Stop Punching Yourself!

As you know, President Bush, following his buddies in the conservative pundit class, made the following statement in the State of the Union.

Some in this chamber are new to the House and the Senate -- and I congratulate the Democrat majority.

Of course the adjective associated with the Democratic Party is, well, Democratic. But people have positive associations with the term Democratic, so Conservatives are switching to the Democrat party. From there it will be a short step to DemocRAT party - which I think I saw on FOX News just the other day.

Anyway here's two different responses to the controversy. The first from Conservative Mary Katherine Harris.

How about the Party of the Suffixionally Fixated? The Lexical Paranoiacs?

And, how dare Bush be insincere in preaching bipartisanship?

The Democratics can dish it, but they can't take it. They're whining about an -ic. Leaving off an -ic is all that's required for the president to be accused of lowering the level of discourse. The double standard is just terrif.

And here's Joshua Micah Marshall, at Talking Points Memo.

You address people the way they choose to be addressed. You address them by what they consider to be their name. In the ordinary course of life, when people do otherwise, we rightly recognize that they're trying to pick a fight or demean the person in question.

It is, as Matt points out, another illustration of the 'bitch-slap theory of politics'. You assert dominance over someone by mangling their name and continuing to do so even after the correct pronunciation or style is pointed out. It's right off the schoolyard and it's no surprise that it's a stock and trade of this president.

You can guess which side of the fence I come down in this issue.