What’s in a name?

This morning on NPR, I heard excerpts from a speech given by the Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) to the Heritage Foundation in which he made reference to this thing called the “Democrat Party”.

What’s that all about?

Republicans of late (i.e in the last few years) have been referring to the Democratic Party as the “Democrat” party. From the RNC website on the The Origin of ‘GOP’:

Indeed, the “grand old party” is an ironic term, since the Democrat Party was organized some 22 years earlier in 1832. [italics mine]

And, from this website:

Lately (then Republican National Committee Chairman Leonard) Hall has
tartly referred to the “Democrat” party rather than using the more common term, the “Democratic” party… Hall says he dropped the “ic”
from Democratic because “I think their (the Democrats’) claims that they
represent the great mass of the people, and we don’t, is just a lot of
bunk.”