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Democrat Party (epithet)

October 19, 2023

Not to be confused with Democrat Party (Thailand).

Democrat Party is an epithet and pejorative for the Democratic Party of the United States,[1][2][3] often used in a disparaging fashion by the party's opponents.[4] While use of the term started out as non-hostile, it has grown in its negative use since the 1940s, in particular by members of the Republican Party—in party platforms, partisan speeches, and press releases—as well as by conservative commentators and third party politicians.[5][6][7]

Modern usage Edit

United Press International reported in August 1984 that the term Democrat Party had been employed "in recent years by some right-wing Republicans" because the party's Democratic name implied that the Democrats were "the only true adherents of democracy".[8]

Language expert Roy Copperud said it was used by Republicans who disliked the implication that Democratic Party implied to listeners that Democrats "are somehow the anointed custodians of the concept of democracy".[9] According to Oxford Dictionaries, the use of Democrat rather than the adjective Democratic "is in keeping with a longstanding tradition among Republicans of dropping the –ic in order to maintain a distinction from the broader, positive associations of the adjective democratic with democracy and egalitarianism".[10]

Political commentator William Safire wrote in 1993 that the Democrat of Democrat Party "does conveniently rhyme with autocrat, plutocrat, and worst of all, bureaucrat".[11] In 2006, Hendrik Hertzberg wrote in The New Yorker:[12]

There's no great mystery about the motives behind this deliberate misnaming. "Democrat Party" is a slur, or intended to be—a handy way to express contempt. Aesthetic judgments are subjective, of course, but "Democrat Party" is jarring verging on ugly. It fairly screams "rat".

Republican pollster Frank Luntz tested the phrase with a focus group in 2001, and concluded that the only people who really disliked the epithet were highly partisan Democrats.[12] Political analyst Charlie Cook attributed modern use of the term to force of habit rather than a deliberate epithet by Republicans.[13] Journalist Ruth Marcus stated that Republicans likely only continue to employ the term because Democrats dislike it,[1] and Hertzberg calls use of the term "a minor irritation" and also "the partisan equivalent of flashing a gang sign".[12]

Grammar Edit

Among authors of dictionaries and usage guides who state that the use of Democrat as an adjective is ungrammatical are Roy H. Copperud,[9] Bergen Evans,[14] and William and Mary Morris. In particular, the latter have written: "It is the idiotic creation of some of the least responsible members of the Republican Party."[15]

In 2005, Ruth Walker, who has been the long-time language columnist for The Christian Science Monitor,[16] while stating that Democratic is the correct term in most instances, placed the adjectival use of Democrat within a broader trend:

We're losing our inflections—the special endings we use to distinguish between adjectives and nouns, for instance. There's a tendency to modify a noun with another noun rather than an adjective. Some may speak of 'the Ukraine election' rather than 'the Ukrainian election' or 'the election in Ukraine', for instance. It's 'the Iraq war' rather than 'the Iraqi war', to give another example.[17]

In 2012, the British magazine The Economist stated:

The real reason 'Democrat Party' is wrong is not because it's ungrammatical, but because it's incorrect in another way—the party is simply not named the Democrat Party, but the Democratic Party. Calling it anything else is discourteous.[18]

History Edit

19th century Edit

In American history, many parties were named by their opponents: (Federalists, Loco-Focos, Know Nothings, Populists, Dixiecrats), including the Democrats themselves, as the Federalists in the 1790s used Democratic Party as a term of ridicule.[19]

Addressing a gathering of Michigan Republicans in 1889, New Hampshire Republican Congressman Jacob H. Gallinger said:

The great Democrat party, laying down the sceptre of power in 1860, after ruling this country under free trade for a quarter of a century, left our treasury bankrupt, and gave as a legacy to the Republican party, a gigantic rebellion and a treasury without a single dollar of money in it.[20]

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term was used by the press in London, England, as a synonym for the more common Democratic Party in 1890:

Whether a little farmer from South Carolina named Tillman is going to rule the Democrat Party in America—yet it is this, and not output, on which the proximate value of silver depends.[21]

Early 20th century Edit

The 1919 New Teachers' and Pupils' Cyclopaedia entry for Woodrow Wilson states that "In 1912, Wilson was the Democrat Party nominee for President ..."[22] On July 14, 1922, a newspaper in Keytesville, Missouri, posted an advertisement for its primary elections with the Democratic candidates identified as "Representing: Democrat Party".[23]

Late 20th century Edit

The noun-as-adjective has been used by Republican leaders since the 1940s, and in most GOP national platforms since 1948 and began being popularized by Brazilla Carroll Reece in 1946.[24] By the early 1950s, the term was in widespread use among Republicans of all factions.[25] When Senator Thruston Ballard Morton became chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1959, he indicated that he had always said Democratic Party and would continue to do so, which contrasted with his predecessor, Meade Alcorn, and with National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman Barry Goldwater, both of whom used Democrat Party.[26] According to Congressional Quarterly, at the 1968 Republican National Convention "the GOP did revert to the epithet of 'Democrat' party. The phrase had been used in 1952 and 1956 but not in 1960 and 1964".[3]

