Wednesday, February 08, 2012

Ain’t It Grand

I think this is a question worth considering: Should the news media continue to use “GOP” interchangeably with “Republican”? A commenter on Jim Romenesko’s media blog writes:
I know it makes things easier for copy editors like me in an era of narrowed Web widths, but simply: Isn’t “Grand Old Party” a form of editorializing? (And “Just because it’s always been done that way” isn’t a legit response ...)
It’s hard to take seriously the idea of today’s Republican Party being the “Grand Old Party,” as it devolves into a Southern regional assemblage dominated by petty right-wing radicals and religious-right zealots. Furthermore, as Romenesko points out, “the term was coined when the party wasn’t more than 35 years old--in a Chicago Tribune editorial after the 1888 election.” It never even earned its nickname!

Romenesko’s simple solution: use “DP” as a synonym for “Democratic Party” and “RP” as a stand-in for “Republican Party.” If brevity is the issue, he notes, both “are shorter than GOP.”

I’ll probably adopt these initialisms myself.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

While I agree with your comment GOP could mean
Group of Pr*cks.

mtperson said...

How about Grumpy Old People?

Anonymous said...

God Offal Party. I win.

Anonymous said...

Gang of Perverts

Anonymous said...

RT is fine with me as long as I can say it stands for Retrograde Party.

Anonymous said...

GOP Has become the Great Offal Pile and the RP is the REPUGNACAN'T Party as far as I can tell ... Even long time members do not know what to say about the sorry state of the bilge and lies that all of the leadership have been saying for the past few years ... It seems to be the end of rational ideas at the top and just more greed ...

jonthebru said...

Grandiose Obstructionist Potty!

Anonymous said...

"God Offal Party. I win."


And we have our winner!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Break with the past and call it the MSOP, Mean Spirited Old Party. Or the GOMLP Get Offa My Lawn Party.