Comments on: BREAKING: Rep. Parker Griffith switches to GOP

By: ltnowis

ltnowis — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:22:57 +0000

due to redistricting, it was 1850 for some parts of NY-23, but 1870, 1890, or even the mid to late 20th century for others.
http://www.thealbanyproject.com/diary/6516/amazing-political-history-of-ny23

By: Gmac

Gmac — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:03:34 +0000

is despised by conservatives here…

By: Gmac

Gmac — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 04:58:46 +0000

not a conservative as much as he would like for you to believe he is.

By: Gmac

Gmac — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 04:55:43 +0000

The free hint is that this clown is a weezil. He consistently voted against or suppressed votes on immigration reform, voted for pay raises and better insurance plans while in the Alabama legislature.

He is *NOT* a conservative..

He’s going to have to make it past to conservative Republicans in the primary and as far as I’m concerned he’s not going to get my vote.

By: Gmac

Gmac — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 04:46:21 +0000

PG is a weezil who consistently showed that he would vote against illegal immigration reform, voted for pay raises and always gave the back of his hand to conservatives while he was in the Alabama legislature.

He voted WITH Nancy Pelosi 80% of the time.

He will have to face off against Mo Brooks and Les Philips for the Republican nomination and I can tell you right now it will be a cold day in hell before I vote for him.

By: Gmac

Gmac — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 04:30:41 +0000

By: archer52

archer52 — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 02:26:35 +0000

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.

By: Richard Mullins

Richard Mullins — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:50:12 +0000

Then we should make sure the change on his part is genuine. For Griffith and anyone else, a Trust but Verify routine needs to used.

By: SirGladiator

SirGladiator — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:46:54 +0000

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!

By: Richard Mullins

Richard Mullins — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:44:43 +0000

McCaul was one of 2 Republican congressmen here in Texas that didn’t put any earmarks this year. That should go well with voters in NW Harris county like Cypress and Tomball. It should help on the wayward voters as well.

By: avgamerican

avgamerican — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:22:46 +0000

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.

By: SE-779

SE-779 — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:08:26 +0000

But I was just stating the possibility that they might, might switch.

By: IJB

IJB — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:02:47 +0000

He already had two GOP opponents, and I doubt anyone in Washington can “force” them out, thank God.

Hopefully the locals won’t abandon those two, because every ‘party switcher’ should get a strong primary challenge out of the box, AFAIAC.

By: IJB

IJB — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:59:46 +0000

By: george_in_columbia

george_in_columbia — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:47:12 +0000

actually NY-23 was longer — 1850′s, but 1869 is still very impressive !

By: melanie

melanie — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:17:32 +0000

“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.

By: Mike gamecock DeVine

Mike gamecock DeVine — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:10:26 +0000

By: texasproud

texasproud — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:45:15 +0000

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

By: proudgop

proudgop — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:31:04 +0000

Via Hotline

Businessman Jack McDonald (D) will drop out of the race against Rep. Mike McCaul (R-TX) today, robbing Dems of a wealthy recruit in the race against what could be a vulnerable GOPer.

McDonald, the former CEO of information technology firm Perficient Inc., will cite business reasons in a statement. The Nasdaq-listed company reported last month that its profits had plummeted by some 95% during the economic downturn.
McDonald stepped down as CEO in Sept. but remained on board as the company’s chair while he began his run for Congress.
It is a blow to Dems who had hoped to give McCaul a top-notch challenger.

McDonald had raised a stunning $932K through the end of Sept., ending the quarter with $805K in the bank. McDonald is wealthy, but he lent his campaign just $26K, indicating he had real fundraising prowess.

Had he stayed in, McDonald would have faced the 3-term McCaul, who survived a closer-than-expected contest last year with atty Larry Joe Doherty (D). McCaul won the race by a narrow 54%-43% margin.

Interesting that he had 805,000 and he is dropping out??

By: jccbin

jccbin — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:29:53 +0000

“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?