According to William Safire, Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen, campaign manager to Republican Wendell Willkie during the 1940 presidential campaign, explained that because the Democratic Party was at that time partly controlled by undemocratic city bosses, "by Hague in New Jersey, Pendergast in Missouri and Kelly-Nash in Chicago, [it] should not be called a 'Democratic Party.' It should be called the 'Democrat Party.'"[27]

Columnist Russell Baker wrote in 1976:

The origin of this illiterate phrase, goes back, I believe to the era of Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy ... The chief trouble with "the Democrat party" is that it makes the Republicans saying it sound both illiterate and coy, and, so, is like a shotgun that is all kick and no fire ... A party whose membership is down to 22 percent of the electorate, as the Republican party is, hardly needs ways to irritate voters from the opposing party whom it must seduce if it is to succeed.[28]

During the 1984 Republican National Convention, use of the term was a point of contention among the delegates.[29] When a member of the Republican platform committee asked unanimous consent to change the phrasing of a platform amendment to read Democrat Party instead of Democratic Party, New York Representative Jack Kemp objected, saying that would be "an insult to our Democratic friends;" the committee dropped the proposal.[8]

Newt Gingrich, in his efforts in the 1980s and 1990s to produce a Republican majority in the United States House of Representatives, relied heavily on words and phrases that cast Democrats in a negative light.[30] The phrase Democrat Party gained new currency when the Republican Party, led by Gingrich, gained control of the House of Representatives in 1994.[2]

In 1996, the wording throughout the Republican Party platform was changed from Democratic Party to Democrat Party: Republican leaders "explained they wanted to make the subtle point that the Democratic Party had become elitist".[31] A proposal to use the term in the August 2008 Republican platform for similar reasons was voted down, with leaders choosing to use Democratic Party. "We probably should use what the actual name is," said Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, the panel's chairman. "At least in writing."[31]

21st century Edit

Following his inauguration in 2001, President George W. Bush often used the noun-as-adjective when referring to the Democratic Party.[32] Ruth Marcus, an opinion writer and columnist for The Washington Post, wrote in 2006, "The derisive use of 'Democrat' in this way was a Bush staple during the recent campaign".[1]

Bush spoke of the "Democrat majority" in his 2007 State of the Union Address, although the advance copy that was given to members of Congress read "Democratic majority".[13][33] Democrats complained about the use of Democrat as an adjective in the address; John Podesta, White House Chief of Staff under Bush's predecessor Bill Clinton, said it was "like nails on a chalkboard", although congressional historian Julian E. Zelizer has opined that "It's hard to disentangle whether that's an intentional slight".[13] Political analyst Charlie Cook doubted it was a deliberate attempt to offend Democrats, saying Republicans "have been [using the term] so long that they probably don't even realize they're doing it".[13]

Bush joked about the issue in a February 4, 2007 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."[34][35]

Donald Trump has used the phrase repeatedly, both during his presidential campaign and as president.[36] In a July 2018 campaign rally, he said that "The Democratic Party sounds too good so I don't want to use that, OK?" He added, "I call it the Democrat Party. It sounds better rhetorically."[37] At a September 2018 rally he suggested that "When you see 'Democratic Party,' it's wrong. There's no name, 'Democratic Party.'"[38] At the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2019, he stated he liked to say, "the 'Democrat Party,' because it doesn't sound good. But that's all the more reason I use it, because it doesn't."[39] During the first White House Coronavirus Task Force press conference, he advanced this usage with, "... governors including Democratic—or Democrat, as I call them—governors—which is actually the correct term."[40]

During the 2020 United States presidential election, a conservative advocacy group created the website "Democrat Voters Against Joe Biden", in an apparent attempt to respond to Republican Voters Against Trump. According to The Daily Beast, the former found only one registered Democrat for its testimonies by September 2020; The Daily Beast opined that the name of the organization is a clue that its founders were unfamiliar with how registered Democrats refer to themselves.[41] Deliberate usage of the term as an epithet accelerated in the late 2010s and 2020s.[42]

Media organizations Edit

According to the left-leaning media watchdog Media Matters for America, the "ungrammatical" and "partisan" use of the phrase Democrat Party has "echoed Republicans" with its use in the Associated Press, CNN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Chicago Tribune.[43]

NPR directed its staff in 2010 to use the adjective Democratic rather than Democrat.[44] According to Ron Elving, NPR's senior Washington editor, it was the organization's policy to call parties by the name that they use to refer to themselves, saying: "We should not refer to Democrat ideas or Democrat votes. Any deviation from that by NPR reporters on air or online should be corrected".[45]

