Free Republic

What is this 1993 again? We've got a huge vote coming up on a healthcare overhaul, and now southern Democrats are deserting their party in favor of the GOP. Talk about a shift from last year. If someone told you in November 2008, that politicians would be jumping to the GOP, you'd have thought they were nuts. POLITICO: POLITICO has learned that Rep. Parker Griffith, a freshman Democrat from Alabama, will announce today that he’s switching parties to become a Republican. According to a senior GOP aide familiar with the decision, the announcement will take place in this afternoon in...

Usually one does not see Congressmen or Senators flipping parties to join the minority. However, Politico’s Josh Kraushaar has a scoop that Blue Dog Democrat Parker Griffith of Alabama, a freshman in Congress, has seen enough of Nancy Pelosi’s leadership. He will join Republicans in a move that has far more symbolic than substantive impact — for now: POLITICO has learned that Rep. Parker Griffith, a freshman Democrat from Alabama, will announce today that he’s switching parties to become a Republican. According to a senior GOP aide familiar with the decision, the announcement will take place in this afternoon in...

Too bad Barack Obama hasn't followed through on his promises of legislative transparency. Then we all could have watched Harry Reid live on C-SPAN handing an oversized Publishers Clearing House-style $100 million check to Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson. The highest-profile Democratic hold-out on ObamaCare, Nelson said last week, "My vote is not for sale." He obviously meant that in the sense that he'd be righteously indignant at any suggestion that his vote could possibly be bought for anything less than the low nine digits. Nelson got the feds to pick up forevermore 100 percent of the added Medicaid spending that...

Kathryn, re your Facebook friend who asks, "Can we officially retire the phrases 'blue dog' democrats and 'pro life' democrats? Because there is no such thing:" As I wrote back in the summer, "Put not your trust in Blue Dog Democrats." It was folly to bet the Republic on the likes of Ben Nelson and Blanche Lincoln and other "moderates" who are, by definition, trimmers and accommodationists.

It’s hard to believe that just 11 short months ago, the Republican Party was all but declared a non-entity for the next 50 years in American politics. Now it seems by all poll indications, the Republicans are back and they may make the 1994 off-year elections look tame compared to what may be in store in 2010. The early scent of a future landslide defeat usually begins with the party’s own starting to withdraw as candidates. Early reports show Reps. Dennis Moore of Kansas, John Tanner and Bart Gordon of Tennessee, Brian Baird of Washington and Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii...

“Have you heard Abercrombie is resigning?” veteran political consultant Nathan Wuertzel e-mailed me late Friday afternoon, just as the word came down that veteran Rep. Neil Abercrombie would resign from Congress to campaign full-term for the Democratic nomination for governor of Hawaii in 2010. Wuertzel had good reason to sound breathless. Just a month ago, he had brought me to lunch with City Councilman Charles Djou, the stronger-than-usual Republican candidate for Abercrombie’s Honolulu-based 1st District. Now Djou was thrust into a special election likely to be scheduled for early 2010 and sure to be watched by the national press. But...

Tennessee Democratic Rep. John Tanner will retire next November, creating an open seat in an area that strongly favors Republicans. Tanner's decision, according to those familiar with it, was made weeks ago and based on his desire to return to the Volunteer State after more than two decades in Washington. The decision was first reported by the Hotline. Tanner, first elected to the 8th district in 1988, has run without a serious challenge in recent years despite the fact that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) won the seat with 56 percent in 2008. Tanner is the second House Democrat from a...

One of the last three uncommitted Democrats, Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, said Friday he would vote to begin debate on the Senate's health care bill; meanwhile, the Republican opposition opened a new front, arguing that the legislation would lead to health care rationing. Mr. Nelson said he would support the procedural vote scheduled for Saturday night because he didn't want to obstruct reform efforts. He also said he hoped to improve the legislation on the floor.

I just got off the phone with Sen. Bill Nelson's office. He still on the fence regarding the trillion dollar plus 2,074 page Harry Reid's healthcare bill. Please, please call one of his offices and let his staff know that our country cannot afford to add another trillion dollars to our already $1.6 trillion dollar budget deficit. Office telephone numbers: Washington 202-224-6551 Omaha 402-391-3411 Lincoln 402-441-4600

All RINOs are not the same, even when they profess almost identical beliefs. All politicians try to appeal to their constituents, but not all politicians - by a long shot - have the same type of constituents. RINOs who try to win election by stating policies as conservative as the voters will allow are not the problem with the Republican Party. Democrats, shrewdly, have grasped in the last two election cycles the art of the possible in winning congressional elections. Blue Dog Democrats are congressmen who, if Republicans held their districts, have voted completely against the House leadership's health care...

