Blog for Democracy

RE: Ticks and Leeches

So I was walking into my local county building to qualify for a race in 2008, and I was stopped outside the door by a couple of acquaintances.  Both Republicans.  One was the son in-law of a sitting county commissioner.  The other was the county registrar and former chairman of the local Republican Party.  They knew why I was there and proceeded to explain to me why running as a Democrat in the most Republican county in Georgia was an exercise in futility.  Like I didn’t know that.

They had a pitch at the ready.  Switch parties and run as a Republican.  They would support me.  I would win!

My reply was “That’s not me, man”.  Um… that’s a paraphrase.  I’m pretty sure a “Fuck No” was in there somewhere in the course of the conversation.

My little anecdote is not meant to flag my sense of loyalty to party or some such other self-indulgence.  Rather, it’s this; we’ve spotted some douche bags in the last couple of weeks, and we shouldn’t be surprised if we see a few more in the next couple.  It’s just their nature.  It’s who they are.

Yes, it’s raw politics.  Political re-alignments are hard.  This latest unpleasantness isn’t really that surprising, is it?  I think we all get that.

But at the end of day, I will sleep just fine at night knowing I oppose:

  • Slashing education funding by the millions,
  • While proposing to cut corporate tax rates,
  • And starting the slow creep of killing the HOPE scholarship

The list goes on and on.  I guess opposing that just makes me a bona fide member of the white liberal, black, and brown coalition of sane people in Georgia.  There’s just something, a gut check moment, that deeply offends me about the direction of the Republican Party.  If some folks want to board that ship… well, OK!  Good luck with that!

That’s just a reflection of their character.  Not much we can do with that.

A lot of spilled ink and argument will come in the coming weeks and months about what Democrats need to do to make elective in-roads in Georgia.  We’re effectively starting from scratch.  At least we can take a little bit of solace from the fact that these bloodsuckers won’t be a part of that dialogue.

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Peter Tondee

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42 responses to “RE: Ticks and Leeches”

  1. Jules Avatar
    Jules

    Interesting article on party switchers.

    http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/democratic-party/party-switchers-beware-it-aint.html

  2. Jules Avatar
    Jules

    Hey, I didn’t ask Santa for a blog troll for Christmas.

  3. theodore herrera Avatar
    theodore herrera

    Endorsed by colin Powell?….he supported obama…….jim baker uber rino…..kissinger negotiated our defeat in vietnam…..he should be in jail……the republicans biggest error is tossing its conservatives who r the bulk of our vote under the bus……I am a john bolton man……not these sorry republicans who are not conservatives……by the way can y’all take saxby and johnny off our hands?

  4. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Yep, you claim not to desire to purge Ronnie, but only want to ‘disappear’ one of his singularly successful initiatives, the START Treaty, (eventually signed by GHWBush). There’s not a majority of Rethugs who either want to defend it or advance it in the Senate. The non crazy segment of the new GOP? The small & now mostly vestigial Rump of the party. Despite being endorsed by all living prior Sec. of State of both parties? It’s seen as a pitiable orphan today with the hypocritical war mongering chicken hawks in charge. Again, it was there just awhile ago. Where is it now? Gone. JMP

  5. theodore herrera Avatar
    theodore herrera

    Would not purge ronnie…..but the crists and specters.I could have said years ago these were dems in waiting.Purges can be a healthy thing.A party has to have 1 clear voice.Having the rinos inside the gate devestated the gop.if I were party chair getting the moderates(which meansliberal)out would be top priority

  6. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Well TH, I think talk of ‘purges’ is for the old Soviet style planning & gulags. In democracies, they’re hard to do. Within parties, even rigidly ideologically ridden outfits like yours? Still a trifle difficult, and fraught with plenty of potential for blowbacks & unintended consequences.

    But seriously? Conservatives have not always been in love with the bloated military spending that’s defined out militaristic posture to the world for the last 60 years or so. Sure it’s served it’s purpose. That’s what was part of NATO’s unprecedented & unparalleled success. A period of peace in Europe rivaling or exceeding that of the prior Roman Pax.

    Real fiscal conservatives well know that it’s also one of the most wasteful parts of the gumminit & needlessly so. I think most of the denizens of Washington are nuts & only getting more so daily if not hourly. It’s in the water. But if you’re demanding real fiscal discipline & sacrifice, a word & concept rarely uttered by any recent politician, but integral to a genuine conservative ethos? You start by trying to reform the miserable & supremely wasteful way we fight wars. And starting with why & when is not bad either. Paleo-cons like Patrick Buchanan & the late James J. Kilpatrick would tell you that too. So a whole wing of your party happens to agree with Ron Paul on that score, you just never hear from them because the Washington consensus is always towards more war & more war spending. ‘War is the health of the State’. You heard it here first.

