Posted on 11/06/2009 1:06:48 PM PST by mnehring
AUSTIN — State Rep. Chuck Hopson says he's leaving the Democratic Party and becoming a Republican.
Hopson says President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress don't reflect the conservative values of his East Texas district.
Hopson, in a phone interview from Jacksonville, said Friday that more than 70 percent of voters in his district voted for Republican John McCain in the 2008 presidential election.
The decision is tough blow for the Texas Democratic Party. The split in the Texas House of Representatives was a narrow 76-74 in favor of the GOP.
State Democratic Party chairman Boyd Richie said he's disappointed with Hopson, but said he's still confident Democrats will gain control of the House with next year's election.
So lemme get this straight. We’re supposed to kick the RINOs out but welcome DEMs who switch party affiliation?
they’re just RINO....
How did this guy get elected as D if his District is 70% R?
We have a lot of old Dems in this area that are more Conservative than Republicans, they just have had the label so long it stuck with him. I don’t know if he is a RINO on issues.. I’ll do some digging into his record.
In their minds, it seems perfectly plausible, cause their dims! Now if they really had a set, they would switch to Independent.
” but said he’s still confident Democrats will gain control of the House with next year’s election.”
In Texas during the 2010 midterms? Quite the contrary, the Dems are going to get blown out.
Many Texas’s D’s are more conservative than many National R’s!
The switch makes the current House (out-of-session) 77 Rs and 73 Ds.
This is good. One more vote for the R’s.
I sure hope if he is going to switch; he will vote not as a RINO.
“So lemme get this straight. We’re supposed to kick the RINOs out but welcome DEMs who switch party affiliation?”
There are conservative D’s in TX.
For example, solidly conservative Georgia rep. Nathan Deal, who switched away from the DemoNazis back in 1995 is FAR more conservative than ANY so-called Republican Represenatative or Senator from the Northeast.
Ex-Rat Sen. Richard Shelby may not be 100% perfect, but he's FAR more conservative than many of his Republican colleagues. The list goes on (Phil Gramm, some guy named Ronald Reagan....)
Nate Deal is no "RINO" but schmucks like Olympia Snowe sure as hell are.
I’ll tell you how - there are more idiots who grew up as conservative democrats but believe every aspect of the republican party - yet vote democrat. Their Daddy voted democrat and their grandfather voted dem....so they vote dem but are as conservative as they come....just stupid.
He doesn’t seem to be a die hard Conservative, more of a populist. He does seem to be to the right of McCain on several issues and he is for the Voter ID laws, something most Dems here oppose. Overall, he seems to be a localist/populist.
http://chuckhopson.com/issues/voter-id/
Hey Nancy - still think you won last week?
I guess her Mussolini like tactics aren’t serving their cause very well.
He also was endorsed by the NRA.
DU called him a Zell (Miller) wannabe
Yep. He's saying he's moving to the right, that there's no room for conservatives in the Texas Democrat Party. Excellent development.
This fool is just figuring that out—typical career political whore
so was the woman in New York that was a democrat plant posing as a republican.
Chet Edwards is "supposed" to be a populist/conservative/whatever... but he's on his knees in front of Obama like a $4 hooker and was dying to be VP.
I don't trust anybody like them. It's like a Frenchman deciding when he saw the armada off the coast of Normandy to join the freedom fighters and resistance movement.
look at how they voted on taxes, health bill and see what you see.
Let him change and hold hie feet to the fire until the next election and then kick him to the curb for a real conservative.
What ACU rating defines the break point for a rino?
Is it the same in Texas and Massachusetts?
What ACU rating defines the cutoff, above which one cannot put together a majority of anything?
I was around during the Reagan climb, during and after.
What is missing is the intellectual climate of learning about classical liberalism, laissez faire market economy, personal freedom, Laffer Curve, etc.
Back then if you read the WSJ you were up to speed on the emerging trend in American political thought, and Thatcher too.
Today if you read FR you have little to none of that stuff.
Just shout outs about knocking off rinos.
You can add Sam Hall and George Wallace Jr. to the list.
That’s a good question. About a year or so ago, we had a big thread on ACU ratings and the infamous line. Looking at who we considered RINOs versus Conservative Republicans, it seemed to fall around the 85% mark because anything below that showed a failure on too many major issues (McCain’s lifetime is 81%, 2008 rating is 63% to put it in perspective).
Of course, that is only the opinions of those making it. Each person has their own issue or sets of issues.
Question...Does Hopson reflect the conservative values of his district? Or is this an attempt to keep his seat?
Many Texas Dems are more conservative than the lamers the GOP is putting up of late.
DU called him a Zell Miller wannabe if that answers your question.
Im sure you were just being polite by saying just stupid instead of the correct term “Stuck on Stupid”!
Those gutless wonders know they will be feted by the media for a time (ask Arlen Sphincter, Judas Jeffords, that ex-Senator twerp from Rhode Island, etc.) and praised for their "courage" and new-found enlightenment.