House Democrats passed the 2,032-page Pelosicare bill on a near party-line vote Saturday night 220-215 (roll call here). The only Republican voting in favor of the measure was New Orleans-based Joseph Cao who has long ago proven to be a tax and spend (and spend and spend) liberal. After a week of intense arm twisting, threats and promises from party leaders, more than half of the 52 so-called conservative Blue Dog Democrats voted in favor of the over $1.3 trillion measure. These are the 28 Blue Dogs voting in favor of Pelosicare (who apparently fear the wrath of House Speaker...

Within minutes of Saturday’s historic House vote on health care reform, Republicans pronounced the political death of Rep. Thomas Perriello (D-Va.), pointing to the vulnerable freshman congressman’s vote in favor of the bill. And in the aftermath of the politically charged vote, Perriello wasn’t the only Democratic congressman whose fortunes were being reassessed. The GOP, which voted nearly in lock step against the measure, began crowing about the demise of various other vulnerable members and seized on the moment as a milestone in the path back to a House majority. Other than Perriello — who was the target of 12...

The Blue Dog Democrats have 53 members who are deamed to be considered Fiscal Conservatives, but the analysis of their three votes on the Stimulus, Cap and Trade, and Healthcare tell a different story for the vast majority. There are two members of the Black Caucus who are Blue Dogs: Rep Sanford Bishop (GS-02) and Rep David Scott (GA-13) both of who voted for all three bills. With so many people on here attacking Republicans for not doing more, decided to look into the numbers. Since the loss of a Republican seat on Tuesday to a Dem in NY-23, the...

A new myth has arisen in the wake of last night's vote that a handful of "blue dog" Democrats from red districts were really in a position to stop Obamacare. More than TWO MONTHS ago, I wrote a piece here called "What if they don't care?" and reposted here as "Grim Thought" (http://www.patriotshistoryusa.com/blog/grim-thought/) Sadly, I was right. They didn't care. The entire choreography from August until last night was based on two tactical approaches: 1) "soften" the language just enough to get it by the public (NOT some "blue dogs") so that it did not appear as horrible as it...

Listening to the debate on the floor today, it was clear that Democrats considered it a moral and ideological obligation to pass this bill—consequences be damned. The leadership is congratulating itself now—Pelosi is already the greatest speaker of all time apparently—but there's a tough rough ahead in the Senate. Pelosi could lose 39 votes. Reid can't lose any. Passage in the House definitely creates more pressure on Reid to get it done, but the slender margin—despite the size of the Democratic majority in the House and all the arm-twisting and deal-making (what did Cao get?)—has to make Senate moderates even...

Blue Dog Democrats Hold Key PATRICK YOEST WASHINGTON — A group of fiscally conservative House Democrats is set to vote on a health-care bill that virtually all of its members think does too little to rein in health costs and keep the federal budget deficit under control. But by all indications, the 52-member group -- known as the Blue Dog Coalition -- will split in the voting. The lawmakers, some of whom played an instrumental role in passing a version of the bill approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, have met continually to discuss health-care issues but haven't...

In a historic vote the House Health Care Bill Passed the House of Representatives 220 - 215 with 64 Democrats voting against the measure. However, the true test of whether it can pass the senate still looms. With a test vote losing out 47-53 a few weeks ago over the Baucus Bill, much persuasion must be had in the Senate for a bill to arrive at the President’s desk...

As I publish, there are 33 "no" votes from the dems. These five would bump that to 38. Remember, 41 is the magic number. Rep. Ben Chandler (D-KY): Continues To Have Reservations About The Bill. Chandler spokeswoman Jennifer Krimm said her boss would be going over the bill "to see whether or not it meets the needs of Kentucky families." "Chandler will continue to have reservations about any bill that does not lower costs ...

"Like many Americans, I’m very concerned about the efforts underway to rush through the 2,000 page Pelosi health care bill this weekend. Why the rush? That’s a lot of pages to read. Why not give everyone the chance to read it and debate it?

From Cantor's office: Below is a list of 31 Democrats, from coast-to-coast & north to south, who have listened to their constituents and joined Republicans in a bipartisan fashion to oppose Speaker Pelosi’s trillion dollar plus overhaul of the nation’s health care system (Updated is bold): 1. Rep. John Adler (NJ) 2. Rep. Brian Baird (WA) 3. Rep. John Barrow (GA) 4. Rep. Dan Boren (OK) 5. Rep. Rick Boucher (VA) 6. Rep. Allen Boyd (FL) 7. Rep. Bobby Bright (AL) 8. Rep. Travis Childers (MS) 9. Rep. Artur Davis (AL) 10. Rep. Chet Edwards (TX) 11. Rep. Bart Gordon...