    The excessive spending, year in & year out, decade after decade? Plenty of it resides in those lovely ill-defined yet highly lucrative ‘cost plus’ contracts that the DoD puts out & the whole entrainment of the very expensive & baroquely wasteful spending that is the majesty of our National Security State. Ike called it the ‘military industrial complex’, and warned against it’s ever increasing influence, and as a lifelong career solider, he knew what he was talking about. So did the Founders who well knew the intimate connection of a overweening military and the loss of rights. They were against a standing army for that very reason. That’s the genesis of both the 2nd & 3rd Amendments too, BTW. That sense of foreboding over the control of the body politic by those that would seek to advance war to seek their fortunes. At the clear expense of both the state & the citizenry & their natural rights. The Founders had seen it or experienced it happening and the aftermath of it’s miserable & long lasting detrimental effects. The looked back at the English Civil War and wanted to avoid those errors of having the Monarch’s armies ready to crush true Republican aspirations. But all this is mostly lost on folks like you & yours.

    So yeah, we’ll keep on sending our neer-do-wells, idiots, dolts & slackers. You can figure out if they’re ‘conservative’ enough for you. You’d purge St. Ronnie too, if you knew what he was up to. JMP

  7. theodore herrera Avatar
    theodore herrera

    Prince I am a Conservative….a real deal Reagan-Palin Conservative.Not the wet wimpy McCain/Specter Moderates that need to be flushed.The ONLY reason I voted McNasty was because Sarah Palin was on there and I was afraid of Obama.That is the very last time I vote for a moderate.Its either conservative or nothing.The Bush Mammas and wives kept pushing their men away from the base(Harriet Myers,Abortion ect)……When you walk away from your base you deserve to get beat.President Obama ran as a liberal and won huge.I share your belief that the more he ticks yall off the worse it gets.John McInsane was upfront about not being a conservative and he deserved to lose.I just feel bad sister Sarah had to pull mightly to bring his RINO behind across the finish line……Ron Paul might have a few food libertarian ideas on economics but he is a nut.He wants to slash defense and he wants to cut off Israel.He is no conservative…..The founders would love Palin and Darth Cheney…..Prince again I repeat my Party needs a purge….and yall keep sending us more Dems!:)….Whats up with that????

  8. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    So the truth comes out and you’re just one massively confused puppy there TH. Let’s take this morass from the top.

    1.) Palin? Perhaps a bit Smarter than folks give her credit for, but still pretty pathetic as a ‘leader’ or someone who’s knowledgeable about much of anything. She did see how her mindless popularity as a ‘media figure’ would make her a millionaire. So did Snookie & ‘the Situation’. We’re hopefully not running those idiots for anything either. But dear Sarah’s a pretty standard issue AK redneck. Which is fine. But barely running a 50+ year old Welfare State & Dependency of the US Govt. like AK for about a year? (And on the wholesome but nuclear level hypocritical right wing rhetoric of ‘self sufficiency too!) Not the same as being a real politician of national importance, range or scope. That you mention her in the same breath as St. Ronnie? Means that not only you’re delusional, but completely ignorant of RR record Before he went to the WH. Palin? Not even a pallid pale imitation of same.

    2.) Cheney’s been nuts for years, and as I said, plying the treasoners game for high stakes & fun & profit for, oh about a generation or more. And yeah, poor Harry W. was shot @ point blank range by someone who as the Dark Lord was barely questioned by any ‘authorities’ and only then almost a week after the ‘unfortunate incident’. And only when properly & usefully ‘sobered up’ too. Yeah. A ‘hunting’ accident. That’s never really investigated. Yep, they’re our dark lords for sure.

    3.) In the Bush family? Momma’s always been the serious enforcer.

    4.) You voted for McCain despite knowing he was insane? That’s not even got any logic to it like voting for Ike hoping for ‘Tricky Dick’. Just hopeless. Has the advantage of being common, I guess.

    5.) Some of us knew, perhaps even a plurality knew that Obama was no liberal. That’s been pretty painfully obvious since day one. And he did not really campaign as one either. I think the last person to actually do so was perhaps ‘Fritz’ Mondale in 1984. But like I said, if you don’t really remember Reagan (and just rely on the numerous myths & myth making about him), you’ll likely not recall Mondale either. And no Carter was no lib either.

    6.) For so many things fairly conservative, (among others, including somewhat nutty), Rep. Ron Paul has been the last bastion of what a real conservative looks, sounds & feels like. Not to everyone’s taste, but reasonably consistent on more issues than your standard issue Rethug. Rand is just a poor ‘new agey’ imitation too.