OTOH, those who go D -> R especially south of the Mason Dixon line where voting R was a hanging offense not so many years ago, are the ones with true courage (ok, not in all cases) and who are often risking their careers in order to do the right thing - hardly RINOs.
We could do with a lot more like this Texas legislator on our side, impefect though he may be, and a lot fewer of the likes of Snowe, Collins, Light in the Loafers Lindsey, etc.
They need about 5 years probation before they get patched in.
“That’s a good question. About a year or so ago, we had a big thread on ACU ratings and the infamous line. Looking at who we considered RINOs versus Conservative Republicans, it seemed to fall around the 85% mark because anything below that showed a failure on too many major issues (McCain’s lifetime is 81%, 2008 rating is 63% to put it in perspective).
Of course, that is only the opinions of those making it. Each person has their own issue or sets of issues.”
I suggest a nationwide slate of 85+ candidates will guarantee severe minority status.
But that outcome gives life and meaning to the misunderstand, persecuted, conservative victim paradigm.
The alternate but politically mature strategy of trying to get the best match for each state and district, putting together a winning coalition, like Reagan did—too sophisticated for those settling for only the simplest answer.
In my state of California we will select from moderate to very conservative choices in a closed primary, to replace Boxer.
“So lemme get this straight. We’re supposed to kick the RINOs out but welcome DEMs who switch party affiliation?”
Funny isn’t it. Still this will get many here excited about the upcoming dem implosion. Politicians like this one are the worst. Changing sides to keep his seat. Reminds me of Snarlen Arlen.
7 Hardin County officials switch to GOP
By BLAIR DEDRICK ORTMANN
November 4, 2009
Seven Democratic Hardin County elected officials announced Wednesday they will become Republicans.
Sheriff Ed Cain, who confirmed his switch earlier this week, was joined at Wednesday’s formal announcement by County Judge Billy Caraway, Precinct 4 Commissioner Bobby Franklin, County Attorney Rebecca Walton, Precinct 5 Constable Wayne McDaniel, Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace Kent Walker and Precinct 5 Justice of the Peace Butch Cummings.
As each of the officials spoke, they repeated the same theme — their beliefs and values have stayed the same, but are no longer reflected by the Democratic Party.
In addition, several said that when they first ran for office, they knew they would not be elected if they didn’t run as a Democrat.
end snips
Somebody told me earlier this week that several conservative Dem state reps in TX are switching to Repubs. They know it is not good for the TX state gov’t to be under control of Dems.
Freepers, this is why it is CRITICAL to have Republican Election Judges, Alternates, Clerks, and Poll Watchers in every precinct!
All the dims have to do is commit vote fraud in key districts, take over the Texas House, and gerrymander the state again.
Gerrymandering could flip as many as 10 U.S. House seats from R to D PERMANENTLY.
See my post relative to vote fraud:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2378786/posts
Actually, I meant Ralph Hall, but Sam Hall is a good example. Ralph eventually saw the light and if Senator Byrd ever leaves he will be the oldest member in either house, I believe. Hall is a tough old bird as well, and he may have a few decades of service ahead of him. Last time I saw him (on C-Span) he was still sharp as a whip.
Yeller Dog democrats. Would vote D even if a yeller dog was on the Dem side of the ballot.
Nobama has changed lots of that old “Yeller Dog” mentality. Asked many of them if they were really going to vote for a arab named mooslimb hi-yeller just because he had a D next to his name and 100% said “Hell No”.
I am so rarely polite when referring to liberals, but I stand corrected.
I thought that would be the case as well but it sure didn’t make any difference in the election, now did it?
It did in Texas. I was a bit worried about how “dyed in the wool” the Yeller Dogs were, turns out they do have some line they won’t cross.
As to other parts of the country, maybe they have too much guilt or more likely dumb to what nobama and the black movement is all about.
All the dims have to do is commit vote fraud in key districts, take over the Texas House, and gerrymander the state again.
You mean the Repubs haven’t done any gerrymandering?...... I thought that was the purpose of being in control so that you could set the districts up for the highest potential of electability.
I was looking as some county GOP info the other day and it showed that a lot of the precincts have no GOP precinct chair. Admittedly some of the precincts were very strong democratic.
That’s my point. They both will gerrymander the districts to suit their needs as is evidenced by their actions of the past. On the state level that is why the Texas democrats spent time in New Mexico and Oklahoma the last time.
look him up on my site at www.wethepeople-texas.com, you will see he voted extremely liberal in the last session. He just knows he is in a conservative district, someone who is a real conservative needs to run against him.
We need a conservative to run against him. Look at the profile I made of him on www.wethepeople-texas.com. We voted very liberal!
That’s what I was afraid of. This is the new democrat way to get their people elected. Switch parties and make sure they believe you are the other party. Don’t vote for any Republican unless they are conservative or an independant conservative. Just because they have R behind their name doesn’t mean they are. Also vote all incumbents out. Except, of course, the ones that have proved themselves.
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