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EspañolDEMOCRAT PARTY (PHRASE)
(Redirected from Democrat Party (United States))
:''This article refers to a political epithet; for information about the U.S. Democratic Party, see Democratic Party (United States)''.
'Democrat Party' is a political epithet used in the United States by some conservative commentators and by some members of the Republican Party in speeches and press releases instead of the name (or more precisely, the proper noun) Democratic Party.
Many members of the Democratic Party object to the term. ''New Yorker'' commentator Hendrik Hertzberg wrote: "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.'"[1]
"Democrat Party" has been used from time to time by opponents of the Democratic Party and sometimes by others. The earliest known use of the term, according to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', was by a London stock-market analyst, who wrote 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."[2] The term was used by Herbert Hoover in 1932, and in the late 1930s by Republicans who used it to criticize Democratic big city machines run by powerful political bosses in what they considered undemocratic fashion. Republican leader Harold Stassen said in 1940, "I emphasized that the party controlled in large measure at that time by Hague in New Jersey, Pendergast in Missouri and Kelly-Nash in Chicago should not be called a 'Democratic Party.' It should be called the 'Democrat Party.'"
The noun-as-adjective has been used by Republican leaders since the 1940s and appears in some GOP national platforms since 1948.[3] In 1947, Republican leader Senator Robert A. Taft said, "Nor can we expect any other policy from any Democrat Party or any Democrat President under present day conditions. They can not possibly win an election solely through the support of the solid South, and yet their political strategists believe the Southern Democrat Party will not break away no matter how radical the allies imposed upon it."[4] President Dwight D. Eisenhower used the term in his acceptance speech in 1952 and in partisan speeches to Republican groups.[5] Ruth Walker notes how Joseph McCarthy repeatedly used the phrase "the Democrat Party," and critics (as shown in the cartoon) argue that if McCarthy used the term in the 1950s, then no one else should do so. [6]
The Republican Party Web site makes extensive use of the term, although "Democratic Party" is used more often. The White House since 2001 has often used the noun-as-adjective when referring to the opposition party, and President Bush has used it almost exclusively.[7][8] Likewise, it is in common use by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay,[9] House Minority Leader John Boehner,[10] Senator Charles Grassley,[11] Congressman Steve Buyer[12], and others. George W. Bush spoke the phrase "Democrat majority" in his 2007 State of the Union Address.[13] The advance copy that was given to members of Congress read "Democrat''ic'' majority."[14] Bush joked about his leadership of the "Republic Party" the following month.[15]
Aside from partisan usage, the term can also be found used in non-partisan media. Media Matters for America has documented the use of "Democrat Party" (albeit very rarely) by CNN, ''The New York Times'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The Chicago Tribune'', and the Associated Press.[16]
Some believe that the use of the noun "Democrat" as an adjective is ungrammatical on the grounds that "Democratic Party" is not a proper noun, but a noun modified by an adjective.[17] Using a noun as a modifier of another noun is not, strictly speaking, grammatically incorrect in modern English in the formation of a compound noun, i.e. "shoe store," "school bus," "peace movement," "Senate election," etc. Americans commonly speak of "the Iraq war" rather than "the Iraqi war."Walker (2005)[18]
The use of "Democrat Party" could be part of a linguistic trend. As one linguist explained, "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."
Members of the Republican Party, from political commentators to President Bush himself, made especially extensive use of the term "Democrat Party" during the run-up to the 2006 midterm elections. In response to the growing use of the epithet in late 2006, a corresponding epithet for the Republican Party, the "Republic Party", began to circulate in liberal parts of the blogosphere; the previous Republican waves of usage had inspired the "Publican Party", but this failed to catch on.[19]
Democrats complained about the use of "Democrat" as an adjective in the 2007 State of the Union address by President Bush. "Like nails on a chalkboard," complained Clinton White House Chief of Staff John Podesta. Political analyst Charlie Cook attributed its use to force of habit rather than a deliberate epithet by Republicans: "[They] have been doing it so long that they probably don't even realize they're doing it." 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."[20] Additionally, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) repeatedly invoked the phrase "The Republic Party" on the floor of the United States House of Representatives in February 2007 while lambasting Congressional Republicans.[21]
Another corresponding noun-as-adjective response has also begun to circulate on the Internet: "The Republicans Party." [1][2][3] Members of the Democratic Underground have proposed that "Republicon Party" be used as a counter to the Republican adoption of "Democrat Party" as a putdown.[22] Sherman Yellen suggests "The Republicants" as suitably comparable in terms of negative connotation in an April 29, 2007 Huffington Post commentary[23].
