The LA Times tallies up 24 state lawmakers switching from being Democrats to Republicans since the November elections in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Texas. Republicans now have super majorities in places where before they've merely been in charge, like Alabama.
In Alabama, Democratic Party Chairman Joe Turnham calls it a matter of race. After four Democratic lawmakers became Republicans, he wrote in a press release: "The Republican members of the legislature have put on a full-court press to push all white Democrats to change parties after the election. Instead of respecting and working with the Democrats of the House and Senate who were fairly elected under their own party label, Republicans have with today's announcement made it clear that they want to run Alabama as a partisan-only super majority and will seek to impugn the rights and voices of Democrats who do not switch and come over."
Jim Taflinger, head of the Hall County Democratic Party in Georgia and the guy quoted about the stigma of being a Democrat, tells the LA Times he's trying to "let people know it's OK to be Democrats again."
How the Republicans managed to wreck the economy and convince business to back them again is another, longer story.
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In Alabama, the democrats have been in charge since reconstruction until this past election. The new republican majority is due in part to the corruption and lack of good governance by the democrats that culminated in an ethics scandal over gambling with several key lawmakers being federally indicted with members of casino/gambling special interests. The democrat congress and governor were all but completely incompetent handling the economic downturn, leaving the state with huge budget shortfalls.
Perhaps Joe Turnham would like to consider the reputation of corruption and incompetence his party has before jumping on the race bandwagon?
But how long will it be before the GOTPee'rs end up the same way? 1 year is all.
John, I'm a really old white democrat who is a lifelong resident of Alabama (now that I think of it...shouldn't that qualify for some sort of award?). Your quick repeat of the Republican mantra (or whine) about democrats being in charge since reconstruction implies that Alabama "corruption and incompetence" resides in one party. A quick example, those gambling indictments were equal-opportunity, i.e., 2 democrats, 1 republican and 1 independent. And, that "incompetent" governor you mention was republican governor Bob Riley. While I'm pleased to see Alabama newspaper blogs eliciting more and more comments from those voicing liberal perspectives, I'm horrified at the number of comments that are focused solely upon encouraging Alabama toward becoming an "us whites-against-them non-whites" state. Joe Turnham is stating life in Alabama politics as he sees it. When I look closely, I see the same thing.
JoAnn, you're right, of course. No political party here in AL has a corner on corruption or integrity. My point was that the general feeling among people I talk to is that (especially for the last few years) the legislature and governor were about their own business, not the state's business. Couple that with the decades long monopoly of democratic lead state congresses and you get what happened, a "republican takeover."
Against that backdrop, some democrats are being courted to switch parties, which they did, more likely to hold on to power, or have more influence, or they were democrats in name only. Mr Turnham sees this as racial politics, instead of just politics. I tend to disagree with him.
I must retract my earlier statements re: Mr Turnham. After rereading the article, it would appear that not only did I misread, thinking the wording from the press release were his, but that the headline had something to do with what was said. Reading carefully, I can see that I made connections that were not present. There is no mention of race in the ADP press release. only in the article headline.
Shame on me, this is exactly the kind of bad thinking I try to avoid.
That being said: here is an addy to the actual press release from the Alabama Democratic Party. (sorry don't want to mess with the link thing)
www.aladems.org/2011/02/alabama_democra_30.php
The quote in the press release the article uses is from newly elected chair Mark Kennedy. The Daily Sentinel appears to have named the wrong party chair, Mr Turnham's term ended in 2010. Or maybe they did talk to Turnham for the "These gentlemen..." part?
Anyway, I fell pray to my own bad thinking and some bad reporting. Again, my sincere apologies.
Here is a address to the ADM Website: www.aladems.org
Living in Louisiana, I am not represented at all, unless you count Mary Landrieu who, to survive in this hateful climate, is more of a Dem in name only. Many people are living in the shadows too jaded to vote. If only they had an ounce of the energy that Egypt's people have demonstrated!
This shows me two things I already know about politicians.
1) You can't trust them and
2) This particular batch of 24 are worse than most and the Democrats are better off without turncoats who lie to their constituents.
Of course Republicans don't care about ethics and will welcome traitors as their own.
