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Exclusive: Rep. Parker Griffith switches to GOP
Politico ^ | 12/22/2009 | JOSH KRAUSHAAR

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 he’s 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 ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Alabama
KEYWORDS: 111th; alabama; democratnomore; gop; griffith; housesenate; parker; parkergriffith; realignment; republican; switch
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To: fieldmarshaldj; Impy; Clintonfatigued; Clemenza; BillyBoy

Before Griffith’s switch, the Democrats had held the Huntsville seat since March 1869. Democrat Peter Myndert Dox of Huntsville was elected in November 1868 to what even then was the AL-05: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Myndert_Dox

Earlier in 1868, a special election was held in AL (the state had just been readmitted to the Union), and Republican John Benton Callis of Huntsville was elected. Callis served from July 21, 1868 to March 3, 1869. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Benton_Callis

Immediately prior to the Civil War, the district was represented by Huntsville Democrat Williamson Robert Winfield Cobb, who was a Unionist (as were many North Alabamians—some wanted counties in North AL, North GA, East TN and West NC to secede from the Confederacy and form a new state of the U.S.) but who reluctantly withdrew from Congress when AL seceded in 1861. Cobb served from 1847-1861 in what was back then known as the AL-06. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williamson_Robert_Winfield_Cobb

Prior to Cobb, the Representative for the Huntsville district was Democrat Reuben Chapman, who served from 1835 to 1847. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuben_Chapman Chapman had replaced Democrat Clement Comer Clay, who served from 1829-1835. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clement_Comer_Clay Clay, in turn, replaced Jacksonian (and thus proto-Democrat) Gabriel Moore, who served from the district’s creation in 1823 (prior to that, AL had a single Representative, elected statewide) until 1829. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Moore

So, before today, in the 186-year-old history of the Huntsville-based congressional district in Alabama, it was represented by someone other than a Democrat (or proto-Democrat Jacksonian) for less than 7 and 1/2 months.

Now *taht* is an “ancestrally Democrat” district!


201 posted on 12/22/2009 11:08:27 AM PST by AuH2ORepublican (If a politician won't protect innocent babies, what makes you think that he'll protect your rights?)
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To: AuH2ORepublican

D’oh! “Taht” = “that” (I noticed the typo just as I hit “post”).


202 posted on 12/22/2009 11:09:55 AM PST by AuH2ORepublican (If a politician won't protect innocent babies, what makes you think that he'll protect your rights?)
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To: AuH2ORepublican
Health care may be an issue. He's a Doc!
Bio from his campaign website:
Parker Griffith graduated with his MD from the Louisiana State University (LSU) School of Medicine in 1970...
203 posted on 12/22/2009 11:18:08 AM PST by BigEdLB (Now there ARE 1,000,000 regrets - but it may be too late.)
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To: Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus; JustaDumbBlonde

You two are exactly right. Further, what would be the point of switching to a minority party to vote with the majority? Both parties would hate him. I expect him to be a loyal GOPer for a long time.


204 posted on 12/22/2009 11:19:58 AM PST by Lou Budvis (She never bankrupted Alaska or bowed to royalty.)
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To: Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus; JustaDumbBlonde

You two are exactly right. Further, what would be the point of switching to a minority party to vote with the majority? Both parties would hate him. I expect him to be a loyal GOPer for a long time.


205 posted on 12/22/2009 11:20:13 AM PST by Lou Budvis (She never bankrupted Alaska or bowed to royalty.)
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To: Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus; JustaDumbBlonde

You two are exactly right. Further, what would be the point of switching to a minority party to vote with the majority? Both parties would hate him. I expect him to be a loyal GOPer for a long time.


206 posted on 12/22/2009 11:20:46 AM PST by Lou Budvis (She never bankrupted Alaska or bowed to royalty.)
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To: moder_ator

Please delete 205 and 206 as duplicates. Sorry.


207 posted on 12/22/2009 11:23:04 AM PST by Lou Budvis (She never bankrupted Alaska or bowed to royalty.)
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To: AuH2ORepublican
How bad must that internal polling for the democrats be right now for a member to voluntarily switch from the majority to the minority, when the minority party hasn't represented the district in 140 years?

I doubt that there has been a party switch quite analogous to this one in recent history.

208 posted on 12/22/2009 11:50:56 AM PST by jpl
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To: fieldmarshaldj

Richard Shelby did the same thing from the same state in 94. But I’m going be skeptical until he shows that he really is a conservative, and not just another infiltrator in the party.


209 posted on 12/22/2009 11:52:19 AM PST by darkangel82 (I don't have a superiority complex, I'm just better than you.)
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To: All

This guy is from Alabama. Alabama democrats are NOT like San Francisco democrats. Some of you who immediately dismiss this guy as a RINO shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss him. How has he voted thus far? Maybe we should look at that.

Some of you may not realize this, but Ronald Reagan was a registered DEMOCRAT before he made that great speech at the 1964 Republican Convention. So again, don’t be so quick to just dismiss this guy. I’d like to hear more about his overall philosophy on personal freedom, etc.


