Why does MSNBC's Ayman Moyheldin keep using the GOP's pejorative, "Democrat Party"?

[SunSeeker]

It's jarring when you hear that on MSNBC. But he just did it again a few minutes ago (12:47 pm PT) while interviewing an Atlanta Constitution reporter.

God, I hope that grammatically incorrect petty insult has not gone mainstream.

The name is DEMOCRATIC PARTY.

[Green Line]

1. I just saw him do that, surprised me

[marybourg]

2. Ask them.

[OnDoutside]

8. Or tweet him @AymanM

[SunSeeker]

13. I did. No response yet. Will update OP if I get a response. nt

[Celerity]

22. oh, ffs, it is NOT

Talk about a lack of proportional framing, plus racial insensitivity.

Democrat versus Democratic is bad, yes, but NOTHING like the 400 years of dehumanisation, overarching atomisation of culture, torture, discrimination, rape, deprivation of basic human rights, chattel slavery, etc etc that people of my skin colour have went through, all boiled down and distilled into one ROTTEN, soul-stripping word.

[FarPoint]

23. It is my opinion....

I cringe with both words used to insult or belittle.

[Celerity]

26. Bollocks. Poll 1000 African-Americans and see how many say Democrat is just as bad as the N-Word

The very fact you do not type the n-word out in full (and it is very rarely said in full in media) betrays your argument for what it is. Pure tosh.

You obviously have never been called the n-word, (and are 99+% likely to NOT be a black person) for IF you had, you would never spout such nonsense.

[FarPoint]

34. Take a deep breathe...

My opinion is shared with peace....it just is not your opinion...Try and re-group....

[Codeine]

39. Do you genuinely not see how offensive

your opinion is to minority posters? Or - as I suspect is more likely - do you simply not care?

I’ve said stupid shit before; literally every white person who has ever opened their mouth has done so. The difference is that when I get called on my shit I pause, reflect, and try to understand what I’ve done.

You’re just doubling down. That’s a bad look, man. That’s a real bad look.

[FarPoint]

40. Apparently..

You choose to "go after me" because I feel offended by both terms used in a demeaning manor.

[Codeine]

42. Of course they're both demeaning.

But they aren’t comparable. They don’t equate in any real fashion. One is dumb, the other carries the weight of centuries of death and abuse.

Not. The. Same. Thing.

[FarPoint]

43. Okay...

that is your opinion.... I respect your thoughts. ...I have mine...

[Codeine]

28. Jesus fucking Christ.

That’s absurd to the point of obscenity. One is a dumb demeaning of the name of a political party for a petty swipe at an opponent. The other carries a legacy of slavery, segregation, inequality, and violence.

Shameful.

[Celerity]

31. thank you

I am damn near in tears here and raging mad. I am having flashbacks to multiple altercations involving that shite and it just..... hurts.

[FarPoint]

33. I cringe with both words...

Especially when African Americans use it in music lyrics, private conversation...I dislike because of the history of the term...I also find the "Democrat" Party term used by the likes of right wing radio host just as offensive...It is my feeling and I own it...

[Codeine]

37. Your "feeling" makes no sense.

Your “feeling” denies the actual impact of the word. Your “feeling” smacks of the most cartoonish level of privilege imaginable.

[FarPoint]

38. My feeling is my personal experience...

Not a debate issue. It is known...You assume way too much...

[Codeine]

41. You've made an openly offensive statement.

You’ve been called out and corrected on it and you’re still doubling down. I know you’ve got an opinion, but a person who actually has a visceral and personal understanding of the word in question, in a way that you and I never will, is trying to make you understand how wrong you are. Instead they earned (more accurately were given an unearned) hide.

That’s awful. This whole exchange sucks. The entire board is less for it, and I hope someday you can understand how awful your behavior has been here today.

[FarPoint]

44. Ohhhh

so much drama....take a breather and find your inner peace.

[LanternWaste]

50. "2 plus 2 equals 22. It is my feeling and I own it. Not a debate issue. It is known"

Much like saying, "2+2=22. It is my feeling and I own it. Not a debate issue. It is known"

But I get it... lots of people find (or allege to find if the narrative demands it) 'jerk' and 'vile mother-f****er' similar in degree of offense as well.

[NotAPuppet]

4. I'm glad I'm not the only one

whose blood pressure went up hearing the term!

[Clearly fogged in]

5. Methadone to their heroin

Having lost capes and hoods and statues and names this is their cudgel.

[Spazito]

6. Good question!

He certainly knows better.

