Welcome aboard

I would welcome Gene Taylor too or Boren of OK at this point

Not anymore, anyway.

Welcome to the club, Parker. I was wondering just the other day why the heck you were still a Democrat.

To my knowledge this is the first D-to-R switch in Congress since Rodney Alexander (LA-05) changed his registration right before the GOP wave of 2004.

We will take the House.

That said: The democratic party has been hijacked by the socialists.
You cannot be a member of the democratic party and say that you
represent America.

we only need two more votes in the House than they got last time to kill this pig there…if this switch means one less Dem voting for health care…we only need to switch one more…

Only problem with that analysis is if Griffith was one of the Dem nos already….does anyone know how he voted on the House Bill?

The “Big Tent” analogy isn’t the correct one…the correct one is a MAGNET…we need to be a MAGNET that draws these independents in who are sick and tired of what’s going on in Washington—Fred Thompson

Senate Conservatives Fund House Conservatives Fund Michael Williams for Senate

Marco 2010 Toomey US Senate SarahPAC

They see the writing on the wall. I don’t think switching parties is going to be of much help.

Unless, of course, this is a fiendish Democrat plan to make the House vote on healthcare appear to be “bipartisan”. Which wouldn’t surprise me.

Ok this is unrelated to Erick’s post, but I wanted it to be read!

Hoeven ND Rep considering going against Dorgan for Senate in 2010. Has 22 point lead in Rasmussen. I called the Hoeven committee today.

The person that answered the phone asked me to email her why I wanted to governor to run. She said the Governor wants to hear from the people that want him to run.

The number for his committee is 701-323-7660. If you have some time, I would suggest calling or emailing to encourage the governor. I did and asked to be on the mailing list to make donations to his campaign if he decides to run.

The message to America (or at least the America who hears about it, as this won’t get a tenth of the coverage Specter’s defection got) is that the Obama agenda, particularly the health care bill, is so hateful, obnoxious and destructive that at least one Democrat congressman no longer wants to be in the same party as the people pushing it.

That can only help us.

I think we should help those guy(s?) out - none of the current Dems in Congress are really worth keeping around, even as Republican-switchers.

Besides, the record on party switchers is not all that great (see: Shelby of AL)…

…considering he’s a first termer that won in an open seat election. And, considering the following:

“He has bucked the Democratic leadership on nearly all of its major domestic initiatives, including the stimulus package, health care legislation, the cap-and trade energy bill and financial regulatory reform.

He was one of only 11 House Democrats to vote against the stimulus.”

…there are quite a few true RINOs that have worse qualifications for our side than these…so let’s withhold fire until we determine intent…

I suspect that before it is over, we will see 10 or so come over. I really expect Al Boyd in FL-02 to be one to switch in the next few months.

As pointed out though, this doesn’t help us much. Most of these folks already voted against HC last time around.

You mean people like Ronald Reagan?

No, of course I’m not comparing Griffith to Reagan. I’m just pointing out that even though party-switchers are usually opportunists (Ben Nighthorse Campbell comes to mind), sometimes Democrats truly do figure out they’re simply in the wrong party. Especially southern Democrats.

Since Parker Griffith was already more conservative than a lot of Republicans I could mention, and since I wouldn’t take for granted that another Democrat couldn’t win back AL-05 in an open-seat situation (remember, it was supposed to go to us after Bud Cramer retired last year), I think this could be one of those situations in which we make the perfect the enemy of the good. Right now, I see no reason why Griffith won’t be a reliable conservative vote at least 90% of the time, and so I see no reason to endanger that seat in the quest for 100%.

Could we maybe get Richard Shelby to go away too? I hope a true conservative will step up and run against him in the primary next year.

If that’s the case, then the timing of his announcement…right before the Senate dems link arms and plunge into the abyss…should send a pretty strong message to all of the so-called blue dogs.

The GOP would do well to highlight the fact he’s a Doctor.

