The Democrat party and the Poohblican party

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Names matter. Refusing to use the name of the opposing political party is arrogant. It also is stupid if you call the Democratic Party the Democrat Party. Democratic is an adjective; Democrat is a noun, and if you’re smarter than a fifth-grader then you know those are different parts of speech. But bullies like Joe McCarthy, Rush Limbaugh, and Donald Trump like to refer to ‘the Democrat Party.’ In his 2021 CPAC speech Trump said that:

“The mission of the Democrat party is to promote socialism.”

 

An article by Julie Carr Smyth at the Associated Press on February 27, 2021 is titled What’s in an adjective? ‘Democrat Party’ label on the rise. She says:

“Trump’s lawyers used the construction frequently during his second impeachment trial, following the lead of the former president, who employed it routinely while in office. During a campaign rally last October in Wisconsin, he explained his thinking.

‘You know I always say Democrat. You know why? Because it sounds worse,’ Trump said. ‘Democrat sounds lousy, but you know what? That’s actually their name, the Democrat Party. Right? The Democrat Party. So I always say Democrat.’

In fact, ‘Democratic’ to describe some version of a U.S. political party has been around since Thomas Jefferson and James Madison formed the Democratic-Republican Party in the 1790s. Modern Democrats are loosely descended from a split of that party.

The precise origins of Republicans’ truncated phrasing are difficult to pin down, but the Republican National Committee formalized it in a vote ahead of the 1956 presidential election.

Then-spokesman L. Richard Guylay told The New York Times that ‘Democrat Party’ was ‘a natural,’ because it was already in common use among Republicans and better reflected the ‘diverse viewpoints’ within the opposing party — which the GOP suggested weren’t always representative of small-d democratic values.

Wisconsin Sen. Joseph McCarthy, who had just led his notorious campaign against alleged communists, Soviet spies and sympathizers, was the most notable user of the phrase ‘Democrat Party’ ahead of the vote.”

The Republican Party Platform for 1976 says:

“Control of the United States Congress by the Democrat Party for 40 of the past 44 years has resulted in a system dominated by powerful individuals and riddled with corruption.”

And the Republican Party Platform for 1988 says:

“The bosses of the Democrat Party have thrown in the towel and abandoned the American worker and producer.”

 

For too long the Democrats have avoided striking back with an insult of their own. An article by Eric Zorn in the Chicago Tribune back on November 3, 1996 titled Is it mopery to flick that ‘ic’ from Democratic only suggested revising the GOP acronym (Grand Old Party) to MOP (Mediocre Old Party). In a web article Gene Hargrove came up with RepubParty (Can and should the Democratic Party strike back?)

I think a more suitable insult is to rename the Republicans the Poohblicans after Winnie-the-Pooh  , a well-known Teddy Bear who has said something that would explain dropping the ‘ic’ from Democratic:  

“For I am a bear of very little brain, and long words bother me.”

Images of a donkey and a teddy bear both come from Wikimedia Commons.