Posted on 10/29/2004 6:10:26 AM PDT by dirtboy
IN MY 16 years as a city councilman-at-large, I was proud to claim my allegiance to the Democratic Party. It meant you really stood for something. It meant you were a regular guy who stood up for your family, country, friends and neighbors.
It was a noble cause that kept you in touch with real families in middle-class America. With profound faith and a belief in God unsurpassed only by the framers of our Constitution, the Democratic Party was your ticket to the American dream.
But a lot has changed since my days in public office. The Democratic Party of today shows no resemblance to the party I was proud to call my own.
The reality is that the party has been hijacked by left-wing, ultra-liberal, anti-American radicals. What once was a party associated with the blue-collar worker is now the party of blue-blood elitists who use the real working class as pawns to help push their liberal agenda.
My union friends and family claim the Democrats are the party for union workers. The hero of the new Democratic Party is Bill Clinton, the man who signed NAFTA, pushed for China's entrance into the World Trade Organization and made Arkansas a right-to-work state when he was governor. He even had his library built with non-union workers.
He and the Democrats, giving in to the demands of radical environmentalists, strongly oppose drilling for oil in ANWAR, which would produce thousands of union jobs and help reduce our reliance on Middle Eastern oil. Still think he's pro-union? Don't just listen to his words - watch his actions.
This election has redefined what it means to be a Democrat. Instead of promoting family values, a belief in God and loyalty to your country, the new Democrats are rubber stamps for every left-wing, anti-American special interest group.
The party has placed a litmus test on any potential federal judge appointment: Simply put, if you are Catholic, you need not apply.
Political correctness is the rule of law in this Democratic Party and has trumped the freedom of speech that our forefathers fought so hard to obtain. Speaking your mind as an American was a measure of freedom and strength - now it's considered libel and hate speech, except, of course, if you are a liberal.
Witness the liberal media's hypocritical attack on free speech when Sinclair Broadcasting attempted to show the documentary of the real John Kerry in "Stolen Honor." This film exposes John Kerry for what he really is, a man who turned his back on his fellow soldiers and testified to war crimes that "he and his fellow soldiers committed on a daily basis."
John Kerry said all of this and more while some of his "comrades" were still being tortured in POW camps by the Viet Cong.
Never in my life have I supported such a person - and I won't start now.
John F. Kerry likes to compare himself to JFK. Well John, this is no longer the party of JFK. No longer the party of FDR, no longer the party of Wilson or Truman. It is now the party of the ultra-liberal elite who have taken over under the guise of still being the working-family party.
It is the party of protestors who believe Mumia is innocent, it is the party endorsed by the French, and the party that Yasser Arafat, the very same terrorist who organized the murder of American diplomats in Khartoum in 1973, "prefers."
It is time for "Reagan Democrats" and "Rizzo-crats" and hard-working union families to realize that their democrat party has been hijacked by the left wing radical groups like MoveOn.org, the ACLU, NAMBLA and George Soros.
AVOTE FOR Kerry gives a resounding vote of confidence to the cowardly Muslim terrorists. It is a vote to increase your taxes and a vote for socialist health care.
It is the vote of a pessimist.
The only way to keep our country safe, to protect our children, and to help the family and working man is to stand up for your family and your country.
The best way to ensure that is to vote for George W. Bush. That's what I intend to do come Tuesday.
I ask like-minded Philadelphians to join me.
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Francis W. Rafferty is a former Democratic city councilman-at-large.
CFR was supposed to take the corruption of money out of the campaigns and everyone was going to be nice.
I am 50 years old. I have voted in every single Presidential election since I was 18. John Kerry has conducted the most negative campaign in my lifetime.
Politics is a dirty business and it gets rough. I understand that and know it goes with the territory. But what comes out of John Kerry's mouth is beyond the pale.
There is no class, no character. Attack with a lie, attack with a lie, attack with a lie, and on and on and on.
MSM being what it is, overlooks the not only the lies, but the extent of the negative rhetoric. When the dems make the claim that George Bush has divided this country no one, not even FOX, counters with the fact that the dems are responsible for the devisiveness.
He was selected, not elected. He is not my President. George Bush is the illegitimate President. They have forgotten it was Tom Daschle who broke the tradition "Politics ends where the ocean begins." The first time President Bush traveled abroad, Daschle slammed him in the press for the entire world to hear.
It was Democrats, not Republicans who criticized our President on foreign soil.
