Posted on 02/06/2011 9:04:32 PM PST by FromLori
Reporting from Atlanta — For Democrats, Ashley Bell was the kind of comer that a party builds a future on: A young African American lawyer, he served as president of the College Democrats of America, advised presidential candidate John Edwards and spoke at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.
But after his party's midterm beat-down in November, Bell, a commissioner in northern Georgia's Hall County, jumped ship. He joined the Republicans.
Bell, 30, said he had serious issues with the healthcare law and believed that conservative "blue dog" Democrats in Congress who shared his values had been bullied into voting for it.
Bell's defection is one of dozens by state and local Democratic officials in the Deep South in recent months that underscore Republicans' continued consolidation of power in the region — a process that started with presidential politics but increasingly affects government down to the level of dogcatcher.
"I think the midterms showed you really can't be a conservative and be a member of the Democratic Party," Bell said.
Since the midterm election, 24 state senators and representatives have made the switch in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Texas.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Southern Democrats like Zell Miller, voted like Republicans and they wore their values on their sleeves. But they’re nearly extinct as the national party swung too far to the Left for their taste.
I could not agree with you more.
On what - how to pay child support?
The Blue Dogs are not conservative, not moderate and they didn’t stop San Fran Nan. Heath Schuler and Blue Dogs Dems in NC will probably be serving their last term in office. The new GOP legislature will make most of the state’s seats safely GOP.
Blacks - as ignorant as they seem to be (voting 95% Democratic Party) should eventually wake up. It is a damn shame that a whole race can be propagandized into believing that the Democratic Party is their savior...geez...
Yes, most of the black and Spanish are conservative by nature. It just seems that they have been brainwashed by the Education System to believe that the Democratic Party is there for them... It will take decades to overcome this propaganda...
No. Reagan said, “Trust, but verify.” And he was being a politician when speaking about the Soviet Union.
I am not constrained by such things as he was.
So I say, “Verify, and then trust will come.”
If a Democrat wants to switch parties, that’s fine. But I want to see if his actions reflect his words before I trust.
Arlen Specter was my Senator, so I’m a bit pessimistic when it comes to things of this nature.
Literally extinct. Most of them have passed away at this point. All of them in my family have.
Any real opportunists will get penciled out in the party primary.
It depends on their voting records now.
I have always thought that. I NEVER thought the word “dimocrat” and “conservative” fit next to each other. In my book, if you are a dimocrat, you are a liberal, socialist, Obama type thug. I seriously doubt a dimocrat can spell the word conservative without adding in several four letter words with it.
I've seen too many RINO’s who go which ever way the wind is blowing at the time.
Color me dubious.
Until proven otherwise, these battlefield conversions sound less like epiphanies than simply rank career enhancing opportunism.
Larry McDonald used to remind us that until you had a record to examine, about all you could really know about an elected official is that he knows how to get elected. And, given the gullibility and ignorance of the electorate, that was often achieved by devious, disingenuous means.
Anyone who is willing to abandon the statist obamanation is my friend.
But you must declare where you stand. I don’t care whether you are red white, blue, brown, yellow or green. Are you for us or against us? Choose!
It has taken Catholics long enough to wake up. I have in fact more hopes that the blacks will get over it than the ethnic groups formerly known as Irish Catholics. Liberal Churchmen in the Northeast have in fact led their flock out of the Church. Liberal Catholics were taught bad doctrine by gay priests, now they are angry at the non-gay conservative priests who point out they have been betrayed, and blame them for the pederasty. The ones who tried to blow the whistle on these sheep in wolves clothing only to be told by the chancery office to shut up—or else.
Many Republican leaders in the South began as Democrats.
Conservative demoncrud == Future RINO
Reagan was a fairly effective convert, as was Phil Gramm, Dick Shelby, and a long list of others. Think David Horowitz. There are a lot of folks brought up in the Democrat party who come to see the light. Converts often make the strongest partisans.
At this point, I don’t think casting aspersions on Bell’s motivations and character is helpful.
If Bell is known to have consorted with extreme leftists, it is a fair question to ask of him whether he has “refudiated” them.
Thanks for this explanation. It makes good sense to me and confirms some of my own conclusions. I think I fixed a typo in your post, correct?
There has been a determined effort by liberal academia and the media to equate the shift in the South to Republican represention to some kind of hidden racist message in conservative ideology. I first started hearing this twisted logic at college back in the 70's. In reality it is the absence of racism, in conservatism, that appeals to the more intelligent and moral citizens of our land whether dwelling in the North or the South and whether White or Black (or other).
That is indeed correct on all counts.
The switch from democrat to Republican in the South has much to do with the passing of the Yankee-hating generations. To vote Republican was scandalous and treacherous to the South. Now, time has healed those wounds.
I think we can all agree that the Republicans, despite the RINOs, are the Conservatives, while the democrats are the Leftists. I was going to say liberal but there’s nothing liberal about their lock-step political correctness and socialist ideology.
Many in the South who were or are democrats are so because of allegiances to their parents and the older Dixie generation, than out of a desire to bring socialism to their home and country. After the Obama election, the scales fell off and I believe they are now seeing the light.
And yes, the media tries to portray Southern Republicans as all having a secret white robe and hood in their closets. However, as the conversion of Bell and the election of Scott and West show, that dog will no longer hunt.
Exactly. And the actions of Pelosi and Reid also helped cement the Democrat/Socialist realization in everyone's minds throughout the land. Democrat loses in 2010 have nothing to do with Obama's color. Any Democrat or Independent who loves liberty and the Constitution is now ripe for conversion. And the Republican Party can reap the rewards if they stick to conservative principles.
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