Problematic is an understatement
From the Guardian’s live coverage:
Representative Mike Quigley, a Democrat of Illinois, documented the many instances of Trump applauding the website after it leaked emails from the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 campaign.
Note that “Democratic National Committee.” You hardly ever see the UK press say “Democratic” in its reporting. I guess they can’t very well call it the Democrat National Committee since it’s an organization and that’s not its name, but when it’s simply a descriptor they adopt the deliberately obnoxious Republican usage: Schiff is a Democrat member of Congress, Warren is a Democrat candidate, and so on. It’s a solecism and it’s rude but they do it anyway. I don’t understand why.
That’s an aside though. What’s interesting is an actual value judgement from Mueller.
Quigley then turned to Mueller, who said of Trump’s repeated praise, “Problematic is an understatement … in terms of giving some hope or some boost to what is and should be illegal activity.”
"I love Wikileaks."
"This Wikileaks is like a treasure trove."
"Boy, I love reading those Wikileaks."@RepMikeQuigley asks Mueller to react to Trump's statement's on Wikileaks."Problematic is an understatement," Mueller says https://t.co/Nwn1OnEyZi pic.twitter.com/SgLJm2T05s
— Bloomberg Politics (@bpolitics) July 24, 2019
“Democrat of (State)” as in the article is standard usage. “Democrat Congressperson/Senator of (State)” is not.
I know. It’s a noun, it’s not an adjective. Simple.
It may be a habit from familiarity with the Liberal Democrat party, as well as the effective Republican saturation of the term; I grew up in the southern US, and I didn’t consciously register the pejorative nature of “Democrat” until I read it on this very blog. I also suspect a parallel construction, since “Democrat” is straighforwardly a noun in the same way “Republican” is; since “Republican” is also the adjective in all cases, it is easier to suggest that “Democrat” is, as well.
I don’t think they’ve always called it that though.
I distinctly remember when this “Democrat party” speak began. It was George W. Bush. And it was much remarked on at the time.
Now even NPR does it.
Yeah, it sounds peculiar to me, because I always heard it Democratic Senator from (some state not my own).
Josh, it’s been going on longer than that. I remember it from the ‘80s, and Wikipedia traces its use as an epithet back to the ‘40s, and cites even earlier uses which aren’t necessarily epithets. (Interestingly, the name “Democratic Party” was originally an epithet; democracy wasn’t always seen as a good thing even in the US of A.)
Not surprisingly Newt Gingrich is largely responsible for its current popularity among Republicans.
Personally I think we should respond by referring to the R Party as the gop, pronounced as if it were an acronym, and its members as “goppers”.
Yes, I thought it pre-dated Bush, because I thought I remembered finding it infuriating that Bush adopted it and amplified it. Makes sense that it was Gingrich.
Ah. I didn’t know that–thank you. But I had never noticed it before GW.