It's Democratic not Democrat!

As I've previously posted, Republicans derogatory use of "Democrat" instead of "Democratic" is a pet peeve of mine, one which sets me off everytime I hear it used.  It is especially galling when done during an interview where the reporter does not call out the offender for their incivility toward their political rivals.  

For let us be clear - there is only one reason for its use.  To demean and deride the party which represents the "little guy" in this country and exerts its political influence, through the democratic process, to better the lives of average Americans and the fate of the nation as a consequence.  And nothing, I mean nothing, gets the ire of the priviliged elite of the Republican Party more than happy workers advancing their family's position in life so as to secure life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

I am very heartened that some in the MSM are nowing calling out the childish use of the term and those that continue to spew it.  I earlier noted that Tweety temporarily grew a spine when he challenged Ron Christie's slander on Hardball.

MATTHEWS:  Suppose they disagree on whether we should have gone into Iraq.  Suppose they disagree on whether we should stay in Iraq.  What happens then?

CHRISTIE:  I think there are going to be those disagreements, but what I would like to see the Democrats do, rather than just demagogue and say, President Bush took us into this war—I want to hear some solutions.  You find one Democrat politician who has a solution—

MATTHEWS:  Why do you say Democrat?

CHRISTIE:  Why do I say Democrat?

MATTHEWS:  Why don‘t you say Democratic?

CHRISTIE:  Pardon me.  Find one Democratic member of the Congress who has a concrete plan of what we should do in Iraq, and then I think we should have that debate, rather than—

REV. AL SHARPTON:  But Ron, --

(CROSS TALK)

And in yesterday's White House Briefing Dan Froomkin noted Bush's hypocrisy in calling for bipartisanship from the "Democrat" Party.

"The country, in my judgment, is tired of pure political bickering that happens in Washington, and they understand that on this important issue of war and peace, it is best for our country to work together. And I understand how difficult that is, but this report will give us all an opportunity to find common ground, for the good of the country -- not for the good of the Republican Party or the Democrat Party, but for the good of the country."

(Bush's alleged commitment to bipartisanship would probably be easier to swallow if he referred to the opposition party by its proper name. Although the White House press office tidied up the official transcript, the fact is that even in talking about finding common ground, the president referred to the "Democrat party" -- a clipped, derogatory locution favored by those who suggest that it isn't "democratic.")

Froomkin also linked to a Washington Post column that I had missed by Ruth Marcus that has some excellent history on the continued use of the phrase for many decades by some luminaries of American History such as Wendell Wilkie, Joseph McCarthy, Bob Dole, and of course George Bush.

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.

It is, conservative wordsmith William F. Buckley wrote in National Review in 2002, "offensive to the ear."

And with reason: It's intended to be. Republican -- Publican? -- politicians drop the ic both to annoy the opposition and to diminish the bigD Democrats' claim to the small-d democratic virtues. " 'Democrat Party' is a slur, or intended to be -- a handy way to express contempt," Hertzberg wrote. "At a slightly higher level of sophistication, it's an attempt to deny the enemy the positive connotations of its chosen appellation."

It's time to stop allowing Republican attack code to be foisted into our common dialogue and I hope reporters with ethics will challenge its use in their presence.