Responses Edit

In the mid-1950s, members of the Democratic National Committee proposed using "Publican Party" instead of "Republican Party". The committee failed to accept the proposal, "explaining that Republican is the name by which our opponents' product is known and mistrusted".[46] Sherman Yellen suggested "The Republicants" as suitably comparable in terms of negative connotation in an April 29, 2007, Huffington Post column.[47]

On the February 26, 2009 edition of Hardball with Chris Matthews, California Republican Representative Darrell Issa referred to "a Democrat Congress". The host, Chris Matthews, responded by saying:

Well, I think the Democratic Party calls itself the Democratic Party, not the Democrat Party. Do we have to do this every night? Why do people talk like this? Is this just fighting words to get the name on?[48]

Issa denied that he intended to use "fighting words", to which Matthews replied, "They call themselves the Democratic Party. Let's just call people what they call themselves and stop the Mickey Mouse here—save that for the stump."[48]

In March 2009, after Representative Jeb Hensarling (R–Texas) repeatedly used the phrase Democrat Party when questioning U.S. Office of Management and Budget director Peter Orszag, Representative Marcy Kaptur (D–Ohio) said:

I'd like to begin by saying to my colleague from Texas that there isn't a single member on this side of the aisle that belongs to the "Democrat Party". We belong to the Democratic Party. So the party you were referring to doesn't even exist. And I would just appreciate the courtesy when you're referring to our party ... to refer to it as such.[49]