I have been hollerin' about this since the President was nominated in '08, and 11% of Hilary Clinton's supporters refused to close ranks like good Democrats and support the nominee. Not only did they not support Barack Obama, they jumped ship to campaign and vote for McCain/Palin. Now -- given the 2 1/2 years' perspective, with all the birther nastiness pointed directly at the President and all the obstruction in Congress by the Republicans -- I double dog dare anyone to look me straight in the eye and say this ISN'T about race. If you do, I shall swat you upside the head with my fan, at least once, for boneheaded obtusity.
"How the Republicans managed to wreck the economy and convince business to back them again is another, longer story."
Unfortunately the article linked is bunk. But the fun part is the comments to that article-
We are not alone in our outrage.
If you check your history book, you will see that these are not signs of any systemic failing, but are hallowed traditions stemming directly back to the Reagan Administration.
Acid rain, Saving and Loan bailouts, stock market crashing, the firing of the air-traffic controllers, accelerated exportation of factory jobs, gutting of the safety net.
They take they're worship of Reagan very seriously and seek to replicate all of his glorious achievements. If they were truly devout Reaganites, they'd be GIVING nuclear weapons to Iran. Every time someone talks about attacking Iran, Reagan cries in Heaven.
That is exactly right. There is NO "failing". It is a deliberate plan to bankrupt the national economy, provoke civil unrest, and seize power in a fascist coup. The "business" hooey is only a smokescreen designed to dupe businessmen just like the Republican Party tries to dupe everyone else and is remarkable successful in doing so, due to the well-crafted propaganda coming from the Heritage Institute and Enterprise Institute and disseminated to Republicans in the form of "talking points".
Don,
Are you sure he is in Heaven?
No. I don't think he is, but its a neat knife to twist is the psyche of his syncophants.
The Republican Party is the pro-business party so it is not a surprise when businessmen support it. In practice the Republican Party is strongly anti-business. Ultimately all the Republican Party does is rob the treasury with tax cuts for the wealthy paid for with debt. And who will pay back that debt? Those businessmen who think they are smart voting Republican are only screwing themselves.
There is very little that is truly pro-business about the Republican Party. A pro-business Chamber of Commerce wouldn't back the Wal-Marts of the world wiping out Main Street.
A pro-business GOP wouldn't be so in the bag to crony monopolists that new businesses and entrepreneurs can't break into new markets without buying their way in with some kind of "deal."
Yeah, they had a name for that kind of scammy crony capitalism, in Italy in the 1930s.
State-supported corruption and protectionist rackets, all that stuff formed the core of fascism.
Wingers are hot on calling everyone else Marxists/socialists/communists but no one calls them what they really are, fascists. Millions fought and died for the fascist cause. It's important to understand their motivation. Fascists are all around us today. They say so straight out. For example, they say "liberalism has failed every time it has been tried" ignoring that the United States of America is a liberal utopian experiment.
Even while FDR was defeating fascists in Europe and Asia Republicans were accusing him of being "weak on defense" because he allowed the expansion of Soviet power in Europe at Yalta. You can see whose side they are on. The mortal enemy of fascism is communism, which explains the rabid hatred spewed by Glenn Beck on the harmless environmentalist Van Jones for his silly Berkeley adventure.
Fascist paranoia over communism was the motivation of McCarthyist Red Scare pogroms.
Of course, there are plenty of people who would say that calling anyone a fascist is out of bounds. There is a point to that. The word has been overused to the point of stripping it of meaning. Also, it properly describes a specific political party of a specific time and place. On the other hand, the Fascists were a far-right political party and it's not as if their spot on the political spectrum has been retired like a football player's number. On the other other hand (I come from proud mutant stock), it might be more productive to give words like Republican and conservative the same negative connotations that Fascist earned.
As far as I'm concerned, attempting to confine the meaning of "fascist" to movements in the first half of the 20th century is a deliberate attempt to enforce an obsolete meaning of the term in order to insist that "It Can't Happen Here!" Of course, the Italian, Spanish, and German versions will never take over the US. However, American Fascism is a real and present danger.
