During comments in the House this week, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) was evidently fed up with the steady stream of insults from Republicans like Rep. Lauren Boebert (Colo.), some of whom insist on referring to the Democratic Party exclusively as the “Democrat” Party, making the same adjustments in other contexts.
“After people are corrected several times and they continue to say it, it seems like it’s an act of incivility,” Raskin said, specifically referencing Boebert, although his comments applied elsewhere. “As if every time we mentioned the other party, it just came out with a kind of political speech impediment. Like, oh, the Banana Republican Party, as if we were to say that every time we mentioned the Banana Republican member or the Banana Republican plan or the Banana Republican conference. But we wouldn’t do that. So, out of pure political courtesy, when it’s an adjective, refer to the ‘Democratic’ Congresswoman or the ‘Democratic’ member.”
He also took credit for a key provision of an amendment that was under consideration that evidently dealt with the impact on inflation from executive orders. Raskin said he was the reason the measure included provisions to actually report the inflation data, something he indicated wasn’t previously included until after he pointed out the gap.
It’s not just Boebert who insists on solely — or nearly solely — using “Democrat” to refer to the Democratic Party and other Democratic things. It’s an oddly petulant act that one could imagine is meant to distance the idea of the party and its members from democratic principles, meaning those dealing with the system of government the U.S. uses. Some Republicans like to insist upon referring to the U.S. system as a republic or some variant of the same, though, so who can say?
Anyway, not a lot is going to get out of the House, no matter its Republican majority, and even be presented to the president let alone signed by him, considering Democrats still control the Senate — which recently threw its support behind the one-hundredth pick from the president for a spot on the federal judiciary! For his first two years, Biden outpaced Trump. Check out Raskin’s comments below:
Raskin to Boebert: Democrat is the noun. When you use it as an adjective, you say Democratic.. As if every time we mentioned the other party it just came out with a kind of political speech impediment like, oh, the Banana Republican Party. pic.twitter.com/eSVfqzeZqN
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 28, 2023
