Parker Griffith's Press Conference on His Switch to the GOP
By the way don't forget to check out Blue America's Bad Dogs page. It's been set up to help defeat Blue Dogs. As Media Matteres did a fine job of pointing out for everyone, this guy was already a Republican. How this House version of Tom Coburn on steriods was ever allowed to have a D behind his name is beyond me. He pulled out every Republican talking point during this press conference along with calling his former party the "Democrat Party". Since he voted against every single Democratic platform that he should have been well aware of before he threw his hat in with the party, I say goodbye and good riddance. Don't let the door hit you in the ass.
As much as the GOP might like to claim this as some sort of victory, the wingers over at Red State are already ready to run a primary challenger against him. Welcome to the Republican Party Congressman.
John Amato:
What a great day for progressives. A horrible Blue Dog took his rightful place with his fellow conservatives. Good riddance. Howie Klein was the first one to point out how disgusting he was, but as usual the media ignored it. But suddenly yesterday they discovered that he existed. This is why blogs are so important. We analyze voting records and candidates thoroughly before we comment on them. The NRCC loved Parker so much they hit him with their usual fear-mongering ads about radical Islam. Now there surely will be an interesting primary fight between the teabagging conservatives.
Last August DWT posed the question How Does One Justify Singling Out Just One Blue Dog-- In This Case Parker Griffith Of Alabama-- As The Worst Democrat In The House? It wasn't a tough case to make, and back at the link I have a chart, a snarky photo and a video of another one nearly as bad. Then just over a month ago I tried to point out that Griffith, a multimillionaire whose personal self-interest is always with the GOP, was hysterical about the estate tax.
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Today, when the mainstream media suddenly discovered Parker Griffith for the first time, as he announced he would be joining the GOP, Media Matters was prepared to show that his voting record had never strayed from that of any slimy Republican. In fact there are 7 House Republicans with either an identical ProgressivePunch score on crucial votes or a better one! He opposed equal pay for women, opposed the stimulus bill, opposed clean energy legislation, opposed healthcare reform, voted against the budget and against regulating the banksters. Basically, from the day he slipped into the House he was a charter member of the Boehner Boys.
This is the guy, as we mentioned last summer, who promised his constituents that if they re-elected him, he would vote against Nancy Pelosi, who he referred to as a mental case, as Speaker next year. Now the DCCC won't have to waste another $1,000,000 trying to save a seat for someone who votes with the GOP all the time. Come to think of it, they'll need that money to try to save the seat of the only other House Democrat as bad as Griffith, Mississippi reactionary Travis Childers. Blue America has a page, Bad Dogs, dedicated to defeating Blue Dogs. If you have any interest in helping out, please let us know.
I have no problem laying the blame for this issue directly at the feet of Rahm Emmanuel and Barry Obama. This has nothing to do with "Large Tent Democrats" and a lot more to do with Neo-Liberal Corporatists. The DLC, DNC, DCCC, and DSCC have all been programmed to support, by Party support, campaign cash, and rewarded with Committee appointments, to these DINOs, and even Independent Joe Lieberman. Birds of a feather flock together, and Rahm & Barry have aptly demonstrated that they stand with Republicans, not with Liberal Progressives. This is Dubya's 3rd term in office, period.
I say we should flush out all the turncoat DINOs & Joe Lieberman, punish them with removal from Congressional Committee chairs, and focus on either Primary challengers, Liberal Progressive Democratic opponents, or Independent/Third-Party opponents. Can the net-roots do it? Yes, we've done it before, in 2006, before the Corporatists completely took over the Democratic Leadership.
Personally, I would even consider financially supporting Tea-Bagger Republican challengers to these DINO Rethuglicans-in-sheep-clothing. I see more commonality with anti-Corporate Tea-Baggers than with the Neo-Conservative and Neo-Liberal Corporatists of both main political parties. This is tantamount to Class Warfare (we're losing badly thus far), and that old Arab meme about "... the enemy of my enemy is my friend (however brief that relationship might be) ...". I would rather have to focus on the political "enemies" in front of me, than contend with supposed political "friends" ready to stab us in the back.
Et tu, Brutus?
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."
-- John F. Kennedy
Well said!
ROFLMAO!
That movement is soooooo astroturfed. Yes, individual members are anti-corporate, but the positions are picked and disseminated by asto-turfers. The backlash when part of the movement realizes it in some unpredictable time period will be worth some popcorn. Some Libertarians seem to have figured it out already and are high-tailing it.
Parker gave a press conference and NObody showed up!!
No more health-insurance money for you, Little Mister.
The lying, disgraceful sack of shit fits right in on the other side of the aisle. We may as well know where the enemy is...and if they hide behind a "D" after their name...it's time to flush them out.
What an ass hat. Just another ass hat on the repuke side. Dim witted Alabaman. Hope this turd gets tossed out by "his own party" in the primary. What a jack ass.
I hope the door hit him in the ass on the way out. He had over stayed his welcome.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
"Don't let the door hit you in the ass." into southern variant I'm more used to ...
Don't let the door hit ya where the Good Lord split ya!
As we all know only too well, the republicans are capable of the lowliest of tactics and maneuvers to advance their psychedelic agenda. I have long suspected that some of the so-called Democrats in congress and elsewhere are in fact "plants." Long groomed to do exactly what they do- Disrupt and overturn the Democrat's applecart. They could not have been more effective, or obvious, even if they wore identifying republican party name tags.
