Posted on 12/22/2009 8:05:01 AM PST by Danae
POLITICO has learned that Rep. Parker Griffith, a freshman Democrat from Alabama, will announce today that hes switching parties to become a Republican.
According to a senior GOP aide familiar with the decision, the announcement will take place in this afternoon in his home district in northern Alabama.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
Okay, then good conservatives would not have been elected to any level of government in the South from say 1880 to now. In many areas of the South, until very recently, the only way to be elected was to run as a Democrat.
Holy sh##! I am speechless. If ever we needed a sign from God, this is it.
Not exactly sure how you figure that is the fault of former Democrats who switched to Republican, however. Seems to me, the problem with the GOP "leadership" (you scare-quoted the wrong word) is that they've gone Washington - and they were perfectly capable of doing that while having always been registered GOPers. The answer is increased conservative vigilance, challenging RINOs in the primaries, and term limits - not driving away potential allies and elected officials because they used to be Democrats.
dittos. I don’t care if he’s a striped assed ape, if he
votes against this debacle, he ok with me.
here in King Co WA, all the reps are thoroughly leftish
and the sole Republican (Reichert) is a global warmist who barely kept his seat against a certified moonbat.
Since very few Republicans are conservatives (anymore), perhaps instead of RINO the term should be changed to CINO.
Do you REALLY think a Democrap is better than a RINO?
We need all the help we can get to fight Obamacare and the Ogabe’s thugs.
If a Senator or Rep is going to vote against Fascist Healthcare, why diss them?
Interesting if this gets reported by the MSM.
They made a big deal when the NY seat went Democrat and it had been held by the GOP for a century as well.
I understand that, but people need to realize that the democrat party of old has very little in common with the current crop infesting Washington...
Hey, if Pence or Boehner or King said something like that, FR would be praising them to the skies. I suggest we give this guy the benefit of the doubt at least while Obamacare is on the table, and I say that as someone who hasn't voted for a RINO since 1996.
yup.. and who’s to say your not just another RINO supporter... I guess your posting history will tell that tale...
I hope so!
I think dems go to where the power is regardless of power. The problem with allowing a switch is now you have a democrat in a republican office getting election funding from republicans.
A conservative wanting to run for the office will get no funding from the republican party. These switches force conservatives out of the election process unless they self fund.
You are absolutely right-and I expect more elected officials from the South to switch to the Republican party
for the very reason you mentioned. I think the switch today is great news.
I think we saw a bit of this in 1972 as well.
The World's Smallest Political Quiz - yes, I've taken it before, though I noted that it seems engineered to give false positives for libertarianism (not surprising, since LP affiliates invented the quiz). I hate to say it, but I've yet to see a TRULY well-rounded political quiz in the WSPQ type (biaxial) format.
Probably the closest would be this one which seems to be a pretty accurate indicator. However, it, like the WSPQ, eschews asking questions about social issues like abortion, gay marriage, sex ed, etc. The reason for this is because, when you start asking people to answer questions about these types of issues, people start moving towards the "Conservative" corner and away from the "Libertarian" corner (same deal with WSPQ). Libertarians get around this by just not asking those questions. In place, they ask questions where the "conservative" answers are simply outlandish and not supported by most conservatives, like whether we should put people in prison for having oral sex, etc. That way, they can include a few "social issue" questions, and still get the libertarian-leaning responses they want (so that people will begin to self-identify as "libertarian" instead of "conservative").
Yes, I guess it will.
Many people unfamiliar with the Deep South do not understand two main points: (1) a few politicians are only democrats because their dad, grandads, great-granddads, etc., were democrats and it is a family tradition, so to speak; and (2) a democrat in the Deep South is generally more conservative than just about any republican out west or (especially) the northeast part of the country.
Before someone wants to misconstrue my comments as an approval of democrats in general, get a grip. I'm only trying to explain something that is true in this part of the country. While it is a little less the case in national politics, it is much more the case in local politics. The Deep South, overall, is pretty darn conservative, with the exception of the large cities that are largely black populations, especially river cities (Memphis & New Orleans are excellent examples).
Reagan was in 1948 “just wild about Harry”.
It could be too that he was unaware of just how leftist the Democrats are until he saw them in action. I would imagine that thousands of AL Democrats are in blissful ignorance about their party.
Your argument is predicated on the belief that Griffith is not a conservative. His voting record, as I pointed out above, doesn't support this assertion.
Again, I challenge your assertion (blanket, at least) that the "Republican Party" refuses to support conservative candidates. In fact, despite a few high profile cases to the contrary, this is not really the case. Despite the propaganda from the whiners, Dede Scozzafava is not really, actually, truly the norm.
Good point; there was a TX Democrat who switched in 1995, and Ron Paul took him out in the primary in 1996. Gingrich and GWB were against Paul.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.