[malaise]

7. Lots of them do

Dems don't call them on it and to be truthful Dems do it too

[get the red out]

10. People probably

think it is correct at this point. I believe we can blame Limbaugh for it, if I recall.

[crickets]

19. It goes back a ways. I blame Newt.

Newt Gingrich didn't start it, but he used it like a cudgel to make sure it caught on more widely than it had before. Limbaugh and his ilk have enthusiastically helped, of course.

[Celerity]

29. long before that

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democrat_Party_(epithet)

History

The Federalists of the 1790s made "democrat" a word of ridicule, comparing the followers of Thomas Jefferson to the murderous fanatics of the French Revolution. In a private letter in September 1798, George Washington wrote, "You could as soon as scrub the blackamore white, as to change the principles of a profest [professed] Democrat; and that he will leave nothing unattempted to overturn the Government of this Country." Jefferson's Anti-Federalist supporters adopted the name and became known as Democratic-Republicans.

19th century

In American history, many parties were named by their opponents: (Federalists, Loco-Focos, Know Nothings, Populists, Dixiecrats), including the Democrats themselves, as the Federalists in the 1790s used Democratic Party as a term of ridicule. Addressing a gathering of Michigan Republicans in 1889, New Hampshire Republican Congressman Jacob H. Gallinger said: The great Democrat party, laying down the sceptre of power in 1860, after ruling this country under free trade for a quarter of a century, left our treasury bankrupt, and gave as a legacy to the Republican party, a gigantic rebellion and a treasury without a single dollar of money in it.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary the term was used by the press in London, England, as a synonym for the more common Democratic Party 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.

Early 20th century

The 1919 New Teachers' and Pupils' Cyclopaedia entry for Woodrow Wilson states that "In 1912, Wilson was the Democrat Party nominee for President ..." On July 14, 1922, a newspaper in Keytesville, Missouri, posted an advertisement for its primary elections with the Democratic candidates identified as "Representing: Democrat Party".

Late 20th century

The noun-as-adjective has been used by Republican leaders since the 1940s, and in most GOP national platforms since 1948. By the early 1950s, the term was in widespread use among Republicans of all factions. When Senator Thruston Ballard Morton became chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1959, he indicated that he had always said Democratic Party and would continue to do so, which contrasted with his predecessor, Meade Alcorn, and with National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman Barry Goldwater, both of whom used Democrat Party. According to Congressional Quarterly, at the 1968 Republican National Convention "the GOP did revert to the epithet of 'Democrat' party. The phrase had been used in 1952 and 1956 but not in 1960 and 1964".

According to William Safire, Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen, campaign manager to Republican Wendell Willkie during the 1940 presidential campaign, explained that because the Democratic Party was at that time partly controlled by undemocratic city bosses, "by Hague in New Jersey, Pendergast in Missouri and Kelly-Nash in Chicago, [it] should not be called a 'Democratic Party.' It should be called the 'Democrat Party.' "

snip

[Cha]

9. Is there anyway to get in touch with him

and let him know. Give him a grammatical lesson?

TY!

[SunSeeker]

48. I sent a message on his Twitter account. No response yet. nt

[RANDYWILDMAN]

11. It is a trend, they (M$M) have been treating the democratic party as the junior party as a whole

it is the only way to legitimize a minority party (republicans ) being in charge of anything.

[Qutzupalotl]

12. It's deliberate, so I rub it in their faces

and use Democratic everywhere, even when Democrat is correct, such as referring to voters as Democratics.

[Shermann]

14. Well then they're the "Republic" Party

They're always prattling on about how we're a republic and not a pure democracy.

Fine, they're truncated by two letters too and are the Republic Party now.

[Zambero]

15. GOP needs to lose a syllable

In the New Testament, Publicans were high on the list of bad guys. Their task was to shake down folks for their "fair share" of taxes, centuries before the notion of progressive taxation surfaced. If the GOP insists on dropping the last syllable of an adjective pertaining to a major political party, why not return the favor by dropping the first syllable of "Republican"?

[Ferrets are Cool]

16. Showing true colors?

[Binkie The Clown]

17. It speaks to the shear power of the Republican Noise Machine.

It also shows how miserably the DemocratIC party is failing in the mass messaging department.

[BComplex]

18. I think as a cultural thing, we need to start calling it the "Democracy" party as opposed to the

"republic" party.

[90-percent]

20. that term triggers me.

Because it was designed to be used as a pejorative towards the Democratic party.

My feelings were confirmed some time after the early 2000's Iraq invasion, by the great Keith Olbermann, in response to GWB using it. "....and it's DEM-O-CRA-TIC Party. Show some respect!":

So, for a while I used the term "republic party" every time IO have to refer to these grifters on internet social media.

