Yeah, I was worried you wouldn’t get the humor. From my observations of Goode (going back to the mid ‘90s when he was still in the VA State Senate), he was one who was trying to move the Democrat party away from moonbat territory (while a respectable task, one that was far too late) and remembered what it was like when the party still had actual Conservatives in it (and not what the media calls “Conservative Dems” today, which are merely Socialist). He always conducted himself in an above-board manner without the kind of typical deceit we see in so many leftists.
Now, to answer your question, as far as I know, he did vote for Pelosi when she was the candidate for Speaker as a member of the Minority Party (since she was in no danger at that point of becoming Speaker, I choose not to crucify Goode for such a vote — I would contrast that with ex-Congressman Gene Taylor of MS who voted against Pelosi when he was in the minority, but “proudly” cast a vote for her in January 2007 when it did matter, a kind of rank hypocrisy that thankfully contributed to his eventual defeat last year). His real courageous vote was for Clinton’s impeachment in 1998. By then it was apparent he had very little in common with his lifelong party and he switched a little over a year later (first to Independent, and then 2 1/2 years later to GOP). There was nothing off the top of my head that I found objectionable in his voting record from that period onward (if anything, getting unshackled from the Democrats allowed him to move fully rightward).
Add to that that he had the courage to speak out against Mohammadanism at a time when so many other Republicans would cower (and it quite possibly had some effect on losing reelection in 2008).
The sole reason, as you cited, is the Constitution Party’s unfortunate prior paleo/libertarian stance on foreign policy/defense, but I think with Goode’s nomination, it moves it away from that to a more reasonable and sensible stance.
Having some up close first-hand experience in dealing with the CP, I remain highly skeptical.
This happens to me all the time.
Both as sender and recipient.