Sentinel reporter uses "Democrat party" in an article

[MaineDem]

SKOWHEGAN -- They are the Somerset County political heavyweights -- one finished second in this year's Republican primary for governor and the other's family has been the face of the Democrat party in Skowhegan for years.

(Emphasis added)

http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/3214749.shtml

I wrote to the author. Regardless of how often the GOP uses the term there is no such entity as the "Democrat Party" Democrat is a noun.

His address: [email protected]

[mcg]

1. Comments can be posted, form is below article. nt

[Shorebound]

2. Dem party i.d.

I seem to have missed a memo here, so perhaps someone can help me out. Obviously "Democrat Party" is wrong grammatically (after all, do we say Republic Party?), but the usage seems to stir a stronger reaction among some folks than just disappointment in poor language skills. What's the subtext? And I apologize ahead of time for my cluelessness on this topic.

[qnr]

3. Right-wingers like to use it in a derogatory sense. Think DemocRAT, plus

it is a sign of a lack of respect on their part even without that. They seem to get a kick out of not addressing us properly.

[MaineProgressive]

4. Too much credit

I think you're giving the Maine media too much credit. I don't even bother reading the daily papers anymore.

[GambitMG]

5. eh...

...I don't really get offended reading that, they're just confused on how to use the term if you ask me, nothing really that malicious about it.

[burning]

6. It makes my teeth hurt every time I hear it

This right wing nonsense has been around since I was a kid becoming politically aware during the 1960 election. The argument is: "There's nothing democratic about them." I didn't understand then, and that understanding still alludes me today. Perhaps someone can explain why a winger insisting on both an historically and grammatically incorrect identification is an aspersion on me rather than a suggestion of their ignorance.

In the days of Jefferson, historians referred to our Party as the Democratic-Republican Party. With the coming of the age of Jackson we became simply the Democratic Party. It seems ungrateful of the Republicans to be giving us this grief over what we call ourselves. After all, Whig was kind of a wussy name and the name No Nothings lent itself to negative connotation, so out of the goodness of our collective hearts we let them use the obsolete part of our party's historical name.

Its also presumptuous on their part. There are many names that I think are more descriptive of Republicans but I honestly wouldn't expect them adopt any of them.