1. The “Ic” Factor Hertzberg Hendrik
2. under "Democrat" 4 citing Spectator 15 Nov. 1890 p 676, which see; they mark the use of ''democrat'' attributively as ''rare'', and have only one earlier citation ("in a ''democrat'' way"); this is from Coleridge's ''Biographica Literaria'', which has other neologisms, including "intensify."
3. ''National Party Platforms, 1840-1996'', editors Kirk H. Porter, and Donald Bruce Johnson, (1996).
4. Robert Taft, ''The Papers of Robert A. Taft'', edited by Clarence E. Wunderlin, Jr., 2003, 3:313.
5. ''The Washington Post'', October 28, 1958, page A8.
6. Walker (2005).
7. "Bush Courts Black Voters at Urban League" by the Associated Press, July 23, 2004.
8. List of 356 uses of Democrat as an adjective by President Bush
9. "DeLay: Democratic Party Unfit to Lead", Fox News, July 26, 2003.
10. "Pelosi's Big Day", Slate, January 4, 2007.
11. "Alito: No Person Is Above the Law", Fox News, January 9, 2006.
12. "Transcript: House debates articles of impeachment", CNN, December 18, 1998.
13. Official 2007 State of the Union Transcript
14. President's Sin of Omission? (Dropped Syllable in Speech Riles Democrats) Libby Copleand
15. Noam H. Levey "Bush reaches across Partisan divide"; LA Times, February 4, 2007
16. GOP strategists christen "Democrat (sic) Party" -- and the media comply J.B.
17. Copperud (1980)
18. ''Master the Basics: English'' by Jean Yatets, 1996, page 64.
19. Feuerlicht, 1956
20. At Democrats' Meeting, Bush Appeals for Cooperation
21. Youtube - Anthony Weiner Rips the "Republic Party".
22. Democratic Underground thread
23. Sherman Yellen's "The Republicants"
★ Roy H. Copperud, ''American Usage and Style: The Consensus'' 1980, pages 101-102.
★ Ignace Feuerlicht. "Democrat Party," , ''American Speech'', Vol. 32, No. 3 (Oct., 1957), pp. 228-231 online in JSTOR
★ Bryan A. Garner, ''A Dictionary of Modern American Usage'' 1998, p. 196.
★ Hendrik Hertzberg. "The 'IC' Factor" ''The New Yorker'', August 7, 2006.
★ John Lyman, "Democrat Party," ''American Speech'', Vol. 33, No. 3 (October 1958), pp. 239-40 in JSTOR notes term as used by some Democrats in Maryland.
★ ''Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage'', 1994, pp 328-29, page 667.
★ Geoffrey Nunberg. "The Case for Democracy" in "Fresh Air" commentary, January 19, 2005 (radio broadcast).
★ Geoffrey Nunberg, ''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'' 2006.
★ William Safire, ''Safire's New Political Dictionary'' (1993).
★ Hans Sperber and Travis Trittschuh. ''American Political Terms: An Historical Dictionary'' (1962) pages 117-23.
★ Walker, Ruth. "Republicans, Democrats, and the Afghan on the couch" ''Christian Science Monitor'', January 27, 2005
★ "Democrats Find Ally In Republican Camp", ''UPI'', August 17, 1984.
★ Democratic Underground http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3190412 March 31, 2007
:''This article refers to a political epithet; for information about the U.S. Democratic Party, see Democratic Party (United States)''.