God must love us because this is magnificent. In 1994 with the all of the retirements and the fact that the GOP ran a full slate of candidates coast to coast we forced the dims to defend every seat.

We need to welcome Griffith with open arms. This can grease the skids for other defections. They will defect if they see they are welcomed.

Let’s not blow this. We can force the dims to defend the entire map. They do not have enough money to do that. All we have to do is concentrate our resources in those Red districts held by blue dogs.

We can take the house back. Come on over boys and girls the water’s fine over here and the beer is cold. Welcome

As distasteful as this might be, we must start thinking like liberals in order to defeat them. I might be paranoid, but what if this is a strategy by the Dems to get their own reelected again? The Dems see the writing on the wall in 2010, and will do anything to minimize their losses. As a side note, Rodney Alexander is my rep., & I have completely satisfied with him. I’m going to withhold my support of Griffith until I know more.

he would have done so in 1994 with Shelby, Tauzin, et al.

Minnick votes with the GOP more than he does the Dems. No point in blasting the guy.

of where you stand on his switch. It is good for the GOP. This will more than likely force the DCCC to spend money on the research to explore Democratic candidates. Money they didn’t expect to spend because they had an incumbent in the race.

Obviously, Boehner and Cantor have promised this spineless gigilo no primary oppo and a decent set of committee slots as an enticement to other Blue Dog Pimp Daddies to come over to our side.

That’s how the Beltway GOP works. If they can get enough Blue Dogs to come over to our side, things suddenly darken for NancyCare. The price for a Republican sinecure? Vote with Leadership.

Blue Dogs don’t have princples. It’s all about their Bride Price.

You didn’t think that the difference between Harry Reid and John Boehner was one of princple did you? Silly activist, you!

and the noun conservatives have it deep in their bones and souls. It is a way of looking at policy issues and governing from a deeply withheld set of beliefs. I would be leary of anyone who was a Democrat, and ran as one last year. There may come a time when you have converted, and proven to be what you say you are, but, I don’t see it happening overnight. Ace, how long did it take you to go from being a Democrat to becoming a total convert to conservatism? I do understand his revulsion with the current Progressives, enough to switch, but, is he swithching to Dem Lite? But hey, for now we won’t argue with his votes against Pelosi’s path to putrid.

and the noun conservatives have it deep in their bones and souls. It is a way of looking at policy issues and governing from a deeply withheld set of beliefs. I would be leary of anyone who was a Democrat, and ran as one last year. There may come a time when you have converted, and proven to be what you say you are, but, I don’t see it happening overnight. Ace, how long did it take you to go from being a Democrat to becoming a total convert to conservatism? I do understand his revulsion with the current Progressives, enough to switch, but, is he swithching to Dem Lite? But hey, for now we won’t argue with his votes against Pelosi’s path to putrid.

This is the kind of “R” that starts the word RINO. This gentleman has no convictions, he just simply will do what needs to be done to get re-elected.

He is a perfect RINO. Exactly the kind of weak-willed agent of compromise that has destroyed the credibility of the Republican Party.

I have not read the thread, so forgive me if someone has already mentioned this: Arlen Specter was a DEMOCRAT, then became a Republican, and now he’s a Democrat again.. More importanly, Arlen never left the Democrat party when it came to his core beliefs.

Somebody prove to me that this politician (spits) from Alabama is any different than Specter.

The party probably had to promise him no opponent this time to get him to cross over.

It is tactically stupid to jump right on his case out of the box and thus discourage others who many be considering similar switches.

Not a good kneejerk reaction in my opinion and reflection for a bit may show giving him a pass may pay off more than and immediate stab in the back.

Hey Pelosi is their no room for moderates in your big tent.

(she deserves that one sooooooooo much)

“I don’t give a Damn about the letter next to his name…as long as he votes conservative.

The Red State powers-that-wanna-be may not like that, but it is exactly how MOST of America feels about their representatives.