Notes Edit

  1. ^ a b c Marcus, Ruth (November 22, 2006). "One Syllable of Civility". The Washington Post. p. A21.
  2. ^ a b Schlesinger, Robert (2008). White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters. New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-7432-9169-9. democrat epithet.
  3. ^ a b "Republicans Adopt Moderate Stance in 1968 Platform". CQ Almanac 1968 (24th ed.). 1969. ISSN 0095-6007. 19-984-19-986. Platform analysts noted that, while the 1968 version was not as highly critical of the Administration as the 1964 model, the GOP did revert to the epithet of 'Democrat' party. The phrase had been used in 1952 and 1956 but not in 1960 and 1964.
  4. ^ Siegal, Allan M.; Connolly, William (2015). The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage (5th ed.). Crown/Archetype. ISBN 978-1-10-190322-3.
  5. ^ Taranto, James (September 23, 2011). "Could Nader Hurt Obama?". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  6. ^ Safire (1993), pp. 163f.
  7. ^ "What's in an adjective? 'Democrat Party' label on the rise". AP NEWS. February 27, 2021. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  8. ^ a b "Democrats Find Ally In Republican Camp". The New York Times. United Press International. August 17, 1984.
  9. ^ a b Copperud (1980), pp. 101–2.
  10. ^ Martin, K. C. (November 4, 2014). . OxfordWords Blog. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on March 3, 2017. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  11. ^ Safire, William (1996). "Oh Hell, What's in an Adverb?". National Journal. Vol. 28, no. 27–52. Washington, DC. p. 1615.
  12. ^ a b c Hertzberg, Hendrik (August 7, 2006). "The 'Ic' Factor". The New Yorker. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  13. ^ a b c d Copleand, Libby (January 25, 2007). "President's Sin of Omission? (Dropped Syllable in Speech Riles Democrats)". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 31, 2007.
  14. ^ Copperud (1980), p. 101.
  15. ^ Morris, William; Morris, Mary (1975). Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage, p. 176.
  16. ^ Fuller, Linda K. (2011). The Christian Science Monitor: An Evolving Experiment in Journalism. ABC-CLIO. p. 81. ISBN 978-0-313-37994-9.
  17. ^ Walker, Ruth (January 27, 2005). . Christian Science Monitor. Archived from the original on March 12, 2007.
  18. ^ R.L.G. (February 15, 2012). "Names: What's wrong with the "Democrat Party". The Economist.
  19. ^ Safire (1993), p. 176.
  20. ^ Michigan Club, Detroit (1890). Proceedings... Annual Meeting of the Michigan Club: 1889. p. 43.
  21. ^ Oxford English Dictionary under "Democrat" 4 citing the London Spectator November 15, 1890 p. 676.
  22. ^ Holst, Bernhart Paul (1919). The New Teachers' and Pupils' Cyclopaedia. Vol. VI. Chicago: Holst Publishing Company. p. 3158.
  23. ^ Chariton County Clerk (July 14, 1922). "Notice of Primary Election". Chariton Courier. Keytesville, Mo. p. 6.
  24. ^ Glickman, Lawrence B. (January 21, 2023). "The Real Origins of the "Democrat Party" Troll". Slate. Retrieved January 21, 2023.
  25. ^ Feuerlicht, Ignace (October 1957). "Democrat Party". American Speech. 32 (3): 228–31. doi:10.2307/453829. JSTOR 453829. OCLC 67159091.
  26. ^ Donovan, Robert J. (April 18, 1959). "Big Change: Morton To Say Democratic, Not Democrat Party". Cincinnati Enquirer. Cincinnati, Ohio. Herald Tribune News Service. p. 1.
  27. ^ Safire (1988), p. 35.
  28. ^ Baker, Russell (September 5, 1976). "Democrat Party? — Suggestion for GOP: Drop the Illiterate Phrase". Fort Lauderdale News and Sun-Sentinel. Fort Lauderdale, Fla. New York Times News Service. p. 3E.
  29. ^ Raum, Tom (August 28, 1984). "What's in a Name?". Del Rio News Herald. Del Rio, Tex. Associated Press. p. 4.
  30. ^ Braswell, Sean (July 15, 2016). "Newt is Back: Can He Raise Trump's Rhetorical Game?". Ozy.com. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  31. ^ a b Woodward, Calvin (August 26, 2008). "No More 'Democrat Wars' for GOP Spinmeisters?". USA Today. Associated Press.
  32. ^ AP Staff (July 23, 2004). "Bush Courts Black Voters at Urban League". Associated Press (AP). Retrieved April 12, 2017 – via FoxNews.com.
  33. ^ Office of the Press Secretary (January 23, 2007). . WhiteHouse.Archives.gov. Archived from the original on May 2, 2013. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  34. ^ Abramowitz, Michael; Kane, Paul (February 4, 2007). "At Democrats' Meeting, Bush Appeals for Cooperation". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 31, 2007.
  35. ^ Levey, Noam H. (February 4, 2007). "Bush reaches across partisan divide". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  36. ^ Lutz, Eric (October 21, 2017). "There may be a reason Trump keeps saying "Democrat" instead of "Democratic" in his attacks on party". Mic.
  37. ^ . Fox News. July 5, 2018. Archived from the original on July 6, 2018. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
  38. ^ Blahut, Mitchell (September 29, 2018). "Fact-checking Donald Trump's rally in Wheeling, W.Va". PolitiFact. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  39. ^ By Paul Farhi "'The Democrat Party': Trump needles the opposition by truncating its name" The Washington Post March 7, 2019
  40. ^ "False claim: Trump said "hundreds of governors" are calling him". Reuters. April 24, 2020. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
  41. ^ Markay, Lachlan (September 16, 2020). "'Democrat Voters Against Joe Biden' Group Has Trump Fanatics, a Psychic, but No Actual Dems". The Daily Beast.
  42. ^ Smyth, Julie Carr (February 27, 2021). "What's in an adjective? 'Democrat Party' label on the rise". Associated Press. Retrieved January 21, 2023.
  43. ^ Brown, Joe (August 16, 2006). "GOP Strategists Christen 'Democrat [sic] Party' — and the Media Comply". MediaMatters.org. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  44. ^ Nelson (2016), pp. 99–100.
  45. ^ Shepard, Alicia C. (March 26, 2010). . NPR. Archived from the original on March 24, 2012. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  46. ^ Safire (1993), pp. 163–164.
  47. ^ Yellen, Sherman (April 29, 2007). "The Republicants". Huffington Post. Retrieved October 25, 2010.
  48. ^ a b Mullins, Anne Schroeder (February 26, 2009). "Don't Call Democrats, Democrats!". Politico.com. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  49. ^ Frick, Ali (March 3, 2009). "Rep. Kaptur Scolds GOP: 'Democrat Party' Doesn't Exist". ThinkProgress.org. Retrieved March 4, 2009.

References Edit

  • Copperud, Roy H. (1980). American Usage and Style: The Consensus. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. ISBN 978-0-442-21630-6.
  • Nelson, Eliot (2016). The Beltway Bible: A Totally Serious A-Z Guide to Our No-Good, Corrupt, Incompetent, Terrible, Depressing, and Sometimes Hilarious Government. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 978-1-250-09925-9.
  • Safire, William (1988). You Could Look It Up: More on Language. Times Books. ISBN 978-0-8129-1324-8.
  • Safire, William (1993). Safire's New Political Dictionary. Random House. ISBN 978-0-679-42068-2.

