Posted on 02/22/2010 5:52:58 AM PST by grace522
Head Strong: Sorry, but for me, the party is over By Michael Smerconish - Inquirer
Inquirer Currents Columnist
It took only the single tap of a computer key, and just like that I'd exited the Republican Party after 30 years of active membership. The context might sound impulsive, but I'd been thinking of becoming an independent for a long time. I just hadn't expected that a trip to renew my driver's license would mark the end.
Just before my photo was snapped, I was asked if I wanted to register to vote. For me, the question was borderline offensive. I first registered after turning 18 in the spring of 1980 and haven't missed an election since. And I'm not just talking presidential races. I mean all elections. Congress, town council, school board, whatever.
"I'm already registered," I offered. Next came the unexpected question of whether I wished to change my political affiliation. I'm not sure why that is asked of someone renewing a driver's license, and I question whether it is even appropriate for most. But in my case, it was the only impetus I needed.
Years ago, I grew tired of having my television or radio introduction accompanied by a label, with some implied expectation that what would then come from my mouth were the party talking points. That was me 26 years ago, when I was the youngest elected member of the state delegation to the Republican National Convention, but not today. I'm not sure if I left the Republican Party or the party left me. All I know is that I no longer feel comfortable.
The national GOP is a party of exclusion and litmus tests, dominated on social issues by the religious right, with zero discernible outreach by the national party to anyone who doesn't fit neatly within its parameters. Instead, the GOP has extended itself to its fringe while throwing under the bus long-standing members like New York Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, a McCain-Palin supporter in 2008 who told me she voted with her Republican leadership 90 percent of the time before running for Congress last fall.
Which is not to say I feel comfortable in the Democratic Party, either. Weeks before Indiana Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh's announcement that he will not seek reelection, I noted the centrist former governor's words to the Wall Street Journal's Gerald Seib. Too many Democrats, Bayh said in that interview, are "tone-deaf" to Americans' belief that the party had "overreached rather than looking for consensus with moderates and independents."
Where political parties once existed to create coalitions and win elections, now they seek to advance strict ideological agendas. In today's terms, it's hard to imagine the GOP tent once housing such disparate figures as conservative Barry Goldwater and liberal New Yorker Jacob Javits, while John Stennis of Mississippi and Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts coexisted as Democratic contemporaries.
Collegiality is nonexistent today, and any outreach across an aisle is castigated as weakness by the talking heads who constantly stir a pot of discontent. So vicious is the political climate that within two years, Sen. John McCain has gone from GOP standard-bearer to its endangered-species list. All of which leaves homeless those of us with views that don't stack up neatly in any ideological box the way we're told they should.
Consider that I've long insisted on the need to profile in the war against terrorists. I believe that if someone like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has actionable intelligence on future terrorism, you try the least coercive methods to extract it but ultimately stop at damn near nothing to get what you need to save American lives. I want the U.S. military out of Iraq, but into Pakistan. I'm for capital punishment. I think our porous borders need to be secured before we determine how to deal with the millions of illegal immigrants already within them. Sounds pretty conservative. But wait.
I think that in 2008, the GOP was wrong to adopt a party platform that maintained a strict opposition to abortion without at least carving out exceptions in the case of rape, incest, or danger to the mother's life. I was appalled that legislators tried to decide Terri Schiavo's end-of-life plan. I don't care if two guys hook up any more than they should care about my heterosexual lifestyle. And I still don't know what to think about climate change.
I think President Obama is earnest, smart, and much more centrist than his tea party caricature suggests. He has never been given a fair chance to succeed by those who openly crow about their desire to see him fail (while somehow congratulating one another on their relative patriotism). I know he was born in America, isn't a socialist, and doesn't worship in a mosque. I get that he inherited a minefield. Still, the level of federal spending concerns me. And he never closed the deal with me that health insurance is a right, not a privilege. But I'm not folding the tent on him. Not now. Not with the nation fighting two wars while its economy still teeters on the brink of collapse.
All of which leaves me in a partisan no-man's-land, albeit surrounded by many others, especially my neighbors. By quitting the GOP, I have actually joined the largest group of American voters. According to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll, 39 percent of Americans identify themselves as independents - compared with 32 percent who say they are Democrats and 26 percent who are self-described members of the GOP. Nowhere is this more pronounced than locally, where a shift away from the Republican Party has taken place in the four bellwether counties surrounding Philadelphia.
I will miss casting a ballot in the spring, as current state election law prohibits unaffiliated voters from voting in GOP or Democratic primary elections. Instead, I'll join the others who bide their time until fall, when we can temper the extremes of both parties.
"My decision should not be interpreted for more than it is: a very difficult, deeply personal one. . . . I value my independence. I am not motivated by strident partisanship or ideology."