I believe more scrutiny should be administered to suspect democratic candidates in the future. And in the meantime, an orchestrated and determined effort should be made by ALL interested parties to eject the traitors that got through. This head-in-the-sky mentality of the democrats must be brought into the real world. These are 'real' enemies. Not only of the Democratic party, but to the state as a whole.
Blue America has a page, Bad Dogs, dedicated to defecating Blue Dogs
instead of Blue America has a page, Bad Dogs, dedicated to defeating Blue Dogs
Just a change of one letter.
It works both ways as these "blue dogs" (and that term is derogatory to dogs because dogs are loyal) are serving their corporate masters by defecating on Americans who work for a paycheck
Sorry, I don't think I am familiar with that specific part of vernacular Americana.
?
Examples include, but are not exclusive to: Blanche Lincoln, Joe Stupak, Joe Lieberman, Evan Bayh, Ben Nelson et al.
It is the name of a coalition of legislators ..
http://www.house.gov/melancon/BlueDogs/
I see they haven't taken Griffith off their membership list yet.
http://www.house.gov/melancon/BlueDogs/Member Page.html
It is hard to put American politics in proper context seeing how there seems to be a complete lack of ideology when it comes to political parties and programmes.
Interesting.
Someone that calls himself a democrat but is really a republican in hiding!
one species of the genus, "dino"
Yellow Dawgs with collars that are too tight.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
He is so crazy to join the republicans he deserves the ass kicking he is going to get!
The DNC, under Governor Dean, had a 50-state strategy that worked. The DLC, under Rahm Emmanuel, wanted to concentrate on getting republican-calling themselves-Democratic candidates elected in Midwestern states at any cost and opposed DNC strategy that might elect progressives. Rahm claimed the success of the 50-state strategy in his book and snubbed, then got rid of Dean as soon as he could.
The present attitude of the White House seems to be to reduce the enthusiasm and participation of the progressives even if it reduces the number of elected Democrats. Republican intransigence is seldom mentioned.
Reid and Pelosi allowed many Repug ammendments to their bills that weakened them, but do not attibute the resulting bills to Republicans and say that these are a bi-partisan bills even R's don't vote for them in the end.
Even when a petition by thousands of campaign workers was sent to the WH demanding a public option, they dismiss them with all of the others demanding the option as people who don't participate. This will bite them is the butt.
To restate the obvious, we need to do is to become more active in the system and nominate progressive candidates to replace the DINO's and defeat the Republicans who are not participating in the solving of the Nation's problems.
Paul C
Alabama is the only place where a guy who looks like that could convince voters he's a democrat.
The sad fact is that this nation of ours will probably fall and die out by way of its apathetic citizens and their tendency to eventually forget the past and to lean toward the RIGHT-WING philosophy that is pounded into them day after day through the media. We liberals can see the short-coming of the right wing, but the fact is that MOST folks in this nation are easily driven about like sheep from nothing more than misguided and obvious political showmanship. The right wing appease those who do not want to have to lift a finger to change the status quo. This has always been the driving force behind AMERICANS. We did not want to change or negotiate treaties, so we simply made them and then ignored or denied them. We did not want to make efforts to live sustainably, so we accuse those who try to push a sustainable philosophy as anti US. I have lost hope for this nation. And that is something that is not easy to say or feel.
I've been calling these guys red dog democrats for a while. They might as well be republican moles. And I wouldn't put it against them.
There should be a site called something like "true colors" that pins people to one party or the other (or one ideology or the other) based on votes, NOT on what letter they put after their names.
Beware the Red (party) Menace.
E Pleb Neesta
GODISNOWHERE
Blessed are the cheese makers.
My gaydar say's he's deep in the closet!
Did you know you were voting for a fake Democrat?
Look, he turned into a Republican!
In your face, rubes!
That's because to be a republican first you cannot have any of the basic atributes of honesty, integrity, honor, or the milk of human kindness.
In other words to be a republican you must be in it for personal gain.
Nothing else.
Have you fixed your primary system yet?
Who cares if this political counterfeit changes to the GOP? So how is this genius going to be better off with the authoritarian party of morans? Good riddance to bad rubbish. What a dope.
"We will find fulfillment not in the goods that we have, but in the good we can do for each other."
Robert F. Kennedy
Having a conservative acting like a well-financed, slick democrat can overpower low-rent congressional districts. We know who they are. The sell out of democracy, even at the primary levels is where the problem still exists.
It isn't about the right kind of person, but the candidates we select has sunk into a money trumps all, character (or religious test), and other non-essential characteristics or false image projections such as hair, weight, and sex in determining our political candidates.
Look at Bernie Sanders. Put him up against a well-oiled full head of hair republican spouting god and freedom, and Bernie's gonna have a hard time.
The democrats have to rid themselves of the hucksters and carpetbaggers at the primary level. They need to get their butts in gear.
I'm going to miss that guy. You said he was Mr. Griffin?
Bruce C Johnson
Yes, and Pewterschmidt is yanking his chain. Lois is going to be mad, and Bryan will try to find Griffin's testicles to bite them off.
Stay tuned for next week's episode.
Chris Matthews can be such a tool. He did a segment on this and tried to say this was freshmen Democrats' seeing the writing on the wall about the upcoming elections and switching to the more electable party. Like someone said previously, good riddance.
What gets me is the the M$M is playing this as quotebad news for democratsunquote
But of course everything is good news for St. John McCain, the republicans, &c.
...and don't let the door hit you in your peckerwood ass.
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