Further reading Edit

  • Brians, Paul (2003). Common Errors in English Usage. Franklin, Beedle & Associates, Inc. p. 56. ISBN 978-1-88-790289-2.
  • Cassidy, Frederic G.; Hall, Joan H., eds. (1991). Dictionary of American Regional English: Volume 2. pp. 37–38, 1036.
  • "The 'Democratic' or 'Democrat' Party?". FactCheck.org. December 7, 2007.
  • Garner, Bryan A. (2016). Garner's Modern English Usage. Oxford University Press. p. 258. ISBN 978-0-19-049148-2.
  • Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage. 1994. pp. 328–29, 667.
  • Nunberg, Geoffrey (January 19, 2005). "The Case for Democracy". Fresh Air. NPR.
  • Nunberg, Geoffrey (July 3, 2007). Talking right : how conservatives turned liberalism into a tax-raising, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading, body-piercing, Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show. London: PublicAffairs. pp. 16, 31–32. ISBN 978-1-58-648509-2.
  • Sperber, Hans; Trittschuh, Travis (1969). American Political Terms: A historical dictionary (4th ed.). Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University Press. ISBN 978-0-81-431187-5.
  • Julie Carr, Smith (February 27, 2021). "What's in an adjective? 'Democrat Party' label on the rise". Associated Press. Retrieved February 27, 2021.

