Insurgent

Has anyone else noticed that the SNP are becoming referred to more frequently in the main-stream media (MSM) as the 'insurgent SNP'?

For example:

The National, 22/12/2014 [referring to Ed Miliband]

And once you factor Scotland into the equation - where Labour stand to lose a significant number of seats to the insurgent SNP - the odds lengthen even further against the opposition leader

The Spectator. 14/12/2013

James Forsyth: Insurgents are remaking British politics

The big parties have no answer either to the SNP or to Ukip. The consequences could be dramatic

The New Statesman, 29/12/2014

 As will the insurgent SNP and the wider nationalist movement. Under Sturgeon’s leadership, the party will move to the left, partly out of conviction (unlike Salmond, she is an unambiguous social democrat) and partly out of necessity. The 60,000 people who have joined the SNP since the referendum demand nothing less. In the new Scotland, where a young generation of writers, thinkers and activists define themselves by their constitutional radicalism, Labour faces forces that it can no longer control.

 The definition of 'insurgent' from Merriam-Webster is

¹in·sur·gent

noun \-jənt\

: a person who fights against an established government or authority

Full Definition of INSURGENT

1

:  a person who revolts against civil authority or an established government; especially :  a rebel not recognized as a belligerent

2

:  one who acts contrary to the policies and decisions of one's own political party

Most commonly in recent years we have heard the word applied to Moslem fighters in Iraq and Afghanistan, specifically members of the Taliban and  ISIS.

Now it's possible that all these journalists have forgotten how to look up the dictionary to find they really want, which is, I suspect, 'resurgent'.  I find this hard to believe though.  All these professional writers and sub-editors have failed to spot that 'insurgent' doesn't mean what they think it does?  

It's an interesting piece of positioning by the MSM, which will set up certain associations for their readers, a large number of whom do not support the cause of Scottish independence, bracketing the SNP with Moslem freedom fighters. 

Maybe I'm just paranoid and it's simply a further decline of the English language, like the increasing use of 'momentarily' to mean 'in a moment' rather than 'for a moment'.  Maybe I'm just a pedant at heart.  Let's see how common this becomes.