BARTOSHEVICH: "PROUD DEMOCRAT" OR "FINISHED WITH THE DEMOCRAT PARTY"?

Via Eve Fairbanks at The New Republic, I see that John McCain is running an ad featuring Debra Bartoshevich of Wisconsin, who calls herself a "proud Hillary Clinton Democrat":



Funny -- a month ago, after her McCain endorsement led to her (understandable) removal from the Wisconsin delegation to the Democratic convention, she told a local news reporter she wouldn't even vote for an Obama-Clinton ticket -- she was "finished with the party, the Democrat Party":



So, which is it? Is she a Democrat or an ex-Democrat?

And yes, she does say "Democrat Party." Somewhere along the line, this allegedly devoted Democrat learned to refer to the party the way only Republicans refer to it. And she does this over and over again. To WisPolitics.com last month:

"I'm done. I will never support the Democrat Party again, not after how they treated me," she said.

And in discussions with other party members, also last month:

... Debra Bartoshevich was a newcomer to the state Democratic Party who had outworked more senior local party leaders and been elected a delegate to the Aug. 25-28 national convention in Denver.

But Bartoshevich had a big problem: She is an all-out, passionate backer of Hillary Clinton....

Bartoshevich said she plans to vote for Republican Sen. John McCain for president in November, which got her voted out as a delegate to Denver on Friday.

But, before the vote, in her explanation of why she should still be seated as a convention delegate, she repeatedly referred to the "Democrat Party" -- and, to party leaders, those are fighting words....

When corrected again and again -- "it's the DemocratIC Party" -- she fell silent at one point. "I don't understand," she finally stammered....

Now, where would she have picked this little verbal tic up? Well, the McCainiacs connected with her in June:

Encouraged by her sister, who has served in Iraq, Bartoshevich signed up as a supporter with "Citizens for McCain," an arm of the campaign targeting Democrats and independents. She said she got a call from the McCain campaign, which then provided her name to a reporter.

And now she's McCain's Democrat -- except she's not a Democrat, and she feels mistreated by the "Democrat Party." Draw your own conclusions.