An unknown advisor explaining to a representation of President George W. Bush why his use of the phrase "Democrat Party" offends Democrats, from the February 25, 2007 ''Doonesbury'' strip.
'Democrat Party' is a political epithet used in the United States by some conservative commentators and by some members of the Republican Party in speeches and press releases instead of the name (or more precisely, the proper noun) Democratic Party.
Many members of the Democratic Party object to the term. ''New Yorker'' commentator Hendrik Hertzberg wrote: "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.'"[1]
| Contents |
| History of usage |
| Current usage |
| Issues of grammar |
| Response |
| Notes |
| References |
History of usage
"Democrat Party" has been used from time to time by opponents of the Democratic Party and sometimes by others. The earliest known use of the term, according to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', was by a London stock-market analyst, who wrote 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."[2] The term was used by Herbert Hoover in 1932, and in the late 1930s by Republicans who used it to criticize Democratic big city machines run by powerful political bosses in what they considered undemocratic fashion. Republican leader Harold Stassen said in 1940, "I emphasized that the party controlled in large measure at that time by Hague in New Jersey, Pendergast in Missouri and Kelly-Nash in Chicago should not be called a 'Democratic Party.' It should be called the 'Democrat Party.'"
The noun-as-adjective has been used by Republican leaders since the 1940s and appears in some GOP national platforms since 1948.[3] In 1947, Republican leader Senator Robert A. Taft said, "Nor can we expect any other policy from any Democrat Party or any Democrat President under present day conditions. They can not possibly win an election solely through the support of the solid South, and yet their political strategists believe the Southern Democrat Party will not break away no matter how radical the allies imposed upon it."[4] President Dwight D. Eisenhower used the term in his acceptance speech in 1952 and in partisan speeches to Republican groups.[5] Ruth Walker notes how Joseph McCarthy repeatedly used the phrase "the Democrat Party," and critics (as shown in the cartoon) argue that if McCarthy used the term in the 1950s, then no one else should do so. [6]
Current usage
The Republican Party Web site makes extensive use of the term, although "Democratic Party" is used more often. The White House since 2001 has often used the noun-as-adjective when referring to the opposition party, and President Bush has used it almost exclusively.[7][8] Likewise, it is in common use by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay,[9] House Minority Leader John Boehner,[10] Senator Charles Grassley,[11] Congressman Steve Buyer[12], and others. George W. Bush spoke the phrase "Democrat majority" in his 2007 State of the Union Address.[13] The advance copy that was given to members of Congress read "Democrat''ic'' majority."[14] Bush joked about his leadership of the "Republic Party" the following month.[15]
Aside from partisan usage, the term can also be found used in non-partisan media. Media Matters for America has documented the use of "Democrat Party" (albeit very rarely) by CNN, ''The New York Times'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The Chicago Tribune'', and the Associated Press.[16]
Issues of grammar
Some believe that the use of the noun "Democrat" as an adjective is ungrammatical on the grounds that "Democratic Party" is not a proper noun, but a noun modified by an adjective.[17] Using a noun as a modifier of another noun is not, strictly speaking, grammatically incorrect in modern English in the formation of a compound noun, i.e. "shoe store," "school bus," "peace movement," "Senate election," etc. Americans commonly speak of "the Iraq war" rather than "the Iraqi war."Walker (2005)[18]
The use of "Democrat Party" could be part of a linguistic trend. As one linguist explained, "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."
