So we all know about Trump’s penchant for wordplay, misnaming all sorts of people and things with a 2nd graders’ acumen. I cannot believe we’re thinking about electing this mushbrain again, but here we are. Sadly, we normalized this behavior a long time ago and are numb to it.
What I was not prepared for was for my home state of Georgia to adopt one of his oft-used dipshit insults in an official capacity. It’s not his own creation, but thanks to Trump, I have to correct people frequently because people here don’t seem to know the name of my fucking political party.
A bit of history is in order before I get to my Georgia dilemma. In modern times, I first came across the nails-on-a-chalkboard shortening of the name of the Democratic Party to the “Democrat Party” in 2009. Back when Chris Matthews’ Hardball was watchable, he had Darrell Issa and Barney Frank on. And I will never forget when Tweety excoriated Issa for his use of the slur. I’ll include the clip here and the relevant transcript below.
MATTHEWS: Well, let‘s bring in right now Republican congressman Darrell Issa to join Congressman Frank, Chairman Frank. He‘s the ranking Republican on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Congressman Issa, I‘m looking at these new numbers. I‘m looking at the actual budget figures for FY ‘09. That‘s the current fiscal year, which ends at the end of the September. The numbers are pretty powerful. It‘s almost $2 trillion in receipts this current year under the new plan, almost $4 trillion in outlays—that‘s actual checks being written—and a deficit approaching $2 trillion, $1.75 trillion.
These numbers have a World War II sound to them. In other words, the ratio of deficit to outlays to receipts in that World War II category. We don‘t have wage and price controls. We don‘t have rationing. We don‘t have bond drives to soak up the extra cash or whatever. So is this scary in terms of just fiscal policy, these numbers, or not?
REP. DARRELL ISSA, CALIFORNIA: Well, Of course, it‘s scary. What‘s scarier, though, is that President Obama has proposed that these budgets—these deficits created under a Democrat Congress—he‘s going to cut them in half over a long period of time. The fact is, the last time Republicans were in charge, even including the war, we were below $400 billion in deficit. So the president‘s not proposing getting to $200 billion or $100 billion, he‘s talking about getting below a trillion over the next few years, after we double the size of the debt.
MATTHEWS: Well, I think the Democratic Party calls itself the Democratic Party, not the “Democrat” Party. Do we have to do this every night? Why do people talk like this? Is this just fighting words, to get the name wrong?
ISSA: No, this isn‘t intended to be fighting words…
MATTHEWS: They call themselves the Democratic Party. Let‘s just call people what they call themselves and stop the—the Mickey Mouse here. Save that for the stump. Seriously.
ISSA: Chris—Chris—Chris…
MATTHEWS: Now, let‘s get to the issue here. Seriously. We got a fiscal challenge—I want to go back to Congressman Frank and to some English here. Congressman Frank, are you worried about the size of these World War II numbers here? Again, $1.75 trillion deficit this year, a spending level of almost $4 trillion. We‘re almost running deficits as big as the revenue number we‘re bringing in.
FRANK: Well, Chris, let me first of all come to the defense of my colleague, Mr. Issa, and the Republicanistical Party that he represents…
I miss ol’ Barney.
I soon learned that this cheap phrasing has quite the history. From Joseph McCarthy to George W. Bush, right-wing politicians have been mangling in a rather ungrammatic matter the name of the party.
Flash forward to 2024. It’s primary time. I go to my Secretary of State’s website, which is a pretty useful tool for voters. I put in my information and get ready to retrieve my sample ballot.
I am given the choice to view a “Democrat” ballot, and a Republican ballot.
Immediately my blood begins to boil. But the site is not done pissing me the fuck off. Opening the sample ballot sent me over the top, as it was an OFFICIAL “Democrat” ballot. Enraged, I wrote the press and the elections division of the Secretary’s office. I don’t remember what I said to the elections folks, but I got a response within three hours. I explained by text what I was upset about, and the worker promised to look into it and wanted the weekend to work on it.
I’m happy to say that they are. The official ballot now says on the top the proper name of the party. However, work still needs to be done-they have not fixed the selection button that allows you to view the ballot, and looking deeper, absentee request choices say “Democrat”, and my entire voting history is shown as voting for a “Democrat” party. So I’m going to be up their ass until this fucking site gets fixed. What I am really concerned about is that the election machinery will mimic whatever the assholes that are running the Secretary’s website have engineered and that absentee ballots will also be marked in this errant manner. If that happens, I will go positively nuclear.
So if you are a Georgia Democrat, join me in pressuring the Secretary of State to stop playing infantile word games to belittle us. I am assured by the worker I talked to that all this was not done maliciously. But I am reticent to trust given the history of the slur. Sure, this sounds like a picayune issue. But if you let people get away with slighting you, what will you allow next?
The Illogical Seminary 