Bumbling 101
When does a great idea like impeaching the vice president become a not-so-great idea? When it actually looks like the resolution might get its “day in court.”
All in all, 81 Democrats who were happy to vote for a debate on impeachment suddenly changed their votes - and on such a weighty issue no less. Incidentally, the list of flip-floppers who thought debating impeachment was a great idea as long as it never happened includes Minnesota’s own Keith Ellison.
Here’s a complete list of what, under the circumstances, can only be referred to as political opportunists: happy to be associated with impeachment as long as they could portray themselves as brave voices for justice swimming against a tide of imperialism. Why the sudden change of heart?
Midway through the vote, with instructions from the GOP leadership, Republicans one by one changed their votes from yes _ to kill the resolution _ to no, trying to force the chamber into a debate and an up-or-down vote on the proposal.
It’s at least a little hilarious that when Republicans offered to have the very debate hard-left Democrats have been clamoring for, the brave swimmers dove for cover, voting to table the issue, ostensibly forever.
The Democratic Party loves to talk about impeachment. This turn-the-tables moment by House Republicans demonstrates in the starkest manner possible terms that, while it makes great fodder for the netroots, no one has much excitement for putting any light on the conspiracy theories of the party’s hard-left.
As 81 Democrats showed today, the issue of impeachment - much like “torture” - is one of politics, not of principle.
I was asked recently how I could have gone from a fairly liberal Democrat in the mid-1990s to a conservative today. That the Democratic Party wants to play political games with impeachment and “torture” while the nation is in the middle of a war pretty much says it all. Time and time again, the party has chosen its own future over that of the nation’s. And, while most of us just shake our heads at these bumbling attempts at political gain, our enemies will no doubt use every manufactured division to their advantage, as they have done for the last four years.
You mentioned you “…have gone from [being] a fairly liberal Democrat in the mid-1990s to a conservative today.” Your political experience is rather common. I am amazed at how many Republicans I know are former Democrats. I have observed that life-long Republicans, while being stalwart voters, are frequently not all that involved in the political scene. A very high percentage of Republicans I know, who are actively involved in politics, are former. Democrats. Having been on the other side, they apparently are more active in attempting to persuade others.
Not so much Republican, Sturdy, as conservative.
While it is true that Republicans often are more in line with a conservative viewpoint, I am encouraged by the crop of more conservative Democrats, like Heath Schuler, elected in 2006.
In contrast, many Republicans feel it necessary these days to abandon conservative principals.
So, while I can appreciate your assumption that conservative means Republican, don’t be so sure. I would support conservative candidates and issues regardless of party lines.
That said, thanks for stopping by. I hope you return in the future.
Actually the people I am referring to who were former Democrats now align themselves with the Republican Party.They identify themselves as Republicans in contrast to their former Democrat status. Within this group of people that I know there is a range from somewhat conservative to very conservative. However, no matter what the degree of conservatism, these are the people who I observe are more active in trying to convince other people to adopt conservative principles.
Of the former-Democrats-changed-to-Republicans-group I know, none of them are RINOs. But it is true that far too many elected Republicans abandon conservative principles so that they could be called RINOs.
Each person has a variety of reasons why they changed from Democrat to Republican. What caused you to change from being a fairly liberal Democrat to a conservative? What caused you to look at things differently?
That’s a long, long, story.