Joe Lockhart call General Tommy Franks a liar, for God's sake!!! I did not hear one word about that on the news this morning. Not one friggin' word.
I can only hope average, everyday, work-a-day dems see this. I know the stand-in-line-for-the-handouts dems are going "You go, Kerry! You da' man!"
Kerry has engaged in rhetoric which serves no other purpose than to harvest hate.
When this election is over and George Bush is re-elected, Kerry will not fade into the distance. he will not say, "It is time to put the election behind us and work together." He will do a Gore, but this time every word he says will be given more air time than any other issue.
I am glad to read of this endorsement. I hope there are many other dems who are disgusted with the hate-filled stump speeches of kerry, edwards and wives, and suurogates.
LOL .. I'll never forget that
I heard it too.
Franny is the guy who punched John Street (current mayor) when they were both on Philly city council!
Yup. This guy laid out all the reasons that I switched to the GOP several years ago. The New Democratic Party abandoned working America years ago. Now it is a collection of special interest groups waiting to get a handout from the public trough. They are lead by a bunch of left wing internationalists who would put up a self-admitted war criminal and traitor to be our President.
No, thanks!
Ping.
Great Post!
So what were the callers on the radio program saying?
Did they agree, disagree, waffle - what?
Well, it's true that 20 years ago a large segment of the Dem party was still "conservative."
But the FDR segment, which Francis is a part of, was definitely leftist in important ways. But you are right in that, unlike today's Dems, they held many important American moral values, including patriotism, and Franny sure understands free speech and probably rkba. I do have, as you say, Republican friends who are ready to jettison rkba.
But since the FDR Dems viewed our Constitution as the vehicle which authorized an all powerful government which would give us our rights and dreams, rather than as a government limited by guidelines strict enough so that it could not interfere with our private pursuit of our personal dreams, I stand by my original statement of being bemused by leftist admiration for our Constitution.
Still, it's great to see some old line Dems with good attitudes.
YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IS PERCOLATING IN PHILADELPHIA right now and is starting to be reflected in the changing PA polls (and will be the key to bringing down KERRY)....
..., AND which is going to surprise many come this Tuesday night, it will not just only be "South Philadelphia" with many conservative Italian democrats, 'Rizzocrats', and 'Reagan Democrats', who will be pulling the same lever as Fran Rafferty and help "DO IN" the radical-anti-American Kerry in PENNSYLVANIA, but the other "conservative' Democrat Phila sections of "Tacony", "Port Richmond", "Bridesburg", "Frankford", "Mayfair", "Holmesburg","Pennypack", "Chalfont", "Rhawnhurst", "Kensington", "Roxborough", "Manayunk", "Torresdale", "Fox Chase", "Bustleton", "Byberry", "Oxford Circle"...,
Let us hope and pray.
Wowsers!!!!
Good for you, Franny Rafferty. Tell it like it is. If the Rizzocrats and Reagan Democrats get out the vote, we might be able to take down the Philly fraud machine.
The Bush Army of Volunteers will be hitting the street this weekend for the big push to the finish.
PLEASE - help out with the volunteer effort. We have to know we did EVERYTHING we could to help GW take Pennsylvania.
It must be hard on the man to see what he once loved turned into a Hate and lie party. He's to be commended on his principles.I wish him well, on his new journey with the middle class.
Thanks for this post, it is so true.
The Republican party is now the party of the average normal person, with a moderate social agenda to help those in need within spending limits that we can live with.
The Democratic party is the party of extremism, with no sense of balance, and no interest in accountability.
Some have said that the Democratic party still has a large base of moderates who can work constructively to improve our country. However, it seems to me that the exteremists have taken over and are the leaders of the party, pushing abortion, environment over all else, junk science, more tax and spend, etc.
My prayers for a big Bush win.
Today's Inquirer story about Bush's rally in Yardley mentioned that many people in that part of Bucks County actually work in Manhattan. They lived through 9/11 and many lost friends that day. I live 20 miles west of Yardley and I have neighbors who work in Manhattan. They are all voting for Bush. I returned yesterday from a business trip to California and I could not believe all the Bush/Cheney signs I saw driving home through North Philadelphia and into Bucks County.
I do believe that Pennsylvania is going to be the November Surprise for the Democrats. They have thrown all their eggs into the Ohio basket while Bush has slipped by them in Michigan, Pennsylvania, iowa, and Wisconsin.
Ping.
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