That all came to an end in June of 1992. I saw the rise of Bill Clinton, and was prepared to support him for President. I was somewhat uneasy, because he was clearly a smarmy operator and liar, but I thought that since he was in the same party, he was the best choice.
Then came the Sista Souljah speech. I remember thinking about how this was a transparent play for the centrist vote, and how nobody had ever heard of Sistah Souljah before, and that Bill Clinton was just abusing this woman to score political points. I expected to see a reaction in the press and editorial pages chiding Clinton for being so shallow and manipulative. Instead, I remember seeing opinion pieces about his brave stand against the NAACP and how wonderfully tough he was. Even after a week, people were only criticizing him in the context of how, although it was a shallow and cynical racial sell-out, it was a subtle master stroke of political genius.
At that point, I realized that there was no substance behind Bill Clinton, and that he would say anything to be elected. I further realized that the newspapers, editorial writers, and television commentators knew full well that this was so, but were going to say or do anything to make sure he was elected anyway. It was a stunning revelation to me, because I had been blindly believing such people all my life. I started to critically evaluate the candidates, began dismissing much of what I saw on TV or read in the newspapers, and wound up pulling the Republican lever for President George H. W. Bush that November, the first time I had voted for a Republican in my whole life.
And I never looked back.
I came to it gradually, incident by incident, until I finally realized that the Democrat party was NOT for the working man, but for its own sense of power. I realized that the libs would use any organization, and any persons, including the blacks, to gain their goal of turning this country into a state of communism.
Then my husband turned me on to Rush! What a relief to discover that we weren’t alone in our political thinking. Finally, my wonderful son-in-law told me about FreeRepublic. Thank you, Jim Rob.
Having gotten here through the revelation of the dishonesty of the Democrat party, I am furious with the faux Freepers who say that because SOME Pubbies don’t do as those Freepers think they should, they will never vote for a Republican again.
I was raised in a Roman Catholic Irish household in Boston, and remember the Kennedys being referred to in the same reverent tones as the Pope. I graduated high school in 1969 and, perhaps, all that implies. I WAS a hippie, but part of the “90% party” that Abbie Hoffman referred to-I was more likely to be doing the twirly dance on the quad than clashing with police...
I DID believe we were destroying the planet, wanted equal rights for animals and that we were interferring with a peaceful transition in VietNam. Finding out I was wrong was a long process, but started in 1975, watching the news. The sight of all the refugees, the helis being pushed off the deck of the carrier and all those frightened people had a profound effect. I felt responsible for the fall of SE Asia and the negating of 58,000 American deaths. I wondered why my friends didn’t.
I began to read. That’s all. I could never bring myself to consider myself a “conservative”, however. And CERTAINLY NEVER a “mean” Republican. But I found the pat answers and sloganeering of those friends distinctly unsatisfying. Facts are a funny thing...
Then Ronald Reagan happened. I never loved a politician before (and sure as hell not one since) but I loved him. Still do. I am just optimistic enough to believe another man of such brilliance and patriotism CAN happen again. I KNOW, absolutely, it will NEVER be a demonRAT.
He was the great communicator.
Like quite a few posters. Jimmy Carter years turned me while in high school.
I became one when I got out of the military in Aug.”68.
I will never forget watching L.B.J. say “ I will neither seek or accept the nomination of a second term”
I wanted to help make sure he made the right decision..
Now we all need to help this nation make the right decision this time. I surely should be Fred Thompson.
I was born a Republican and I can proudly say that since the age of 18, I have never voted for a Dim.
When I see 60 year old socialists that still don’t get it, I’m always reminded that I understood more in three hours as a 16 year old than they every will.
Fred Thompson THE ONLY TRUE CONSERTAIVE with a chance.
I was originally a coin-toss Democrat. Long ago my wife and I came to believe that it was time to become involved in voting. We were both pretty conservative but hereabouts at that time-late seventies- if one wished to have a say in local politics one was a Democrat. We flipped a real nickel to determine which of us would be the Democrat. I was elected. After a while it was very satisfying to write to the Democrat governor’s office or to a state legislator and begin my letter with “As a registered Democrat...” and proceed to air my very right of center views or complaints. My registration could be checked and was checked. I never changed my registration and get invites to county conventions and such. Well this locality is solid Republican now though a Democrat does occasionally get elected to something like the school board but only because the Republican in the case is a notably bad choice.
It was while watching the 1992 vice presidential debate that I first realized something was rotten in the state of Commietown. Vice president Dan Quayle made a comment against abortion which I thought made a lot of sense. I mentioned it to my maternal unit, and through her gin fueled haze she called me a religious wacko. Once again, my parents made no sense, but what else was new?