It a efect in my moral character that I let myself "go low", but, geez, these people are " winning isn't everything, it's the only thing" so completely that they must be countered.

Cheating and bullying and lying is not what a major political party should stand for.

And this is just a start. I'll be fighting against American totalitarian fascsit police states until I die, or global warming ends our way of life as we know it and takes me with it.

-90% Jimmy

[kentuck]

21. Sometimes I think he just wants to hype up the controversy?

Perhaps he believes that is his role as a journalist?

[Liberal In Texas]

24. Write him.

He's probably on FB and Twitter. If not there probably has a contact through MSNBC.

You'd be surprised how you actually might get through to him, especially if you're not some ugly troll that they probably have to filter through.

And make sure you spell his name correctly: Ayman Mohyeldin

[SunSeeker]

47. I did. No response yet. nt

[Clearly fogged in]

25. Perspective. How to deal with those who do this.

When speaking with someone who incorrectly says Democrat Party, end the discussion by apologizing. I'm sorry. I can't honestly value the opinions of someone, especially if he's a politician, if he doesn't even know the name of the opposing party. Don't listen to him. He's proving he's not qualified.

[octoberlib]

27. I just tweeted him.

[TuxedoKat]

35. Morning Joe Crew

I've heard both Willie and Mika say that as well within this past year, at least twice from Mika. I heard Joe say it correctly though within the same time period. Yesterday Willie used it correctly so I was presently surprised. Hopefully Mika will clean up her act too.

[Hortensis]

36. Sounds like you accept "Democrat" as a perjorative.

Gee, what could be wrong with that? You're hardly the only one. But imo, it's downright fucking stupid to choose to be obligingly offended by peurile Republicans when the response should be a proud smile at what is always a great compliment compared to them.

As for "going mainstream," since this nya-nya silliness is, pathetically, still working for the Republicans, I say depowering it that way as soon as possible would be good. Our language is loaded with grammatical variations that don't offend, so I wouldn't worry about that.

As for Mohyeldin, who knows? Maybe that's what he's doing. Maybe he's channeling Lenny Bruce's technique of exposure therapy to treat people who are more angered and easily distracted by swear words than real evils.

[SunSeeker]

46. No, I don't. Not when when you are referring to an individual Democrat.

Why should we let Republicans choose the name of our party for us?

The name of our party is the DEMOCRATIC PARTY. Republicans don't want to call it that for the petty, childish reason that they want to emphasize the "rat" syllable, and to claim we are not really for democracy. It is inane. We should not let them rename our party.

It is not "downright fucking stupid" to demand to be called by your actual name. What is downright fucking stupid is letting Republicans rename our party for their childish thrills.

[Hortensis]

49. I don't. That's the point. I recommend it.

Surely there are more...real things to invest attention in?

They'll never change, btw. Our founding fathers had to blow them off too. Really. And when no one reacts to this any more, they'll move on to calling us stupid poo-poos or whatever else gets them slapping their knees in spiteful delight.

And those who don't wise up and stop letting themselves be jerked around are doomed to still be spitting in silly outrage in their eldercare homes.

[womanofthehills]

52. I think we can give attention to lots of things at once - I hate it when people say Democrat Party

Trump does it constantly on purpose. He didn't speak like that before he ran for president. Now he has half the country saying it. When anyone I know says it I always correct them.

[Hortensis]

53. I very seldom notice. And don't care. There's a huge clue

in that chronically childish and malicious behavior to what's wrong with those who behave that way, but since I'm not a psychologist I don't know what it indicates. Presumably a developmental problem of some sort or some missing "parts" adults are supposed to have. Certainly we know that's true of Trump.

I have read that followers of authoritarian leaders are severely lacking in self awareness, insight into self, in the normal ability to turn their spotlight on themselves and take a look. For sure that has to be a part of this for people who behave this way. They're never embarrassed by their heehawing at imaginary victories.

[SunSeeker]

54. The Democratic Party is a real thing.

I'm not being jerked around. Insisting on people using your correct name is the opposite of being jerked around. We should expect journalists to know the correct name of our party.

I'm not the one "spitting silly outrage" in "eldercare homes."

[Baltimike]

45. times I say "Republic Party" to people. They catch it every time. nt

[lillypaddle]

51. I sent him an email, too

He needs to be contacted directly on twitter or by email. Flood him! He's a good guy other than this bad "habit" so be nice, please. To tell you the truth, I've heard Democrat so often that I have to stop and think before I say democratic or democrat.