Those are Bayh's words, not mine. But he was speaking for both of us.
Murdering somebody now qualifies as carrying out their "end-of-life plan"?
I know he... isn't a socialist
Smerconish is either a bold liar or he has no idea what socialism is.
I heard him go on and on several times about obama before the election...I’m sure he voted for him. I’ve been meaning to call his show the next time I’m in Philly just to askk him what obama’s ass tasted like since he had his lips all over it for so long.
He was a solid Republican, just like Arianna Huffington. Uh-huh.
Having seen so many lying liberals on other forums, who begin what they write with variations of, “I used to be a conservative Republican, but...”, and then go on to embrace abortion, anti-Iraq war, socialized medicine, high taxes, environmental wacko-ism, etc., I’ve come up with two simple responses.
Either I do it right back at them, writing “I used to be a liberal Democrat, but...”, and then fully embrace conservative doctrines.
Or else I say the reason I am now a liberal Democrat is because I have become a racist, antisemitic, socialist anti-American, who wants to see America reduced to a 4th world poverty stricken hell hole, and this is what liberal Democrats want, too.
Unfortunately, I have gotten responses telling me to “Shhh!”, that I can’t openly say that, that I have to lie and say I am a conservative.
This I find deeply disturbing.
ROTFLOL
Exactly. If it ISN'T, then it's just another medical procedure, and there should be no more regulation of it than a tonsillectomy. But if it isn't murder, then why do so many pro-abort pols (like Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, etc.) say that they "personally oppose" it or think it's "wrong" or "tragic"? What's tragic about having some tissue removed?
I had this clown’s number when he endorsed ObaMAO.
This story was BS when it was posted yesterday. It is still BS.
I’m very familiar with this guy. He’s always been David Gergen Republican. Its a classic case of addition by subtraction. Buh Bye RINO!
Michael, Michael, Michael, do you have any core principles or are you just driven by the winds of moderation.
By quitting the GOP, I have actually joined the largest group of American voters.
Yes Michael, they are called fence sitters, folks that have to be led by the hand and cajoled into making principled decisions about candidates and their agendas, because they have very few principles themselves.
Since he was only
A “Token” Republican,
What will he do now?
Who will care about
The new Michael Smerconish
If he has no (R)?
He’s just another
Squishy independent punk,
Sellout to the donks.
Smerconish bought hook, line and sinker the laughable James Cameron documentary about Jesus’ tomb so it’s no surprise he still doesn’t know what to think about global warming” or that he thinks Obama is an “earnest, smart” man.
I’ll take Michael Smerconish at his word. I don’t doubt for a minute that he thinks there is a strict litmus test for being a Republican. Of course, he’s completely wrong, but I don’t doubt he believes what he writes.
The only “litmus” test I know of (and we’re still in the process of actually starting to apply it) is a belief in constitutional principles. Yeah, if you want gay marriage, nationalized health care, immigration amnesty, and a slew of other big government, socialistic programs, you might just feel a bit uncomfortable (I hope) in the Republican Party. We can only hope!
“I think that in 2008, the GOP was wrong to adopt a party platform that maintained a strict opposition to abortion without at least carving out exceptions in the case of rape, incest, or danger to the mother’s life. I was appalled that legislators tried to decide Terri Schiavo’s end-of-life plan. I don’t care if two guys hook up any more than they should care about my heterosexual lifestyle. And I still don’t know what to think about climate change.
I think President Obama is earnest, smart, and much more centrist than his tea party caricature suggests. He has never been given a fair chance to succeed by those who openly crow about their desire to see him fail (while somehow congratulating one another on their relative patriotism). I know he was born in America, isn’t a socialist, and doesn’t worship in a mosque. I get that he inherited a minefield. Still, the level of federal spending concerns me. And he never closed the deal with me that health insurance is a right, not a privilege. But I’m not folding the tent on him. Not now. Not with the nation fighting two wars while its economy still teeters on the brink of collapse.”
With the above core beliefs, this mediot wants to convince us that he was a conservative republican.
Adios MoFo.
SmerCONish was never a conservative. If he ever was it was a fleeting daliance.
I’m glad RINO scum like this are out of our Party.
Fitting that he ends his opus with:
“Those are Bayh’s words, not mine. But he was speaking for both of us.”
LMAO....he ends with a quote from a Democrat.
Very fitting.
Sorry Smerky, but you’re on the wrong side. Anyone who remains aligned with obama and his administration is going to regret it. By the time he’s done he will have taken many a career down with him.
Nice Opus Francis.
The old liberal vs. conservative and Democrat vs. Republican models are fading and fast being replaced by a progressive vs. libertarian one. This should benefit us in the long run as long as we continue to teach the Constitution and Bill Of Rights.
Yes, exactly like Kathleen Parker! Another fake Republican.
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.