In 1996, the Republican Party removed all reference in its platform to an entity known as the "Democratic Party" and officially renamed it the "Democrat Party."
The Democrats were too elite, argued the GOP, to deserve association with the word democratic. The dig was the culmination of a century-long branding campaign led by, among others, President Herbert Hoover and Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-WI). But it came into its own under the GOP Congress led by Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay.
If the Democrat Party expects to get its real name back as a result of President Obama's declaration of a post-partisan era, it'll be sorely disappointed.
Use of the term is still ubiquitous in Republican circles. And the GOP sees no reason for that to change.
"What makes you think we're in that era of post-partisanship?" wondered Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), when asked if the new era would mean a funeral for the term. Blunt was DeLay's chief deputy and stepped down as minority whip after the 2008 elections.
"You better go tell them" about the new era, he suggested, pointing to the Democrats' side of the House chamber. "I don't think they're aware."
With self-described maverick John McCain leading the party, the GOP stripped "Democrat Party" from the platform in 2008 and replaced it with the real name. But that's as far as they've gone.
"We probably should use what the actual name is," said Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour chairman of the panel that made the decision, at the time. "At least in writing."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/24/democrat-party-lives-on-i_n_169492.html
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