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Demonstrated about old time democratic leaders getting dismissed (4,4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

shot down

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'dismissed' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are past participle verbs, I can't see how one could define the other.

'demonstrated about old time democratic leaders' is the wordplay.
'demonstrated' becomes 'shown' (I've seen this before).
'about' indicates putting letters inside.
'leaders' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letters of 'old time democratic' is 'otd'.
'shown' enclosing 'otd' is 'SHOT DOWN'.

'getting' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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