October 19, 2023
democrat, party, epithet, confused, with, democrat, party, thailand, democrat, party, epithet, pejorative, democratic, party, united, states, often, used, disparaging, fashion, party, opponents, while, term, started, hostile, grown, negative, since, 1940s, par. Not to be confused with Democrat Party Thailand Democrat Party is an epithet and pejorative for the Democratic Party of the United States 1 2 3 often used in a disparaging fashion by the party s opponents 4 While use of the term started out as non hostile it has grown in its negative use since the 1940s in particular by members of the Republican Party in party platforms partisan speeches and press releases as well as by conservative commentators and third party politicians 5 6 7 Contents 1 Modern usage 2 Grammar 3 History 3 1 19th century 3 2 Early 20th century 3 3 Late 20th century 3 4 21st century 3 5 Media organizations 4 Responses 5 Notes 6 References 7 Further readingModern usage EditUnited Press International reported in August 1984 that the term Democrat Party had been employed in recent years by some right wing Republicans because the party s Democratic name implied that the Democrats were the only true adherents of democracy 8 Language expert Roy Copperud said it was used by Republicans who disliked the implication that Democratic Party implied to listeners that Democrats are somehow the anointed custodians of the concept of democracy 9 According to Oxford Dictionaries the use of Democrat rather than the adjective Democratic is in keeping with a longstanding tradition among Republicans of dropping the ic in order to maintain a distinction from the broader positive associations of the adjective democratic with democracy and egalitarianism 10 Political commentator William Safire wrote in 1993 that the Democrat of Democrat Party does conveniently rhyme with autocrat plutocrat and worst of all bureaucrat 11 In 2006 Hendrik Hertzberg wrote in The New Yorker 12 There s no great mystery about the motives behind this deliberate misnaming Democrat Party is a slur or intended to be a handy way to express contempt Aesthetic judgments are subjective of course but Democrat Party is jarring verging on ugly It fairly screams rat Republican pollster Frank Luntz tested the phrase with a focus group in 2001 and concluded that the only people who really disliked the epithet were highly partisan Democrats 12 Political analyst Charlie Cook attributed modern use of the term to force of habit rather than a deliberate epithet by Republicans 13 Journalist Ruth Marcus stated that Republicans likely only continue to employ the term because Democrats dislike it 1 and Hertzberg calls use of the term a minor irritation and also the partisan equivalent of flashing a gang sign 12 Grammar EditAmong authors of dictionaries and usage guides who state that the use of Democrat as an adjective is ungrammatical are Roy H Copperud 9 Bergen Evans 14 and William and Mary Morris In particular the latter have written It is the idiotic creation of some of the least responsible members of the Republican Party 15 In 2005 Ruth Walker who has been the long time language columnist for The Christian Science Monitor 16 while stating that Democratic is the correct term in most instances placed the adjectival use of Democrat within a broader trend We re losing our inflections the special endings we use to distinguish between adjectives and nouns for instance There s a tendency to modify a noun with another noun rather than an adjective Some may speak of the Ukraine election rather than the Ukrainian election or the election in Ukraine for instance It s the Iraq war rather than the Iraqi war to give another example 17 In 2012 the British magazine The Economist stated The real reason Democrat Party is wrong is not because it s ungrammatical but because it s incorrect in another way the party is simply not named the Democrat Party but the Democratic Party Calling it anything else is discourteous 18 History Edit19th century Edit In American history many parties were named by their opponents Federalists Loco Focos Know Nothings Populists Dixiecrats including the Democrats themselves as the Federalists in the 1790s used Democratic Party as a term of ridicule 19 Addressing a gathering of Michigan Republicans in 1889 New Hampshire Republican Congressman Jacob H Gallinger said The great Democrat party laying down the sceptre of power in 1860 after ruling this country under free trade for a quarter of a century left our treasury bankrupt and gave as a legacy to the Republican party a gigantic rebellion and a treasury without a single dollar of money in it 20 According to the Oxford English Dictionary the term was used by the press in London England as a synonym for the more common Democratic Party in 1890 Whether a little farmer from South Carolina named Tillman is going to rule the Democrat Party in America yet it is this and not output on which the proximate value of silver depends 21 Early 20th century Edit This section relies excessively on references to primary sources Please improve this section by adding secondary or tertiary sources January 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message The 1919 New Teachers and Pupils Cyclopaedia entry for Woodrow Wilson states that In 1912 Wilson was the Democrat Party nominee for President 22 On July 14 1922 a newspaper in Keytesville Missouri posted an advertisement for its primary elections with the Democratic candidates identified as Representing Democrat Party 23 Late 20th century Edit The noun as adjective has been used by Republican leaders since the 1940s and in most GOP national platforms since 1948 and began being popularized by Brazilla Carroll Reece in 1946 24 By the early 1950s the term was in widespread use among Republicans of all factions 25 When Senator Thruston Ballard Morton became chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1959 he indicated that he had always said Democratic Party and would continue to do so which contrasted with his predecessor Meade Alcorn and with National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman Barry Goldwater both of whom used Democrat Party 26 According to Congressional Quarterly at the 1968 Republican National Convention the GOP did revert to the epithet of Democrat party The phrase had been used in 1952 and 1956 but not in 1960 and 1964 3 According to William Safire Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen campaign manager to Republican Wendell Willkie during the 1940 presidential campaign explained that because the Democratic Party was at that time partly controlled by undemocratic city bosses by Hague in New Jersey Pendergast in Missouri and Kelly Nash in Chicago it should not be called a Democratic Party It should be called the Democrat Party 27 Columnist Russell Baker wrote in 1976 The origin of this illiterate