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.
“Bu bye” to this Currents journalist. I wish the elected RINOs would be honest enough to call themselves “independent”.
This guy is a douche.
I had Smerc’s number in 2000 when few knew him. The first of many clues: his longstanding relationship with Arlen Specter which he bragged about incessantly.
Too bad there isn't a party just for narcissists. No talk show host in the country talks about himself as much as Michael Smerconish which makes for very BORING commentary.
“He’s brilliant!!! Brilliant!!!”
I forgot to place my /Sarc/ sign again.
(I certainly was being sarcastic.)
Smerconish is all about "ME" and always has been.
That and his mealy-mouthed 'support' of President Bush.
And the biggest spewer in Philly is ... ... ?
Thanks for the ping, Trib.
Cool, I figured as much!
(Forgive me, as I do not want to turn into a FReeper thread nanny and nitpicking with folks, as has been done to me too often lately.)
Nannies sometimes keep ding bats in check. Nanny away!!!
Best Regards.
Some opinion columnist.
AND his bragging about having dinner and an after dinner cigar with Castro after his junket to Cuba with Specter to his then largely conservative radio audience.
No genuine conservative, true Republican, or Freedom loving person anywhere, would ever think that thought let alone utter it.
"And the biggest spewer in Philly is ... ... ?"
Good one and so true. : )
This paragraph tells me all I need to know about this guy. Earnest???? What Earnest politician has more parties and days playing golf in 1 year than his predicessor had in 8? Smart??? Well we'll leave this one as subjective, but lets me just say, while I don't think he's a drooling window licker, his intelligence is not nearly as vaulted as people tout it to be. If this guy doesn't see that this man doesn't believe in fundamental principles that are rudimentary to our way of life, then he needs out of the party. If he can't see socialist principles when they are smacking them in the face as what they are, then he should go and stop dragging the rest of us down.
“I think President Obama is earnest, smart, and much more centrist than his tea party caricature suggests”
After healthcare, cap-n-tax, and $1.6 trillion deficit - he says ‘centrist’... Is highest deficits ever a ‘centrist’
position?
This guy is delusional.
“There are 57 sentences in this piece. In only 16 of them (several sentences being very short), does Smerconish make no reference to himself. There are 36 “I”s and when there isn’t an “I” there is a me, myself or mine.
Smerconish is all about “ME” and always has been. “
No wonder he likes Obama. They have a lot in common that way.
When was Smerconish a Republican ? He’s a leftist.
“This bozo is really ignorant about Obama. Shamefully ignorant. “
Or maybe he is a pathological liar like so many “former” Republican meidots hauling water for their beloved 0b0z0!
Yeah, losing that gem DeDe was such a shame on the GOP./s/
Not merely did Smerconish [who actually served as a manager in a previous Specter campaign] support Specter over Toomey, he went so as to broadcast his show live from Specter’s Senate offices
Read more: http://newsbusters.org/node/6238#ixzz0gJjHOCTa
Smerconish has also expressed the belief that “it is time for the Administration to set a timetable to leave Iraq.”
Smerconish also described as Republican “chest-thumping” and “chicanery” their introduction of flag burning and marriage amendments.
On August 20, 2009, Smerconish became the first talk radio host to broadcast live from the White House, a show which included an interview with President Obama. The interview was held in the Diplomatic Reception Room, where the fireside chats were held.
He is a regular contributor with MSNBC and is a regular contributor to The Daily Beast
Smerconish stated during his stint that he would stay on MSNBC “as long as they will have me.” He said several days after the simulcast that he “wanted the call” to get the position permanently
Smerconish endorsed Barack Obama for President on October 17, 2008
He has urged the Republican Party to pursue “moderation on social issues in order to advance a suburban agenda for the GOP.”
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