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[SlaveNoMore]

Not Bob
Sure you can. Heck, it's an old Republican slur (which you surely know), and people from Alf Landon to Bob Dole or George W. Bush have cheerfully used it when making partisan attacks.

Here's the thing, though. It's impolite to *always* use it. Occasionally, you have to call a group by the name they select or you brand yourself as a rude person who has chosen to deliberately insult someone. Even if your prefered name is based upon grammar or factual correctness.

Arab governments that don't recognize Israel call it "the Zionist entity." This is a factually correct term (the state's founding ideology was and remains Zionism). However, it is a huge insult to use that term to refer to Israel, and the fact that it remained in the charter of the PLO after the Oslo Accords was a real problem for a substantial chunk of the Israeli public -- even before the Palestinians resumed their violence. Flying to Jerusalem and calling Israel "Israel" was one of the bravest things that Anwar Sadat did. (See also Republic of China/Red China versus People's Republic of China/Taiwan -- Nixon's use of the PRC name in a speech was a clear signal to Mao and Chou.)

Let's think of an example in Spankyland where you might want to think about the impact of your version of the party name. In a setting where you are trying to scrape together enough votes in the House to pass a free trade bill, would you want to call possible "yes" votes a name which -- regardless of its gramatical correctness -- insults them?

How about the "Dimwit Party"? Or the "Anti-Semite Party"?

Here's Former President Carter - embarrasssing himself and his party, yet again - blaming the Jews, yet again, for all that is wrong in the Middle East:

"I think if the United States won’t take that role on, then maybe the entire group of the so-called International Quartet, the United States, Russia, the United Nations, and the United — and the European Union — those four have written a road map which President Bush has endorsed enthusiastically. And if they can implement their terms — by the way, on which the Palestinians have accepted 100 percent and the Israelis have rejected almost entirely — if the road map terms are accepted, then we can have peace in the Middle East."