Republicrat
|
|
"Republicrat" or "Demopublican" (or the shorter "Democan") are portmanteaus of the names of the two main political parties in the United States, the Republicans and the Democrats. The terms are used pejoratively by those on both the right and left who allege the policies of the two parties are in practice indistinguishable, and so form essentially one party with two names.
Historically, Republicans have portrayed themselves to be pro-business and for more limited government; Democrats have tended to campaign on more liberal social policies and an expanded role of government social services and regulations. Some commentators, such as right-wing radio talk-show host Michael Savage, who apparently coined the term, or left-wing Ralph Nader, who has adopted it, have both opined on how it is often hard to tell the parties apart, leading to the term's coinage. This was a view shared on the left by the Green Party during the 2000 U.S. Presidential election, whose bumper stickers read, "Bush and Gore make me wanna Ralph".
The term is also used in a pejorative sense by members of one party to attack members of their party who are either centrist or who have the "wrong" ideology. The term Republicrat is more commonly used by liberal Democrats to attack conservative and centrist members of the party, such as Senator Joe Lieberman. The usual pejorative term used for liberal and centrist Republicans is "RINO," short for Republican In Name Only.