Democrat Vs Democratic

[AldebTX]

Ok, I know this has been discussed before. However, watching the forum last night I found myself getting very irritated when McCain kept referring to the Democratic Party as the "Democrat Party".

Is it unseemly or beneath our candidates to correct them? A snide comment during the debate of "Perhaps Senator McCain is unaware that its the Democratic Party" might work wonders. Make it seem like another mistake made by McCain although we all know its intentional.

I heard the start of this mis-statement was back when the Republicans took control of the congress and they wanted to irritate Democrats. Does it weaken us to call them out for the jerks they are?

[OmahaBlueDog]

1. It's an old righty saw.

The theory is that, by their wisdom, we may be Democrats, but we aren't democratic. However, the real reason they like to do it (from what I remember hearing back in Poli Sci classes) is that advertising/marketing studies (made back in the 70s, I think) showed that the flat sounding "crat" ending sounds bad to a listener. It creates unattractive mental associations with words like "crap" and "fat" .

The solution is to continually insist on adjectival equality with news outlets. We're either the Democratic and Republican parties, or we're the Democrat and Republic parties; you can't mix and match.

If it were up to me, we'd re-brand. I think the current name and the donkey need to be replaced with something that better conveys progress and prosperity.

[FogerRox]

2. Correct usage: I am a democrat, I belong to the democratic party

[Sugarcoated]

3. This should be pointed out and corrected almost every time it's misused

Though, it should be ignored if it takes the discussion off of the point. Said Democrat should finish their point then go back at the end and correct em. I think it's used as bait a lot of the time. Repubs thrive on distraction because they can't win on the issues.