phrase goes back I believe to the era of Sen Joseph R McCarthy The chief trouble with the Democrat party is that it makes the Republicans saying it sound both illiterate and coy and so is like a shotgun that is all kick and no fire A party whose membership is down to 22 percent of the electorate as the Republican party is hardly needs ways to irritate voters from the opposing party whom it must seduce if it is to succeed 28 During the 1984 Republican National Convention use of the term was a point of contention among the delegates 29 When a member of the Republican platform committee asked unanimous consent to change the phrasing of a platform amendment to read Democrat Party instead of Democratic Party New York Representative Jack Kemp objected saying that would be an insult to our Democratic friends the committee dropped the proposal 8 Newt Gingrich in his efforts in the 1980s and 1990s to produce a Republican majority in the United States House of Representatives relied heavily on words and phrases that cast Democrats in a negative light 30 The phrase Democrat Party gained new currency when the Republican Party led by Gingrich gained control of the House of Representatives in 1994 2 In 1996 the wording throughout the Republican Party platform was changed from Democratic Party to Democrat Party Republican leaders explained they wanted to make the subtle point that the Democratic Party had become elitist 31 A proposal to use the term in the August 2008 Republican platform for similar reasons was voted down with leaders choosing to use Democratic Party We probably should use what the actual name is said Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour the panel s chairman At least in writing 31 21st century Edit Following his inauguration in 2001 President George W Bush often used the noun as adjective when referring to the Democratic Party 32 Ruth Marcus an opinion writer and columnist for The Washington Post wrote in 2006 The derisive use of Democrat in this way was a Bush staple during the recent campaign 1 Bush spoke of the Democrat majority in his 2007 State of the Union Address although the advance copy that was given to members of Congress read Democratic majority 13 33 Democrats complained about the use of Democrat as an adjective in the address John Podesta White House Chief of Staff under Bush s predecessor Bill Clinton said it was like nails on a chalkboard although congressional historian Julian E Zelizer has opined that It s hard to disentangle whether that s an intentional slight 13 Political analyst Charlie Cook doubted it was a deliberate attempt to offend Democrats saying Republicans have been using the term so long that they probably don t even realize they re doing it 13 Bush joked about the issue in a February 4 2007 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 34 35 Donald Trump has used the phrase repeatedly both during his presidential campaign and as president 36 In a July 2018 campaign rally he said that The Democratic Party sounds too good so I don t want to use that OK He added I call it the Democrat Party It sounds better rhetorically 37 At a September 2018 rally he suggested that When you see Democratic Party it s wrong There s no name Democratic Party 38 At the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2019 he stated he liked to say the Democrat Party because it doesn t sound good But that s all the more reason I use it because it doesn t 39 During the first White House Coronavirus Task Force press conference he advanced this usage with governors including Democratic or Democrat as I call them governors which is actually the correct term 40 During the 2020 United States presidential election a conservative advocacy group created the website Democrat Voters Against Joe Biden in an apparent attempt to respond to Republican Voters Against Trump According to The Daily Beast the former found only one registered Democrat for its testimonies by September 2020 The Daily Beast opined that the name of the organization is a clue that its founders were unfamiliar with how registered Democrats refer to themselves 41 Deliberate usage of the term as an epithet accelerated in the late 2010s and 2020s 42 Media organizations Edit According to the left leaning media watchdog Media Matters for America the ungrammatical and partisan use of the phrase Democrat Party has echoed Republicans with its use in the Associated Press CNN The New York Times The Wall Street Journal and the Chicago Tribune 43 NPR directed its staff in 2010 to use the adjective Democratic rather than Democrat 44 According to Ron Elving NPR s senior Washington editor it was the organization s policy to call parties by the name that they use to refer to themselves saying We should not refer to Democrat ideas or Democrat votes Any deviation from that by NPR reporters on air or online should be corrected 45 Responses EditIn the mid 1950s members of the Democratic National Committee proposed using Publican Party instead of Republican Party The committee failed to accept the proposal explaining that Republican is the name by which our opponents product is known and mistrusted 46 Sherman Yellen suggested The Republicants as suitably comparable in terms of negative connotation in an April 29 2007 Huffington Post column 47 On the February 26 2009 edition of Hardball with Chris Matthews California Republican Representative Darrell Issa referred to a Democrat Congress The host Chris Matthews responded by saying Well I think the Democratic Party calls itself the Democratic Party not the Democrat Party Do we have to do this every night Why do people talk like this Is this just fighting words to get the name on 48 Issa denied that he intended to use fighting words to which Matthews replied They call themselves the Democratic Party Let s just call people what they call themselves and stop the Mickey Mouse here save that for the stump 48 In March 2009 after Representative Jeb Hensarling R Texas repeatedly used the phrase Democrat Party when questioning U S Office of Management and Budget director Peter Orszag Representative Marcy Kaptur D Ohio said I d like to begin by saying to my colleague from Texas that there isn t a single member on this side of the aisle that belongs to the Democrat Party We belong to the Democratic Party So the party you were referring to doesn t even exist And I would just appreciate the courtesy when you re referring to our party to refer to it as such 49 Notes Edit a b c Marcus Ruth November 22 2006 One Syllable of Civility The Washington Post p A21 a b Schlesinger Robert 2008 White House Ghosts Presidents and Their Speechwriters New York Simon and Schuster p 96 ISBN 978 0 7432 9169 9 democrat epithet a b Republicans Adopt Moderate Stance in 1968 Platform CQ Almanac 1968 24th ed 1969 ISSN 0095 6007 19 984 19 986 Platform analysts noted that while the 1968 version