Yes, that’s what I’m saying and you should assume my entire argument is based on what three, essentially random people, have or have not said and ignore all the other points I’ve made throughout the thread.
I have, multiple times. I’d challange your assertion that it’s an excellent article. It’s a two or three page article mostly filled with quotes and some filler about grammar and a lot of broken or paywalled citations. That entire article boils down to ‘it’s meant to be an insult, but, like whatever’.
" Pollster Frank Luntz tested the phrase with a focus group in 2001, and concluded that the only people who really disliked the epithet were highly partisan Democrats"
" Political analyst Charlie Cook attributed modern use of the term to force of habit rather than a deliberate epithet by Republicans"
" Journalist Ruth Marcus stated that Republicans likely only continue to employ the term because Democrats dislike it"
"Hertzberg calls use of the term “a minor irritation” and also “the partisan equivalent of flashing a gang sign”
" “It is the idiotic creation of some of the least responsible members of the Republican Party.”
“Ruth Walker, who has been the long-time language columnist for the Christian Science Monitor [compares it to a grammatical error like saying ‘the Ukraine’ instead of Ukraine’]”
From the Economist " the party is simply not named the Democrat Party, but the Democratic Party. Calling it anything else is discourteous.["
I haven’t dug into the backgrounds of these people and for all I know they’re just doing damage control, but there’s a bunch of people, right from your cite, saying it’s not that big of a deal. And that’s how I feel. If repubicans want to say democrat party because they think it’s some horrendous insult, let them.
In the grand scheme of things, this, to me, feels like something to ignore. It just doesn’t feel like that big of a deal.
If a black politician started referring to white people (that they didn’t like) as crackers, ignoring the discussions surrounding the obvious comparison to another word, would you still get all bent out of shape?