Response
Members of the Republican Party, from political commentators to President Bush himself, made especially extensive use of the term "Democrat Party" during the run-up to the 2006 midterm elections. In response to the growing use of the epithet in late 2006, a corresponding epithet for the Republican Party, the "Republic Party", began to circulate in liberal parts of the blogosphere; the previous Republican waves of usage had inspired the "Publican Party", but this failed to catch on.[19]
Democrats complained about the use of "Democrat" as an adjective in the 2007 State of the Union address by President Bush. "Like nails on a chalkboard," complained Clinton White House Chief of Staff John Podesta. Political analyst Charlie Cook attributed its use to force of habit rather than a deliberate epithet by Republicans: "[They] have been doing it so long that they probably don't even realize they're doing it." 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."[20] Additionally, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) repeatedly invoked the phrase "The Republic Party" on the floor of the United States House of Representatives in February 2007 while lambasting Congressional Republicans.[21]
Another corresponding noun-as-adjective response has also begun to circulate on the Internet: "The Republicans Party." [1][2][3] Members of the Democratic Underground have proposed that "Republicon Party" be used as a counter to the Republican adoption of "Democrat Party" as a putdown.[22] Sherman Yellen suggests "The Republicants" as suitably comparable in terms of negative connotation in an April 29, 2007 Huffington Post commentary[23].
Notes
1. The “Ic” Factor Hertzberg Hendrik
2. under "Democrat" 4 citing Spectator 15 Nov. 1890 p 676, which see; they mark the use of ''democrat'' attributively as ''rare'', and have only one earlier citation ("in a ''democrat'' way"); this is from Coleridge's ''Biographica Literaria'', which has other neologisms, including "intensify."
3. ''National Party Platforms, 1840-1996'', editors Kirk H. Porter, and Donald Bruce Johnson, (1996).
4. Robert Taft, ''The Papers of Robert A. Taft'', edited by Clarence E. Wunderlin, Jr., 2003, 3:313.
5. ''The Washington Post'', October 28, 1958, page A8.
6. Walker (2005).
7. "Bush Courts Black Voters at Urban League" by the Associated Press, July 23, 2004.
8. List of 356 uses of Democrat as an adjective by President Bush
9. "DeLay: Democratic Party Unfit to Lead", Fox News, July 26, 2003.
10. "Pelosi's Big Day", Slate, January 4, 2007.
11. "Alito: No Person Is Above the Law", Fox News, January 9, 2006.
12. "Transcript: House debates articles of impeachment", CNN, December 18, 1998.
13. Official 2007 State of the Union Transcript
14. President's Sin of Omission? (Dropped Syllable in Speech Riles Democrats) Libby Copleand
15. Noam H. Levey "Bush reaches across Partisan divide"; LA Times, February 4, 2007
16. GOP strategists christen "Democrat (sic) Party" -- and the media comply J.B.
17. Copperud (1980)
18. ''Master the Basics: English'' by Jean Yatets, 1996, page 64.
19. Feuerlicht, 1956
20. At Democrats' Meeting, Bush Appeals for Cooperation
21. Youtube - Anthony Weiner Rips the "Republic Party".
22. Democratic Underground thread
23. Sherman Yellen's "The Republicants"
References
★ Roy H. Copperud, ''American Usage and Style: The Consensus'' 1980, pages 101-102.
★ Ignace Feuerlicht. "Democrat Party," , ''American Speech'', Vol. 32, No. 3 (Oct., 1957), pp. 228-231 online in JSTOR
★ Bryan A. Garner, ''A Dictionary of Modern American Usage'' 1998, p. 196.
★ Hendrik Hertzberg. "The 'IC' Factor" ''The New Yorker'', August 7, 2006.
★ John Lyman, "Democrat Party," ''American Speech'', Vol. 33, No. 3 (October 1958), pp. 239-40 in JSTOR notes term as used by some Democrats in Maryland.
★ ''Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage'', 1994, pp 328-29, page 667.
★ Geoffrey Nunberg. "The Case for Democracy" in "Fresh Air" commentary, January 19, 2005 (radio broadcast).
★ Geoffrey Nunberg, ''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'' 2006.
★ William Safire, ''Safire's New Political Dictionary'' (1993).
★ Hans Sperber and Travis Trittschuh. ''American Political Terms: An Historical Dictionary'' (1962) pages 117-23.
★ Walker, Ruth. "Republicans, Democrats, and the Afghan on the couch" ''Christian Science Monitor'', January 27, 2005
★ "Democrats Find Ally In Republican Camp", ''UPI'', August 17, 1984.
★ Democratic Underground http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3190412 March 31, 2007
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