. . . but here’s what bothers me when Rush & GWB use phrases like “the Democrat Party” or “the Democrat candidate.”
My friend Sue, an intelligent, cultured, well-traveled woman, doesn’t like the word “Jew.” She knows the word in and of itself is benign and neutral, like “Jewish” or “Christian,” but she doesn’t like it and won’t say it. I’ve been wondering why.
To say that an adherent of the Jewish faith is a Jew is to use the word correctly. But we’ve all encountered people who misuse it, as in “the Jew religion” or “the Jew press.” When you hear the word misused that way, you know where the speaker’s coming from, and it isn’t anyplace good. It’s hate speech, and it’s intentional. That, I think, is the origin of Sue’s antipathy toward the word Jew.
Similarly, when Rush & GWB call the Democratic Party the Democrat Party, they’re up to no good, and it’s intentional. That’s what bothers me.
I wish, back when they were looking for a name, Jefferson and his pals had settled on something besides the Democratic Party. A lot of people today think it should be called the Progressive Party, although with the current crop of Democrats in the House and Senate, I see no hope of progress. Still, you couldn’t get away with calling a Progressive a Progress, could you?