Democrat In Name Only
Democrat In Name Only (or DINO) is a pejorative term for any member of the United States Democratic Party elected as a Democrat but who governs and legislates like a Republican would.[1]
The term was created as an analogous opposite to the acronym RINO (Republican In Name Only).[2]
Terms including Blue Dog Democrats and Yellow Dog Democrats have been more popular than DINO for describing heterodox Democrats.[2] Notable examples of politicians that have been accused of being a DINO include West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, and 2016 presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.[3][4]
History
The phrase was used by Alven B. Goodbar, a Democrat and president of the Goodbar Shoe Manufacturing Company of St. Louis, who replied to a request from the Democratic National Committee to make a donation to the Democratic Party candidate, William Jennings Bryan, by saying "I do not recognize Mr Bryan as a democrat or as a true expounder of democratic doctrines and principles. He is a democrat in name only, while in fact he was originally a populist and by process of evolution has become a socialist."[5]
In his 1920 run for one of Georgia's seats in the United States Senate, Thomas E. Watson was denounced by the Valdosta Times newspaper as a "Democrat in name only.".[6] When William DeWitt Mitchell was appointed United States Attorney General in 1928 by President Herbert Hoover, the Chicago Tribune described Mitchell as a "Democrat in name only," arguing that "his record of the last few years has been Republican."[7] In 1936 United States Senator Edward R. Burke of Nebraska resigned his position as a member of the Democratic National Committee stating that he could not support "any candidate masquerading as a Democrat but who was a Democrat in name only," referring to Terry Carpenter, a Representative from Nebraska then running for the Senate.[8]
See also
- New Democrats
- Blue Dog Democrats
- Boll Weevil Democrats
- Conservative Democrat
- Left-right politics
- Libertarian Democrat
- Party switching in the US
- Republican In Name Only
- Southern Democrats
- Stealth conservative
References
- Natale, Brittany (29 October 2018). "Here's Your Guide for Voting in the Midterms, for Teens and by Teens". Teen Vogue. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
- Edwards, Phil (29 September 2015). "A brief history of the term RINO, from Roosevelt to Boehner". Vox. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
- Barber, Shannon. "Why The Hell Is Joe Manchin Still Pretending To Be A Democrat?". AddictingInfo.
- "Four Reasons Why Hillary Is a Democrat in Name Only". HuffPost. February 10, 2016.
- ""HE'S A SOCIALIST," IS MR. W.J. BRYAN: St. Louis Manufacturer Tells Why He Refused Financial Aid to Democrats". Chicago Daily Tribune. 27 October 1908. ProQuest 173465415.
- "Press of Georgia Enthusiastically Supporting Governor Dorsey for United States Senator". The Atlanta Constitution. 5 August 1920. ProQuest 497772540.
- Kinsley, Philip (28 February 1929). "GOOD SLATED FOR WAR SECRETARY; DONOVAN IS OUT: Mitchell to Be Hoover's Attorney General". Chicago Tribune. ProQuest 180960548.
- "Burke Resigns His Democratic Post in Protest: Nebraska Senalor Quits Committee, Says HeGan't Back All Roosevelt Acts". New York Herald Tribune. 26 August 1936. ProQuest 1240263926.