"Democrat party"

[Jonathan Lighter]

As was pointed out here long ago, "Democrat party" seems to have been popularized by the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

  So far as I know, Democrats don't use it.

  As a long-time Fox-watcher sensitive to this usage, my impression is that Republican yakking heads say it consistently.  But only recently have I noticed the Fox journalists themselves saying it, and consistently too.

  Previously they mostly said "Democrats."

  The seeming motivation, at least among those who know better, is to eliminate any possible hint that the Democratic party is more "democratic" or more closely connected with "democracy" than the Republican party.

  JL








David Bowie <db.list at PMPKN.NET> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: David Bowie
Subject: Re: "Democrat party"
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From: Jonathan Lighter

> Have noticed within the past few weeks that Fox News journalists now
> regularly employ this designation.

> How fair and balanced of them!

It's always seemed to me to be a simple case of analogy: a Republican is
member of the Republican Party, a a Libertarian is a member of the
Libertarian Party, a Communist is a member of the Communist Party, so a
Democrat must be a member of the Democrat Party.

--
David Bowie University of Central Florida
Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
chocolate in the house, there is too much; it must be consumed.

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