Then after BJ “Bill Jefferson” Clinton waddled into the Oval Office with his pants around his ankles, a friend introduced me to El Rushbo. I stayed up late at night to watch his TV show. The same friend gave me copies of Rush’s two books for Christmas that year. My long nightmare was over. I was a conservative.
In 1996, I mentioned that Bill Clinton was “an obese communist retard” at the dinner table and that I was voting for Bob Dole. My father nearly dropped his precious beer in his rage. He threatened to kick me out of the house if I dared to vote Republican. I do not take orders like a mindless Democrap sheep. I told him that I’d vote for whomever I liked, and he didn’t have the stones to stop me. The fight was broken up by my sister.
Anyway, long story short, after I got married, my parents disowned me. (Which is really a pity. I was in line to inherit some lovely Yosemite Sam mud flaps). I haven’t spoken to them in ten years. And I have never cast a vote for an America hating Democrap.
I voted for Reagan twice, but didn’t bother to register as a Republican until Pat Robertson ran for President. I wanted to make sure I could vote against him if he was still in the running when the NY primary was held.
the day I entered this world in 1950....
That program put the emphasis on me and what I was doing wrong, including my lack of faith in God.
I began to see that the world wasn't created to satisfy me and that I was created to satisfy the world and that I had a duty to live standing on my hind feet.
I changed my party registration to Repub in January 1989, just a few days after Reagan left office. I believe that if Reagan had not been president I would still be a Dem. I got a chance to see him speak in March of that year. I took my 5 year old son with me and got a picture of him with Reagan in the background. Now he can tell his grandkids about the day he was in the same room as a giant of history and have the proof.
I’m not a Republican. I am a conservative. I will always seek the most qualified conservative candidate. My conservatism has grown throughout life as I gained responsibility, knowledge and wisdom.
I come from a long line of lefties and moonbats...a Quaker married to a Jew on one side, and Irish Catholics on the other. I honestly was almost 20 before I even knew their were Republican Catholics (God rest my former in-laws souls). My father, uncle and grandfather and great grandfather were all decades long politicians from the State House to the US Congress and Lt. Gov. I was deeply embedded in political junkieness form an early age.
At 5 I begged my mother to let me stay up to watch the Nixon/McGovern election returns. I cried when Nixon won (and names my cat McGovern...but it came out Madovan).
In junior high, something just didn’t seem right. The preaching I heard from my family did not seem to match the Dem party nor, frankly, did it match many of their own behaviors and personal views. Jon Porter, the wonderful conservative politician, came to our school looking for volunteers and, though I am sure he was hoping for older kids, he got me...at all of 12 years old.
He was one of the most decent, honorable, wonderful men. He took me politicking, took me seriously, and debated and educated me.
As I got older, enter the man himself, Ronald Reagan.
Oh I admit I chaffed at him at first, much like a rebellious child butting heads with a parent they know knows better, but don’t want to admit it.
In College, I went back to the darkside for awhile. Seriously, it was just easier and more fun.
And then came the Clintons....and my new role as a mother....and it all became so clear and obvious. And for the last almost 20 years, I have never strayed from the things that made so much sense to me as a 12 year old.
To whit....I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jon Porter for being a kind, generous man who took a 12 year old seriously. Ronald Reagan, who has taught me more than any of the male members of my family and been a better patriarch. Bill Buckley, whose meaty words and deep analysis have challenged me, often befuddled me, but taught me so much. To my departed in-laws, who taught me so much even when I wanted to throttle them at times. To Jim Robinson who gave me the Freeper water cooler for so many years when I was at home raising babies....you helped me stay connected and educated.
And to the Clintons, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid,Ted Kennedy and too many Ds to mention.....every day you give me another reason to be proud of the lessons I have learned and grateful that you stand on the other side of the aisle.
It was in fifth grade when Reagan was running. A girl from my class said that if Reagan was elected, her dad said he was going to start a war. Well, I listened to my parents too and told the class, “that is the dumbest thing I have ever heard!” No one said anything to contradict me, Reagan was elected, I watched my dad’s business grow to 45 employees (when he got to keep his money, he invested it in his business and hired more people!), his and our quality of life improved considerably and I have been a republican ever since.
I grew up in South Texas when everyone was a Democrat. I was 14 years old when JFK was elected president and I remember that there was a question about the results that could have changed the outcome.
Nixon conceded.
The second factor was when JFK provided no military support for the Bay of Pigs invasion.
The third and final deciding point was when I listened to Barry Goldwater campaigning for president and he sounded like I thought.
I have voted for one Democrat. My uncle for county sheriff. If he were running today, it would be as a Republican.
My mother gave me Barbara Amiel’s book “Confessions” many years ago. No one can read that book and remain a supporter of the left.