“Democratic” or “Democrat” Party?

Ever wonder why conservative media outlets always refer to the Democratic Party as the “Democrat Party”?

Well, it’s not that they are so intellectually bankrupt that they don’t know the difference between nouns and adjectives (though you’d be excused for thinking so). As it turns out, that subtle wordplay is actually part of that conspiracy that’s been described as “vast” and “right-wing.”

I just found a New Yorker commentary by Hendrik Hertzberg. Here’s the most recent history of the usage (it’s older than you’d think), according to the column:

This is partly the work of Newt Gingrich, the nominal author of the notorious 1990 memo “Language: A Key Mechanism of Control,” and his Contract with America pollster, Frank Luntz, the Johnny Appleseed of such linguistic innovations as “death tax” for estate tax and “personal accounts” for Social Security privatization. Luntz, who road-tested the adjectival use of “Democrat” with a focus group in 2001, has concluded that the only people who really dislike it are highly partisan adherents of the—how you say?—Democratic Party.

No matter what your politics are, phrases like “Democrat Congress” are gramatically incorrect. “Congress” is the noun; the preceding word modifies it and is hence an adjective. “Democratic” is an adjective; “Democrat” is a noun. Here’s an example:

Nancy Pelosi is the Democrat who runs the Democratic Congress.

Really, how hard is that? At least there is one benefit of this improper usage entering the public debate: Whenever a person uses a phrase like “Democrat Congress,” we can know that the person has been brainwashed by conservative media outlets and that we should not waste our time in any effort to have a serious political discussion with that person on the issues.

Addendum: More information on this topic is here.