210 posted on 12/22/2009 11:57:15 AM PST by jsdjason
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To: Danae

Is this a federal senator? If so, great news.


211 posted on 12/22/2009 12:23:05 PM PST by calex59
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To: Danae

Forget my last post(#211), I misread, I thought he was a senator not a Rep. Good news anyway(to a point).


212 posted on 12/22/2009 12:25:35 PM PST by calex59
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To: Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus

You are free to challenge what you want. My experience in the GOP here in California is different.

I was on the CA-GOP Board and the only conservative - and only life-time GOP. All the others were “ex-dem’s” that switched as the conservative community we lived voted right leaning. Each candidate they supported was a union school teacher that talked a good game but once elected headed left.

Tom McClintock was a good friend and each election was difficult as the local GOP supported other “less conservative” candidates.


213 posted on 12/22/2009 12:30:20 PM PST by edcoil (If I had 1 cent for every dollar the government saved, Bill Gates and I would be friends.)
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To: edcoil

That’s the difference. You’re talking about California, while I’m thinking of the South. In the South, there are still a lot of folks - especially older, especially in rural area and smallish cities - who really are Democrats because they’re great, great, great granddaddy was a Democrat who voted (and fought) against Lincoln. That mindset really does permeate a lot of the South even to this day. That’s why Southerners will vote for Republicans, yet the majority of voters are registered Democrats. In 2004, our county GOP had a whole bank of telephones dedicated solely to phoning (largely receptive) registered Democrats to encourage them to vote Republican.

Much, but not all, of the nationally-observed switching in 1994 was by Southern Democrats becoming Republicans - and most of them really were conservatives who continued to vote like it. In fact, the only disappointing party-switcher (let me qualify with “that I can think of at the moment”) was Ben Campbell, who ended up being a RINO - but he was from Colorado.

For this reason, and given the fact that Griffith appears to have a solidly conservative voting record in the one year that he’s been in the House, I don’t see any reason to suspect that he’s some sort of super-secret deep cover agent reporting directly to Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama.


214 posted on 12/22/2009 12:46:21 PM PST by Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus (Conservatives unite behind conservative Republicans in the primaries!)
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To: bamahead

I saw this just now too...

http://www2.nbc13.com/vtm/news/local/article/house_democrat/117568/


215 posted on 12/22/2009 1:00:16 PM PST by LadyPilgrim ((Lifted up was He to die; It is finished was His cry; Hallelujah what a Savior!!!!!! ))
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To: jsdjason
Alabama democrats are NOT like San Francisco democrats.

My father never voted for a Republican, but I think he would have if he had lived long enough to see Carter and Obama.

How has he voted thus far?

Griffith voted against the Porkulus, Crap and Trade, and Obamacare.

216 posted on 12/22/2009 1:02:10 PM PST by ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas (Joe Wilson said "You lie!" in a room full of 500 politicians. Was he talking to only one person?)
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To: Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus
One of his first votes in congress was for Nancy Pelosi to be Speaker. He received hell because of that from his constituents and still does on every issue as soon as it receives the light of day. He knows there are strong Republican challengers preparing for 2010 and that they are out there meeting the people and connecting with the people. My strong feeling is Parker is acting like the true blue politician he is. He is one that looks to see which way the wind is blowing and follows it. He is NOT a conservative leader. Our district has better to offer the people than him. Lord willing they will prevail. In the meantime maybe the Obama voters in our district will get ticked at Parker and he will go back to his career as a doctor in some other area because his privileges were removed from the hospital here. Doctors here do not support him. He was a not good. Doctors don't turn on one of there own very easily.
So he became a politician. Here is a closer look into Parker. http://theattackmachine.wordpress.com/?s=parker+griffith

There is a video of him getting irate and taking the Lord's name in vain. I will paste when I find it.

217 posted on 12/22/2009 1:32:00 PM PST by 4Godsoloved..Hegave (Trusting God is a full time job, He is on duty 24/7 .)
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To: DoughtyOne

Parker Griffith is a RINO and should and most likely will be replaced. Hopefully it will be Les Phillip but if not Mo Brooks. Mo Brooks is polished. Les Phillip isn’t as polished but he is one of us. Hopefully he will get better at public speaking. He reminds me of Allen West from Florida, who spoke at the Free Republic Convention in DC.


218 posted on 12/22/2009 1:39:02 PM PST by 4Godsoloved..Hegave (Trusting God is a full time job, He is on duty 24/7 .)
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To: 4Godsoloved..Hegave

Thank you for the comments. I appreciate it. You know better than I, so there’s not much else to say.


219 posted on 12/22/2009 1:43:59 PM PST by DoughtyOne (H.C. Bill, saves more in second decade, despite taxation w/o benefits for first 4 years. Suuurre...)
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To: gov_bean_ counter

I did not like Shelby’s vote on the budget recently. Hoping we can get a better than Shelby candidate. Sessions is great and is conservative and his record leaves no doubt.


220 posted on 12/22/2009 1:44:10 PM PST by 4Godsoloved..Hegave (Trusting God is a full time job, He is on duty 24/7 .)
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