A GROWING danger. The chronic erosion of 4th Amendment protection under the Patriot Act is a serious case in point. The Trail of Tears, Jim Crow, the Greenwood Race Riot, the internment of the Japanese, and the Murrah Federal Building bombing all put paid to the lie that it can't happen here. What makes the difference is when we don't feel a great deal of sympathy for the people to whom it happens when it is within our borers. For example, everyone who horror stricken and apoplectic when there were school shootings in white suburban neighborhoods (those always made me laugh, but I'm a totally Hateful Old Bastard like that,) because everyone took it for granted that this kind of violence was commonplace in the minority neighborhood...but (now say it with me, it never gets old!) "That kind of thing NEVER happens HERE!"
Bastards.
Rachel could do a thousand different reiterations for YEARS of this idiocracy and failure of businessmen & women to Man Up. Seriously. The big wimps... without brains.
Is it business like, business friendly to mis-manage fiscal & trade to the extent of $27 Trillion in deficit costs over the past 30 years, since the Reagan Revolution, and suck up capital on the credit markets, as Republicans have, via Voodoo Economics, Reaganomics, Trickledown Economics, Starve the Beast, Borrowed Prosperity on an epic scale, etc, etc, etc, etc??????
Math:
1981: Total National Debt = $1.0 Trillion, after 205 yrs as a nation
2011 = $14 Trillion National Debt via Reaganomics (deficit financing of EVERYTHING as one key component; Paynot... not Paygo)
1981 - 2010: 30 yr accumulated carrying cost of National Debt in Net Interest paid out = $5.5 Trillion
International Trade: (google: Current Account trade Historic Table) This is a stealth Reagan eye opener! No one talks about it.... EVER. Rachel? Looking for unique content??? Result: a hollowed out American economy, thanks to the Republican Party. See David Stockman's NY Times op-ed July 31, 2010 "Four Deformations of the Apocalypse: How my Republican Party Ruined the American Economy", by David Stockman, ex OMB budget director for Ronald Reagan, and a key architect of Reaganomics.
1982 - 2010: $7.75 Trillion in Current Account net trade DEFICITS, after decades of pretty much net accumulated balanced or or surplus trade, that earned our prosperity, not the epic scale of borrowed prosperity Reagan charted America on via his FREE TRADE mantras and policies, (as opposed to Fair Trade). Result: America became addicted to cheap imported goods: an insideous form of borrowed prosperity, as it drove out factories & jobs overseas to "compete" with the Import Mania America gouged itself upon of cheap goods. End Result: A hollowed out American economy, void of high paying value-added blue-collar jobs in a nation of paper shufflers and woefully unproductive money merchants as our dominant "industry" in America: Financial Services... America's Banksters
Reaganomics was the Bush MODEL as well (Sr & Jr), as it is with nearly all brain dead, greed driven conservatives & republicans. The only period of quasi sanity was 93, 94 with Clinton's fiscal corrections. Trade woes continued... and grew.
If Rachel runs with this story, I know Rachel, the Cultural Warrior for justice, would highlight the Alabama race angle and play that for all it's worth. As it deserves and is just to highlight.
But, come on, can we see Rachel start to evolve & grow on her soapbox and start addressing the shear insanity of republicans political economics as well???? In fiscal budget mis-management and international trade for the past 30 to 40 years??? Nixon & Reagan were key wrong-turn turning points in American history.
As opposed to creating a sound business environment with a fair & just referee & cop on the beat, instead of creating laize faire conditions that led to a massive taxpayer bailout & rescue like we saw in 08??? And America digging a hole so deep via deficits & debt & carrrying costs... we may NEVER fully recover.
"Business" and their wimpish, idiodic default to be "republican" and be seen as "with the in crowd" of business, needs YEARS of whipping on this narrow front regarding the psyche of calling oneself a republican, just to be "in". None other than the massive credentials of David Stockman, have laid blame on the Republicans for ruining the American economy. How business friendly is that??!!! Years of material for Rachel & gang here.
Democrats are MUCH better for the business of America. The Balance Sheet and financial statements of America have been decimated under republican control of goverment.
Cultural War=moral elitist posturing
Living in Louisiana, I have NO representation, unless you count Mary Landrieu who, in order to survive in a hate-filled climate, is a Dem in name only. Many Louisianians live in the shadows too jaded to even vote. If only they had an ounce of the energy displayed by protestors in Egypt!
