Hey, I have an idea: You know how on talk shows Republicans often refer to the Democratic Party as "the Democrat Party" - without the "ic" on the end? They do this to intentionally insult Democrats in the form of mispronouncing the name of the political party. I've heard some Republicans say they do this because they can't bring themselves to use the proper party name - they object to the presumption that Republicans are less democratic (with a small 'd') than they are. Republicans like to believe (or at least they say) that they are the ones who are REALLY democratic and that Democrats are the ones in favor of the tyranny of communism, fascism, and other such atrocities. How dare Democrats hijack the name of democracy for their party's name!
More indignity following the orange squiggle-de-dooper.
As they use "Democrat Party", they are fully aware it gets under Democrats' collective skin.
Of course, most Republican's who use the term, "Democrat Party" have probably not thought it through this far. They likely use the term because they've heard Rush and other pundits, as well as actual Republican Congressmen and Senators using the term. For them, it has become not much more than a habit to say "Democrat" instead of "Democratic".
When I hear, "Democrat Party", I am not sure how I should feel. Should I feel insulted that a Republican would disrespect my party's name? If someone does this in conversation, how should I respond? When I hear someone use this form on radio, what can I do? Shouldn't we have an answer to this insult? Shouldn't we do something to counter it?
So here's my idea: Interrupt and correct them.
When someone uses "Democrat Party" during conversation with me (or anywhere in my vicinity) I immediately interrupt their thought and correct them. I do so in the spirit (pretense?) of educating the person, rather than expressing indignity. A typical scene might go something like this:
Republican Blowhard: "People in the Democrat Party who supported Barrack Hussein Obama . . . "
Me: "Uh, excuse me, but you said Democrat Party when what you meant to say was Democratic Party. Democratic is the actual name of the party.
At this point, I would expect to get a startled stare or a reaction implying that they already knew this. But I treated the situation as though they didn't. I presumed that they just didn't know the correct name of the party. I felt sorry for them for getting it wrong.
But now I am prepared for the likelihood that the person will object to my interruption of the point they were trying to make (as if they were actually going to make one). Or they might object to my implication that they didn't already know the correct name of the party:
Blowhard: "I know what the name of the party is. I prefer to say, Democrat."
Which now would be my opportunity to inject, "Sorry, for the correction. I naturally thought that you were ignorant of the party name," indicating loud and clear how ignorant it sounds and further wasting their time on a technicality.
For radio shows, we could flood the call screeners with corrections similar to the one above:
Me calling in: "I heard Rush say Democrat Party when he meant to say Democratic Party. I'm a big supporter of his and would like to help him to not sound ignorant in the future." Maybe if I'm lucky they will make the mistake of putting me on the air with Rush. I don't think call screeners are always as hip to the snark as they ought to be.
If you think about it though, it doesn't matter if you actually get through to the host. If enough people call to correct Rush for this or any other reason, it would accomplish the mission of wasting the time of the call screeners (or the screeners of all those other wannabe radio talk show blowhards).
This is my First Amendment answer to "Democrat Party." I'd like to hear what you think of it.