They do not give a crap about your egalitarian agendas and machiavellian manipulations for power. They hear you talk about manipulating the speakership vote and think that THAT is part of what is WRONG with Washington and the various state governments: TOO MUCH POLITIKIN’.

YOU political types have made this problem by making things intentionally complicated because YOU like playing the game.

We don’t give a crap about the game. We want it simple and direct and that means driving every one of you into the ground: all you pretty web sites and 527s and lobbyists have got to go. You just get in the way of the people making simple decisions. You are as bad as the trial lawyers, who also must go.”

What do we say to that?

Parker Griffith is an example of where the Blue Dog Democrat nominee ran as a truer conservative than the GOP candidate. When you factor in him questioning Pelosi’s sanity, and his votes against the leadership on the so-called stimulus, cap and tax, and the health care bill, I would say he can find a home here. Plus we have not had a GOP represent this district since 1869 (that’s longer than NY 23) and we have someone who can represent the physician view of this issue, I would say we have an excellent wedge to use against the Pelosicrats. We thought they key to a big wave was a series of retirements, when we just needed the handful of likeminded conservatives to join their real party. It will be interesting to watch and see what type of pressure Bobby Bright, who has a nearly identical record to Griffith, is brought to bear. The real question will be after November ‘10, especially if we retake the House, will the last remnants of Blue Dogs like Boren from OK, Taylor from MS, Marshall from GA try to abandon ship

“Again, changing the letter next to your name does not magically make you one of us.”

Now more than ever, starting off with an “R” next to your name doesn’t magically make you one of us. The GOP needs to clean house before it’s too late, but in the meantime, I welcome anyone willing to try and help stop the socialization of America, regardless of the letter next to their name.

This guy makes me sick. Don’t let him in. Mr. Patrick do us all a favor. Go home and tell your constituents how you helped wreck the United States. You are just realizing that the dem party is communist and is pursuing massive gov’t intrusion? You don’t realize how angry real Americans are.

Its fantastic to see Dems jumping ship to the GOP in advance of the elections. I don’t know hardly anything about this fellow, or the GOP guy who was already running, but that Les Phillips fellow seems mighty cool. No doubt Griffith knew that Phillips was going to beat him in the general so he switched parties to try to keep his seat, kind’ve like how Specter up there in PA switched to avoid certain defeat. I’d like to know more about both candidates, but as far as Im concerned we should judge the Griffith-Phillips ‘primary’ race the same way we would have had they faced in the general, party labels are irrelevant, its all about where you stand on the issues. Whoever the better man is, thats who we should support. Either way we win. Of course the GOP Establishment will game the system in Griffith’s favor, and their talking points will be ‘If Griffith goes down in the primary it will discourage other Democrats from switching’, but that’s not entirely true, it will only discourage ‘inferior’ Democrats from switching. True Conservative Democrats will always have a welcome home in the Republican Party, as well they should. If Griffith can prove himself the better man, he should be welcomed. If he can’t, he should lose the primary the same way he would’ve definitely lost the general had he not switched in the first place. If Phillips is the better man, there is no reason on earth not to elect him, since this seat was already ours for the taking long before Griffith decided to switch parties. Whoever wins the GOP Primary will win the general, that was true yesterday and its still true today. We neither owe Grifith any hostility for formerly being a Democrat, especially since he was one of the most Conservative ones in Congress, nor do we owe him any loyalty for becoming a Republican, especially since he become one to avoid certain defeat next November. May the best man win!

I spend a lot of time up there hunting. The people are that socially conservative, somewhat moderate on funding type of democrat. Think Reagan democrats. I could see how a conservative democrat- anti-abortion, socially conservative, fiscally moderate, could get to the point where they would throw up in their mouths a little over what the Democratic party is like today. I don’t know this guy but he may not be as left as you think or a turncoat. Like Reagan said, I didn’t leave the Democratic Party, it left me.