Who was the first to refer to Democrats as 'Rats?

[C210N]

Is it possible that Patrick Henry was the first to refer to democrats as 'rats, well before the time of establishment of the democratic party?

[Political Junkie Too]

You remember correctly, except that the ad had run only a few times several weeks before the Democrats made an issue of it.

-PJ

[M. Thatcher]

It was a weird event, I do remember that - but of a piece with the liberal mind.

They are always shadowboxing with chimera. (In other words, they are always making sh#t up.) They can't find fault with what we actually say, so they accuse us of using language that has secret vibes - then they work themselves into frothing outrage over their private translation, convincing each other we said things we didn't say.

In earlier days, it was "code words" like "law and order," which they insisted went directly into our supporters' ears with what we REALLY meant: "we hate blacks." It was a bogeyman fantasy entirely of their own creation.

This election cycle, the term is "dog whistle" - essentially the same thing. The Tea Party is passionate about shrinking government and cutting spending, but to the left, that's all just a "dog whistle" to followers who know we REALLY are saying "we hate Obama because he's black." It's madness.

On the other hand, their entire ideology consists in believing in things that aren't there, such as emanations and penumbras. So there you go.

[killermosquito]

I would say that I was the first to refer to them as DEMONRATS.

[M. Thatcher]

their entire ideology consists in believing in things that aren't there, such as emanations and penumbras.

And disbelieving in things that are there, such as the Second Amendment.

[killermosquito]

Actually it appears that freeper gitmo used the term demonRats in May 2003. My first use of the term was here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/963618/posts

[Political Junkie Too]

Yeah. I think, in the case of the 'rats ad, the polls were so close in Aug/Sep of 2000 (because Gore lost or was losing the 3 debates against Bush) that the Democrats needed to gin up a scandal, so they went back into their archives and took another look at that ad. That's when they spotted the RATS flash, and they then sent out a talking point that this was a sneak attack on Gore.

The irony was two-fold: 1) the 'rats moniker stuck on them forever because of their own foolishness, and 2) the real damage was done by the revelation of the Bush DUI 20 years earlier for driving 20 MPH in a 35 MPH zone.

-PJ

[Revolting cat!]

Me wuz, everybody knows that!

[SaraJohnson]

I have dibs on demonrats.

[M. Thatcher]

Yes. And I also recall there being a related weird scandal-ette, something about someone working for Bush adman Mark McKinnon (himself formerly a Dem) - I don’t remember the story line clearly but it involved a chubby 25-ish female staffer (sorry, that’s what I remember) who may have been some sort of spy, or filched and mailed some video package, or whatever. I think she was fired over it, and FR spent a lot of threads analyzing her alibi, which turned out to be lame. It was all cloak and dagger but turned out to be small beer, and the details have faded. I only know my takeaway: for some reason I have been wary of McKinnon ever since.

[Political Junkie Too]

Good memory!

You're recalling the stolen Bush debate tape.

Here's the story, from ABC News.

-PJ

[M. Thatcher]

Oh, riiiiight! Thanks for that link! Good times, good times.

[M. Thatcher]

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/12/us/the-2000-campaign-the-ad-campaign-democrats-see-and-smell-rats-in-gop-ad.html

McKinnon WAS the guy who signed off on the "rats" ad.

I still see his name now and again - in fact just today read a wonderful profile of W that mentioned McKinnon, and had my leftover reaction of mistrust to that character.

http://theamericanscholar.org/dubya-and-me/

[Nateman]

Free Republic was calling them RATS all the way back to the corrupt Clinton days.

[Sherman Logan]

In later years Henry, scared out of his gourd by the French Revolution, became a supporter of Federalists Washington and Adams and an ardent opponent of the states’ rights KY and VA Resolutions.

[x]

But Patrick Henry was one of the Anti-Federalists, a faction that eventually became the Democratic Party.

In the debate over the Constitution he was an anti-Federalist and he didn't trust the Federalist Party in the early years.

By the time Patrick Henry died, though, he had turned to the Federalists and been elected to the Virginia House of Delegates as a Federalist.

[x]

That line about "rats leaving a sinking ship" has been hard for politicians and political writers to avoid.

When a journalist took a job as Herbert Hoover's press secretary the joke was: "The first known case of a rat joining a sinking ship," and that comment also been recycled by columnists.

Howie Carr fans remember Congressman Joe Early shouting in Congress "They ran like rats!" about the ethics committee members that had condemned him.