</a> It’s hard to tell when the newspeak of Gingrich, Rove et al is just childish, and when it will create serious problems. The history of Gingrich and Luntz is interesting; their complete lack of ethics or restraint in converting every issue into a propaganda opportunity and shamelessly slandering opponents in their successful drive to manipulate the public apparently apparently found no naysayers in their party’s leadership. </p>
<p>Those who object to the use of the term “Orwellian” when describing the tactics of the modern Republican party would be educated by reading Gingrich’s 1990 memo ‘Language: A Key Mechanism of Control’ or any of the talking points papers Luntz authored for that party in the 1990’s. Fascinating and repellant at the same time, it’s a window into the mentality of the new right which I would ancourage anyone who’s interested in current American society to check out.</p>
<p>If I’m not mistaken, both the words Democratic and Republican are adjectives (the ‘ic’ and ‘an’ make them so). But when you put the word Party after each, or remove the ic/an they become nouns. I have always referred to the ‘other’ party as the Democratic Party and its members as Democrats.</p>
<p>I know some say Democrat Party pejoratively…as in DemocRAT Party. But I had not noticed GW referring to the Democratic Party as the Democrat Party; if he is…sigh…one more thing to be embarrassed about. Unless he’s pulling a subtle SADdam like his Dad.</p>
<p>Yes, P2N, use of “Democrat party” has a history, all of it as pejorative by Republicans, and anyone who indulges that usage can stick it up their Funk & Wagnall’s.</p>
<p>LDMom, the thing is, “Republican,” by standard usage, <em>does</em> function as both noun and verb. I’m just inclined to write off Republicans as being essentially illiterate and be done with it.</p>
<p>The term ‘Democrat Party’ effectively expresses policy and organizational differences Republicans have had with Democrats. While Democrats may prefer for all to see their lily as gilded, some Republicans believe it best to see it as lipstick on a pig.</p>
I guess I have agree with such sound reasoning. I’ll shorten your party’s name also. Y’all will now be the 'pubes. Sounds about right, doesn’t it? ;)</p>
<p>Ah, come on Allmusic. At least you have to try. I was sure you could better than that. That isn’t even a subpart of the word “Democratic”. Not your best effort, now was it? Kinda like last Tuesday.</p>
<p>Actually, I think the Democrats have the Republic Party right where they want them…caught between a rock and a hard place.</p>
<p>The Dems have poll-tested agenda items with off-the-chart favorability numbers. The Repubs have nothing left but their hard-core base, a base that is satisfied with nothing less that red meat. This base won’t let the Repubs stray from the straight and narrow.</p>
<p>All the Dems have to do is smile sweetly, walk n’ talk bipartisan, and force Bush to oppose perfectly innocuous popular agenda items. Perfect example: immigration reform. Introduce a mild package that includes common-sense guest worker or citizenship provisions and watch as the Repubs get their heads “stove in” with baseball bats by their hard-core base if they even consider supporting anything less than the use of nukular weapons on the border to keep “those people” out. Hello Latino vote!</p>
<p>The Dems are in a win-win situation. If a poll-tested agenda item actually gets passed, they’ll claim it as a legislative accomplishment. If it doesn’t, they’ll hang it around the Repubs’ necks in the '08 election.</p>
<p>The Rove strategy of polarization is a two-edged sword. As long as the crucial center of the electorate tilts towards your pole, great. But, the centrist votes overwhelmingly rejected the Repubs this year. The polarization that Rove worked so hard to achieve is now an anchor.</p>
<p>In listening to Pelosi and Emmanuel this week, I was stunned by the focus of their “message”. Pelosi was all about “the most ethical Congress” in history. Emmanual was all about bi-partisanship…including folksy stories of calling his Republican friends across the aisle first thing Wednesday morning to discuss working together “for America”. These talking points suggest a focused strategy designed to appeal to the center. If the Dems stick to that plan, the Repubs are boxed into a corner.</p>
<p>Do not underestimate the ability of Dems to commit political suicide. The easiest way for them to do that is to act like Republicans. Where conservative Dems defeated conservative Reps, it was because of 1) Iraq; 2) the culture of scandal. Take those two issues away in the next two years, and things will return to the Reps. Meanwhile, all the moderate Reps who were defeated were defeated by liberal Dems whose positions were significantly different from the Reps they replaced. And, for the most part, those who tried to run against moderate Reps as conservative Dems lost.</p>
<p>Democrats will act differently now - come January they will have responsibility they have not had for years. They’ll hurl fewer bombs and be a lot more circumspect. I figure this’ll last 45 days - then internal pressure to go left will cause Democrat myopia. This loss of focus will result in a loss of <em>some</em> power in 2008 - to, you guessed it, the Republicans. </p>
<p>As to calling Republicans names - go ahead…they deserve a spanking after losing sight of why they were elected to govern. They started acting to ensure their own power and fed lustily at taxpayer’s expense on pork. Items needing attention - e.g. Foley - were ignored. They were fools and paid dearly for their errors.</p>