was not as highly critical of the Administration as the 1964 model the GOP did revert to the epithet of Democrat party The phrase had been used in 1952 and 1956 but not in 1960 and 1964 Siegal Allan M Connolly William 2015 The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage 5th ed Crown Archetype ISBN 978 1 10 190322 3 Taranto James September 23 2011 Could Nader Hurt Obama Wall Street Journal ISSN 0099 9660 Retrieved February 1 2021 Safire 1993 pp 163f What s in an adjective Democrat Party label on the rise AP NEWS February 27 2021 Retrieved February 28 2021 a b Democrats Find Ally In Republican Camp The New York Times United Press International August 17 1984 a b Copperud 1980 pp 101 2 Martin K C November 4 2014 What are the most common American political insults OxfordWords Blog Oxford University Press Archived from the original on March 3 2017 Retrieved March 3 2017 Safire William 1996 Oh Hell What s in an Adverb National Journal Vol 28 no 27 52 Washington DC p 1615 a b c Hertzberg Hendrik August 7 2006 The Ic Factor The New Yorker Retrieved April 12 2017 a b c d Copleand Libby January 25 2007 President s Sin of Omission Dropped Syllable in Speech Riles Democrats The Washington Post Retrieved March 31 2007 Copperud 1980 p 101 Morris William Morris Mary 1975 Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage p 176 Fuller Linda K 2011 The Christian Science Monitor An Evolving Experiment in Journalism ABC CLIO p 81 ISBN 978 0 313 37994 9 Walker Ruth January 27 2005 Republicans Democrats and the Afghan on the Couch Christian Science Monitor Archived from the original on March 12 2007 R L G February 15 2012 Names What s wrong with the Democrat Party The Economist Safire 1993 p 176 Michigan Club Detroit 1890 Proceedings Annual Meeting of the Michigan Club 1889 p 43 Oxford English Dictionary under Democrat 4 citing the London Spectator November 15 1890 p 676 Holst Bernhart Paul 1919 The New Teachers and Pupils Cyclopaedia Vol VI Chicago Holst Publishing Company p 3158 Chariton County Clerk July 14 1922 Notice of Primary Election Chariton Courier Keytesville Mo p 6 Glickman Lawrence B January 21 2023 The Real Origins of the Democrat Party Troll Slate Retrieved January 21 2023 Feuerlicht Ignace October 1957 Democrat Party American Speech 32 3 228 31 doi 10 2307 453829 JSTOR 453829 OCLC 67159091 Donovan Robert J April 18 1959 Big Change Morton To Say Democratic Not Democrat Party Cincinnati Enquirer Cincinnati Ohio Herald Tribune News Service p 1 Safire 1988 p 35 Baker Russell September 5 1976 Democrat Party Suggestion for GOP Drop the Illiterate Phrase Fort Lauderdale News and Sun Sentinel Fort Lauderdale Fla New York Times News Service p 3E Raum Tom August 28 1984 What s in a Name Del Rio News Herald Del Rio Tex Associated Press p 4 Braswell Sean July 15 2016 Newt is Back Can He Raise Trump s Rhetorical Game Ozy com Retrieved April 12 2017 a b Woodward Calvin August 26 2008 No More Democrat Wars for GOP Spinmeisters USA Today Associated Press AP Staff July 23 2004 Bush Courts Black Voters at Urban League Associated Press AP Retrieved April 12 2017 via FoxNews com Office of the Press Secretary January 23 2007 President Bush Delivers State of the Union Address WhiteHouse Archives gov Archived from the original on May 2 2013 Retrieved April 12 2017 Abramowitz Michael Kane Paul February 4 2007 At Democrats Meeting Bush Appeals for Cooperation The Washington Post Retrieved March 31 2007 Levey Noam H February 4 2007 Bush reaches across partisan divide Los Angeles Times Retrieved April 12 2017 Lutz Eric October 21 2017 There may be a reason Trump keeps saying Democrat instead of Democratic in his attacks on party Mic This is a rush transcript from The Story Fox News July 5 2018 Archived from the original on July 6 2018 Retrieved July 6 2018 Blahut Mitchell September 29 2018 Fact checking Donald Trump s rally in Wheeling W Va PolitiFact Retrieved September 30 2018 By Paul Farhi The Democrat Party Trump needles the opposition by truncating its name The Washington Post March 7 2019 False claim Trump said hundreds of governors are calling him Reuters April 24 2020 Retrieved August 24 2022 Markay Lachlan September 16 2020 Democrat Voters Against Joe Biden Group Has Trump Fanatics a Psychic but No Actual Dems The Daily Beast Smyth Julie Carr February 27 2021 What s in an adjective Democrat Party label on the rise Associated Press Retrieved January 21 2023 Brown Joe August 16 2006 GOP Strategists Christen Democrat sic Party and the Media Comply MediaMatters org Retrieved April 12 2017 Nelson 2016 pp 99 100 Shepard Alicia C March 26 2010 Ombudsman Since When Did It Become the Democrat Party NPR Archived from the original on March 24 2012 Retrieved April 12 2017 Safire 1993 pp 163 164 Yellen Sherman April 29 2007 The Republicants Huffington Post Retrieved October 25 2010 a b Mullins Anne Schroeder February 26 2009 Don t Call Democrats Democrats Politico com Retrieved April 12 2017 Frick Ali March 3 2009 Rep Kaptur Scolds GOP Democrat Party Doesn t Exist ThinkProgress org Retrieved March 4 2009 References EditCopperud Roy H 1980 American Usage and Style The Consensus New York Van Nostrand Reinhold ISBN 978 0 442 21630 6 Nelson Eliot 2016 The Beltway Bible A Totally Serious A Z Guide to Our No Good Corrupt Incompetent Terrible Depressing and Sometimes Hilarious Government New York St Martin s Griffin ISBN 978 1 250 09925 9 Safire William 1988 You Could Look It Up More on Language Times Books ISBN 978 0 8129 1324 8 Safire William 1993 Safire s New Political Dictionary Random House ISBN 978 0 679 42068 2 Further reading EditBrians Paul 2003 Common Errors in English Usage Franklin Beedle amp Associates Inc p 56 ISBN 978 1 88 790289 2 Cassidy Frederic G Hall Joan H eds 1991 Dictionary of American Regional English Volume 2 pp 37 38 1036 The Democratic or Democrat Party FactCheck org December 7 2007 Garner Bryan A 2016 Garner s Modern English Usage Oxford University Press p 258 ISBN 978 0 19 049148 2 Merriam Webster s Dictionary of English Usage 1994 pp 328 29 667 Nunberg Geoffrey January 19 2005 The Case for Democracy Fresh Air NPR Nunberg Geoffrey July 3 2007 Talking right how conservatives turned liberalism into a tax raising latte drinking sushi eating Volvo driving New York Times reading body piercing Hollywood loving left wing freak show London PublicAffairs pp 16 31 32 ISBN 978 1 58 648509 2 Sperber Hans Trittschuh Travis 1969 American Political Terms A historical dictionary 4th ed Detroit Michigan Wayne State University Press ISBN 978 0 81 431187 5 Julie Carr Smith February 27 2021 What s in an adjective Democrat Party label on the rise Associated Press Retrieved February 27 2021 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Democrat Party epithet amp oldid 1178335648, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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