It's just like Chicago politics in reverse. There are NO Republicans in Chicago (well some, but not many). My friend is a city employee (streets and sanitation) and his union tells him who to vote for - Democrat of course. And he does, even though I tell him that he can vote for whomever he wants to because it's a secret ballot. But he always says "oh, they would find out, trust me". I don't have a problem with the Chicago machine - they do not influence my vote either way. And people in Alabama shouldn't be swayed by any group of either party. Vote based on the issues. It really isn't that hard. I really think that people put too much stock in the powers of polical parties and especially campaign finance. No amout of rhetoric or bumper stickers or TV ads will make me change my vote if I don't agree with the candidates platform. Aren't we all suppose to be responsible adults?
Chicago (the city) hires sanitation workers?
Yeah funny huh? I always get a laugh when I see that on their vests. My buddy actually is more the "streets" part - he fills potholes and makes a nice buck doing it. He is going to retire this year at age 55 with 80% of his pay. Not a bad union job. The only problem is the city has drastically underfunded his pension fund. He may be OK, but the younger workers may have a problem. Still, this city has the best roads and is pretty clean for a big city (the "sanitation" side).
Yeah, but what I meant was in the 3 years I lived in Chicago I don't ever recall seeing a street sweeper. The various places I lived at had to hire private companies to clean off the sidewalks and roadways. I don't ever recall seeing the city do that. So I'm a little confused here.
They do have some, but I think they are only late at night/early in the morning. I still stand by my comment that it is a well paved and clean city overall. This past weekend my friend picked up "comp time" by shoveling sidewalks for 12 hours Saturday and 10 hours on Sunday. In the summer they have on occaison manually swept. They do earn their money.
i wasn't saying it isn't a clean city- it is. I just was saying I don't remember seeing city workers going up and down the streets cleaning it. It was something that always baffled me as a resident.
OK I get it. The sanitation and clean part I was refering to was mainly about the garbagemen who are the "sanitation" part of streets and sanitation. And as I said my friend has manually cleaned up streets and sidewalks occaisonally.
They don't want to be associated with the new "progressives" who have co-opted the party. The progressives are a prideful angry group that believes they are smarter then everyone else. If you disagree with them you are dumb, ignorant or racist. They have lost touch with Americans. So to save their political lives many have to run away from the name democrat.
All of these party-switchers are in Deep South states, so I see this merely as part of the trend of the past 40+ years of the South becoming more Republican. The national Republican Party has embraced Southern right-wing radicalism while the national Democratic Party has rejected it. Short-term political trends have little to do with this latest batch of Southern politicians jumping to the GOP. In a way that's good because part of the long-term trend is the reduction of the GOP to a regional Southern party. The GOP's long-term survival as a national party is unlikely in an increasingly diverse nation.
The chickens of the "Southern Strategy" coming home to roost. Or rather, the natural outcomes of all those "white flight" southern schools Haley Barbour thinks were so wonderful, wanting to come back out and Jim Crow their country back to antebellum days!
Yeah, we just had an ugly Republican takeover here in AZ, too. Although the legislature was already heavily Rep, this last election ousted many Dems. I'm just sick over it, since I've lived here all my life and hate to see my state be so torn. Most Dem members of Congress were also voted out..except for Giffords and Grijalva. Since Giffords is my member of Congress, I've had no voice for several weeks. We all hope for her speedy recovery. But the fact remains that with Kyl and McShame as our Senators, only one side of any argument ever makes the press. With our Senate Pres as a radical right-winger pushing bills against women and minorities, I'm hoping that recall petition to oust him (up in the Phx area) gets the 9000 signatures they need.
It's so bad here (Tucson), that my poor kid (age 19) who drove my van last with the Pro-Choice, Anti-Fox bumper stickers plastered on the back fender---was followed by 4-5 different cars who flashed their brights on him...he said he was going the speed limit, and could only figure it had to be those bumper stickers.
The operative word in that press release is "white". This is just an outrageous turn for the so-called "scorched earth" GOP, which, when turned back somewhat on the national stage, hunkers back down with local pols, where the influence of money and corruption can be so much more easily swept under the rug, since local journalists covering public affairs beats have pretty much gone the way of the dodo bird.
in a press release: "The Republican members of the legislature have put on a full-court press to push all white Democrats to change parties after the election."
Gee, I wonder why they are ONLY pressuring WHITE Democrats? The racist pigs. Probably got their white pointy-headed sheets out for playing dress-up on the weekends too.