Maybe we’ve come to the root of Democrat’s ire over the issue: Gingrich initiated it.

In all seriousness, though – if it is true that Gingrich initiated the use of “Democrat Party” in a pejorative manner, then I think that he was misguided (as I said above).

Ultimately, my issue is that focusing on such a non-issue detracts from discussion of the real matters of importance; this thread is a perfect example.

I looked at the provided link re: Language, and the terms “Democrat Party” and “Democrat” are not even mentioned. In fact, in the one paragraph where it talks about the party, it uses the term “Democratic Party.”

Did you accidentally leave the wrong link, or am I missing something?

I appreciate your desire to be semantically correct and I agree with you that most of the misuses of the term are not done with any malice intended.
The only reason it rubs me the wrong way is because I know that the recent push in the GOP to misuse the term was instigated by Newt Gingrich, the author of the infamous memo Language: A Key Mechanism of Control back when he was Speaker. You can’t tell me that he did not intend malice back then when he was urging fellow Republicans to always refer to Democrats as “sick” “corrupt” and “pathetic”.
Nevertheless, you are correct that to anyone not in on Gingrich’s “language as a weapon” scheme, the misuse of the term does not come across as a pejorative.

I read some of what Mike linked, and even did some googling of my own. You know what? I honestly thought the party was founded as the “Democrat Party.” That’s why I would use the term, if ever I did. Now that I know otherwise, I’ll use “Democratic” – primarily to be semantically correct.

My point – and my problem with your reaction to the use of “Democrat” – is that I *understand* that you find it offensive, but the reasoning is, IMHO, asinine.

I don’t know anyone who uses the term pejoratively. And again IMHO, trying to do so would be about as effective as the immature, “Your Mom!” come-back from my junior high days. There is nothing “offensive” about “Your Mom!” – just as there is nothing inherently offensive with “Democrat.”

Said another way: believing that every Republican use of the term “Democrat” is pejorative is equivalent to believing that Ron Paul is representative of anything more than some kooks who comprise about 0.5% of our party.

The bottom line is this: I fail to find any intended offense in the use of “Democrat” in lieu of “Democratic”. The closest I’ve seen is some suggestion that “Democrat” evokes “rat”… is that the most offensive thing about the use of “Democrat”?

It is not intended to be offensive. It shouldn’t be inferred as such, either – for that matter, it shouldn’t be inferred as such, even if it were intended.

That being said, if something you have posted is not here, please let me know so I can track it down and find out why it happened.

The ungrammatical conversion of the noun “Democrat” to an adjective was the brainchild of Republican partisans, presumably an attempt to deny the opposing party the claim to being “democratic” — or in the words of New Yorker magazine senior editor Hendrik Hertzberg, “to deny the enemy the positive connotations of its chosen appellation.” In the early 1990s, apparently due largely to the urging of then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) and Republican pollster Frank Luntz, the use of the word “Democrat” as an adjective became near-universal among Republicans.

and:

Further, Hertzberg wrote that “among those of the Republican persuasion,” the use of ” ‘Democrat Party’ is now nearly universal” thanks to “Newt Gingrich, the nominal author of the notorious 1990 memo ‘Language: A Key Mechanism of Control,’ and his Contract with America pollster, Frank Luntz.”

Furthermore, while Nick may have used the term initially without intent to offend, that certainly can’t be said after Mike informed him that it’s use is indeed offensive and one of his “pet peeves” whereupon Nick proceeded to use the term again. At that point, the the insult can be none other than intentional.