumed that's where Republicans picked it up. "Democrat" is a noun, but when used as an adjective as they do it is pejorative. I always thought Democrats in the House should nail them for using pejoratives on the House floor against House rules, but they let it slide and now it's commonplace. Too subtle or something I suppose.

I think I heard Nancy Pelosi slip up one time fairly recently and use it as an adjective but it may have been some other Dem. That's the only case I know of.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

7. Right, but a case like that would be a one-off slip of the tongue.

[moondust]

8. Exactly. It wasn't intentional. n/t

[Fridays Child]

12. Why have Democrats allowed Republicans to control the conversation, in this matter?

To use the noun in place of the adjective is grammatically incorrect and nothing more. The average rank-and-file Republican can't complete a simple sentence without butchering it typographically, syntactically, and grammatically. I suspect that most of them view "democrat" as slanderous not because they understand the difference but because they blindly accept all marching orders issued by their political overlords.

Democrats could have rendered this a non-issue by shrugging off all attempts to provoke debate on the topic. Instead, we capitulated to the coercive playground bully tactics that define the Republican party.

[moondust]

14. Juvenile bullies and thugs

will be juvenile bullies and thugs. I'm not sure there's much anyone can do about that.

I suspect they enjoy degrading their opposition by calling them the "RAT" this and the "RAT" that right out in the open; no doubt it helps to stir up their base of hatemongers.

[grahamhgreen]

9. Should always be question. Never let slide.

[phylny]

18. I would question it every time.

You said "Democrat Party"; didn't you mean to say the correct name, "Democratic Party"?

Every time.

[grahamhgreen]

19. "You don't know the name of your opponent, how can you profess to know their policies?"

[brewens]

10. I've noticed with older people, pronouncing things wrong intentionally, is kind of like a show of

dissrespect they think is funny. Of course something like "Obanga" is also a racist shot.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

11. Yeah, I have kind of felt the "Democrat Party" thing is primarily a show of disrespect and assertion

of power, like the way jerks do when they give people nicknames or call someone by a name they have already said they don't want to be called.

[brewens]

13. Yeah. I refrain from posting Chuck Tard when referring to Chuck Todd to be pc. It's a little

tough though

[Populist_Prole]

23. I notice that too

Based on the ones I know personally who do that; it seems to me it's a lame and desperate way of chest-beating of a sort all held together with a "because I can" stubborness.

[RandiFan1290]

15. Can't get the media or Democrats to stop calling them the 'GOP'

They can't even get Democratic right and 'we' call them by a cute little nickname and call them great?

Fuck all that!

They are 'publicons and I wish Democrats would start calling them that!

[Jenoch]

16. Frankly,

I think it is much ado aboht nothing. If we ignore this 'slight' it will become meaningless.

[LWolf]

17. What's the question?

Whether or not anyone has heard a Democratic politician say "Democrat Party?" Whether it bothers me?

I haven't heard it. It doesn't bother me. Things like racism, misogyny, classism, and fascism bother me. Ignorance bothers me. The misuse of a term to push someone's buttons only works if the button holder allows it to.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

24. The question was specifically about whether Democratic officials actually adopted this usage.

[LWolf]

33. I don't know the answer,

beyond "I haven't seen it."

[winter is coming]

20. I can't recall seeing/hearing a Democrat do that.

And it's pretty stoopid of the Republicans to do so. All it does is make them look uneducated and petty.

[LiberalAndProud]

21. Argument by assertion.

When debating any issue, there is an implicit burden of proof on the person asserting a claim.
Your facebook friend needs to prove what they say is true.

[Recursion]

22. It's very old. I think it was John Connally (nt)

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

25. John Connally the Democrat said "Democrat Party?" When?

[WinkyDink]

27. Maybe: "In May 1973, Connally joined the Republican Party."

[Recursion]

39. After switching parties to work for Nixon (nt)

[WinkyDink]

26. ONLY Republicans use it. PERIOD.

[AtomicKitten]

31. I've seen it used here by a fairly new member.

It probably isn't cool to link to it Maybe by PM.

[WinkyDink]

40. Like I said.... ;-)

[rock]

28. I have recommended we call them

the Republicans Party. It's as close as we can get to the same construction for them.

[jwirr]

29. It would be interesting to see what Roosevelt and Truman used in speeches. Until I was here on DU

I never heard this argument. There are ways to use both forms. I am a Democrat. And I belong to the Democratic Party. That is how I use it but apparently that is wrong. Oh well at 74 years of age I am not about to change. I have been a Democrat all by life and I have no intention of being a Democratic.

[bobGandolf]

30. As long as the Democrat Party keeps beating the Repubic Party I'm happy. n/t

[rogerashton]

32. What would you expect from the Repimplican Party?

nt

[Chathamization]

34. This should be brought up more often. Whenever there's a round table talking about rancor in

Washington, it should be mentioned that Republicans won't even call the Democratic Party by it's proper name. Petty and juvenile mangling of the name seems to be an official position of the party, one that has no comparison among Democrats.

[yortsed snacilbuper]

35. I heard a lot of haters say "Democrat Party",

They sound ignorant and uneducated!

[a kennedy]

36. It burns my ears whenI hear that.....

HATE IT. 😡

[JEB]

37. It's just a juvenile way of avoiding

the real issues. They would rather argue about this than do anything that might endanger their funding from the 1%.

[seveneyes]

38. It's either malicious or ignorance

Perhaps similar to people using the non-word "snuck" instead of "sneaked". /grammar