“INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Twelve employees of a Democrat-linked group focused on mobilizing black voters in Indiana are accused of submitting fake or fraudulent voter registration applications ahead of last year’s general election in order to meet quotas, according to charging documents filed Friday.”
Now I know just how much of a fingers-on-a-blackboard using “Democrat” as an adjective is for a lot of Democrats, weirdly enough. This is AP though, that has (I presume) copy editors, the AP Press Stylebook etc.
Apparently there is no free access to AP Stylebook out there - I wonder, if anyone has such access, do they say anything in it about this “Democrat”-ic thing?
A member of the Democratic party is a Democrat, hence “Democrat-linked.” I really don’t give a shit about this Democratic Party vs. Democrat Party crap, but “Democrat-linked” is the correct construction there. “Democratic-linked” is wrong, since a member of the Democratic party is not a Democratic. So, either “Democrat-linked,” or “Democratic Party-linked.” “Democrat” is not being used as an adjective there. It’s a noun.
I disagree. There is no indication in the article that the organization is linked to any single member of the Democratic party. It was linked to the Democratic party, though:
“The Indiana Voter Registration Project’s effort to register primarily black voters was overseen by Patriot Majority USA, which has ties to the Democratic Party, including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and former President Bill Clinton.”
I’m really confused as to what the issue is here. We read about “Democrat-sponsored bills” and “Republican-sponsored bills” all the time. Is the thesis that it should be “Democratic Party-sponsored bills” and “Republican Party-sponsored bills” or something? It’s the exact same construction.