GOP ?? what does that mean?

If you're anywhere but the US, 10 seconds.. what does GOP mean?

In 2002 one US newspaper declined to use the term for the Republicans suggesting many people would not understand what it meant.

Surprisingly the use of the acronym in the wake of the Republican's move for modernity and change rubs somewhat against: Grand Old Party.

There, now we can read through those political newspaper tombs littered with GOP and be a little wiser, or not as the case may be.