RESPONSE:
Maybe history isn’t one of X’s strong points, but Thomas Jefferson and James Madison started the Democrat-ic Party. There is no such thing as the ‘Democrat’ Party.
FOLLOW-UP:
And BTW, a democrat is a person who believes in the ideals of democracy, personal freedom, and equality. I think that sounds pretty good, how about you? The Republican Party believes in Corporations having more rights than you do. My question to X is, is America for Democracy, or for the Corporations?
UNCOVERS:
Puts the end to the pejorative use of Democrat as an adjective, and then makes your opponent have to slow down and measure their words while going through their talking points.
It also establishes Democrats traditions, and brings us back to Jefferson and Madison who always poll higher than our Congress.
By placing the choice between two items, Democracy or Corporate rule, people will go with Democracy.
And by posing rhetorical questions in the middle of a sentence doesn’t allow the other person to respond with talking points directly, so it is a win.
SIDE POINTS:
1) If they still use the epithet, it is fair game to go after them with your own set:
- RAY-Publican Party
- CON-servatives
- Republican’ts
- Obstructionist Party
- Hypocrisy Party
- Reaper-can Party, or “As a Reapercan, you…”
- (insert colorful metaphor here)
2) If they use the old, “We aren’t a Democracy, we are a Republic” argument, use Thom Hartmann‘s line:
- Actually, we are a “Constitutionally-limited, Representational, Democratic Republic.”
3) If they go off on the line and say, “it was the Democratic-Republican Party”, you can respond:
- Right, after the war in 1812, Andrew Jackson and the Jeffersonian’s threw the Republican name right off, just like the American people should do at the ballot box in November.
