Wall Street Journal thinks readers are too stupid to understand meaning of "GOP"

[tpfkaw]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/12/03/politics/main531460.shtml?tag=re1.channel

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[tpfkaw]

Oh great, we have degenerative ignorance now. The GOP acronym is all the prevents the confusion of the modern day GOP with Jefferon's "Republicans". Since academia has abandoned use of the term "Democratic-Republican" for the more histortically accurate designation of "Republican", this couldn't be worse for ensuring accurate knowledge of US political history.

Accurate knowledge of political history? Maybe but personally I find it inaccurate that we call these Republicans the Grand Old Party, instead of the grander and older Jeffersonians.

The Jeffersonians are long gone...

(Also, it's being used in the same sense as "good ol' boy" or "a grand old time").

[tpfkaw]

I think the Democrats and the British Tories are the only parties in the world right now that are older; they're definitely the only major ones that come to mind.

Strictly speaking even the Tories aren't as old.

You sure?  Didn't they get their start in the late 17th century as the party most sympathetic to the monarchy, with roots in the Cavalier faction? 

The Conservative Party proper was not founded until 1834.  If we go the "earliest predecessor" route, the Democrats and Republicans are equally old, and the oldest political party in the world is actually the Liberal Democrats...

[tpfkaw]

I think the Colorado Party in Paraguay's up there too. It's definitely the oldest in Latin America, unless I'm forgetting something.

You've got the wrong 'guay.