Posted on 02/09/2011 1:32:09 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Meet Ashley Bell, a young man who looked to have a bright future in the Democratic Party. Now he looks for a brighter future — as a Republican. The former national president of College Democrats of America has joined an exodus of moderates and conservatives from the Democratic Party in the South after the midterm elections:
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 candidateJohn 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.
The defections in Louisiana gave the GOP its first legislative majority in over a century. In Alabama and Texas, they created Republican supermajorities. The Democrats may have chosen Charlotte, North Carolina for their 2012 convention, but the South has increasingly become hostile territory to Democrats, as former Blue Dogs feel the party has become hostile to them.
This shows that the midterm elections were no fluke. What we saw was a genuine realignment, not just a hiccup, at least in the South. The pretense that the current Democratic Party leadership of Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid welcomed diversity of thought on policy died hard in the 111th Session of Congress. Instead of paying attention to conservatives and moderates in their ranks that expressed skepticism over ObamaCare and demanded the focus remain on the economy, Pelosi and Reid steamrolled them into voting for the deeply unpopular health-care bill — and consigned most of them to electoral losses last fall.
Politicians like Bell and Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell understand what Beltway Democrats apparently want to ignore, which is that their leadership has lost touch with Americans across the country. Not only is there no room for what used to be known as Blue Dog Democrats in the Democratic coalition, they have seen outright hostility towards their positions from the Democratic Party. These politicians understand that surviving means aligning themselves with the GOP.
When Reagan won his two big victories, he did so with the support of what were called Reagan Democrats, especially in the South, who backed Reagan but stayed with the Democratic Party. Obama and Pelosi have done what even Reagan couldn’t do — convert Southern Democrats to the GOP.
‘going behind enemy lines’?
Supporting John Edwards isn’t exactly what I’d call ‘blue dog’ activity.
Not so fast. A Dem is a Dem is a Dem. Trust but verify.
they were lap dogs to the left on health care.
Some comments at Hot Air about whether this is a real conversion.
The party has become hostile to every American.
J.C. Watts needs to check him out!
Now that she no longer needs them Nancy Pelosi has buried the red dogs. But they still voted, to a man, against the Obamacare repeal bill. Good luck in 2012 dogs.
new crop rinos
going behind enemy lines’?
Supporting John Edwards isn’t exactly what I’d call ‘blue dog’ activity.
Hope he is sincere because we are so pissed off down here if just sniff something wrong, he is out and done. We are loaded for bear in Louisiana and Mary Landrieu is our next leftist to be ousted in 2014. Can’t wait. Want to see the look on her egotistical, elitist liberal face when she has to make her concession speach.
All blue dog democrats are yellow belly liberals
I sure understand why they would change parties.
I was a “blue dog”, and was very sad to realize that it was a lot less comfortable to be the most conservative person in a room full of Democrats than it was to be the most liberal person in a room full of conservatives. I feel safer, and feel that my country would be safer, with the grumpiest curmudgeons on FR, than with the smiling but cold-blooded souls who currently lead the Democrats.
Time to educate a new crop of Republicans with regard to conservatism!
Those who are politicians (McCain, Graham) will be dealt with through the primary process (tea-bagged).
Those who preserve, protect and defend the conservative ideology as their own will be welcomed to the party.
I was in the Blue Dog grill in Lafayette La. They had a whole bunch of Blue Dog Art. I don’t think there are many Blue Dogs left around there.
We see the same phenomenon on the Right, with hard-core conservatives attempting to purge the party of so-called RINOs. Both the Left and Right hard core demand total ideological purity, and have no patience for people they consider to be too moderate or centrist.
This sounds like drivel. Those that voted for it believed in it.
“J.C. Watts needs to check him out!”
Ask him whether George W. Bush drove the truck that killed James Byrd (the black guy that was dragged behind a pickup).
If he says no, he’s one of us - if he says yes (which will be VERY HARD to resist, in the name of racial identity), then he is still a Democrat.
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