    7.) Our Founders? Used to have a simple way to judge & deal with the easy treason of Cheney & his dastardly devil’s crew. Would that we be returned to such today.
    JMP

  9. theodore herrera Avatar
    theodore herrera

    Prince Cheney was about the only conservative in the Bush administration(I disagree with him about the gay marriage thing but i give him a pass because his daughter is involved)He was good for awhile about keeping GW from going wobbly.Sadly the Bush Women are very liberal and it was tough keeping him on track…….as to the party switchers yall can have mccain,lindsey graham,and charlie crist…..I can’t stand RINOs(Republicans in name only)…..I am a Reagan Palin Conservative and would love to see a purge of the Specter-McNut-Ron Paul wings of the Republican Party.Does that sounds harsh?Maybe…..but a party has to have one clear strong voice……You know when Obama won he ran as an unapolgetic Liberal….while McCain despised much of his party and the feeling was mutual.I hated voting for McCain but I pulled lever for Sarah.I feel the same way about RINOS as yall do about Blue Dogs…..not worth a darn.

  10. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Yeah, yeah. And some birdshot in the face to even ‘friends’ who dare cross him too. We know. JMP

  11. theodore herrera Avatar
    theodore herrera

    That’s lord cheney prince!

  12. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Lest we forget Valerie Plame affair, wherein Dick ‘5 deferments/’I had more important things to do’ Chicken Hawk Cheney & cohorts illegally outed a secret undercover CIA operative who’d been previously very successful in keeping ‘dual purpose’ nuclear enabling technology from going to to Iran. Vs. Dick ‘Haliburton’ Cheney, who yes, contravened strict export controls to actively sell similar technology to Iran earlier during his time as CEO. For some Rethugs? Treason’s just a bad habit they can’t quit. We mostly know them by their proper corporatist names typically. And the party that will defend their interests over ours to the death. Ours of course. JMP

  13. Jason Avatar
    Jason

    Reminds me how Republicans are supposedly pro-life…until the child is born. Then it’s “screw ’em” until they can be sent to the death chamber? How’s that for a culture of life?

    And it’s TOTALLY a “mommy” thing to take care of veterans after they’ve been injured in a war we sent them too. F*ckin’ pussy Democrats! We should tell vets to salute and “man up” when they come home! Maybe if Dems just lost their minds and nuked Tehran, we could shed this “mommy” nonsense, no?

  14. Jason Avatar
    Jason

    Oh, no, the GOP doesn’t try to divide people into us v. them. No divisions between the “right” kind of “Christian” and heathens. No divisions AT ALL over gay v. straight. And we’ll pretend that racism has been eradicated so that we can defend the status quo.

  15. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    McGovern/Carter passivity? You mean those 2 Dem guys who actually served honorably & well in the military? One being that elderly decorated WW11 Vet & Pilot? (GM). Vs. A pretend cowboy who can’t tell us where he was during his AWOL ventures in 1972 to this day? Let’s stay with the wanna be Conn. Country Day School cowboy for a moment, Dubya. He of the ‘let the B-52’s handle it’, with regards to Ossama’s epic escape from our clutches in Tora Bora in 2001-2 with a miles 19th century style long mule train. Epic fail. We desperately needed more boots on the ground, and both Bush & Rummy denied the field commanders any of their needed & requested support. Why? As Tommy Franks said at the time, we we’re already planning for the next great imperial adventure in Iraq. All the resources were to be tied up in that fiasco. And Afghanistan? Was then self admittedly relegated to the ‘forgotten war’ status for much of the remainder of the Bush Failure’s term. Possibly the single worst military blunder in our history, and for Bush? He was just getting started!

    Geesh, manifestly the worst Sec of War/Def we’ve ever endured and you want to what? Argue about the extent of his planning prowess? The wonder that was progress under his direction? His greatest acclaim? Beating up, baldly lying & evading the press during his frequent news conferences. A hero only Faux news could love & admire! Who could forget that year’s long vehement insistence (in real & in fact) ‘There is no insurgency in Iraq!’ Oh, boy fun times. Things only quieted down some when we started to pay everyone off. Which come to think about it, was Bush’s greatest innovation/reinvention. Pay them to not fight. Worked for awhile at least. But again that took years too. Tribute. This is what the mighty Bush war effort was reduced to. And the back door draft of ‘stop loss’. JMP

  16. Delicate Flower Avatar
    Delicate Flower

    NVM.

  17. Drew Avatar
    Drew

    They’re the party of the military. Is that why they’ve gotten so many of our soldiers killed in unnecessary wars? Or why they’ve kicked out thousands of good soldiers because they have an irrational hatred of gay people? Or why they – like Saxby Chambliss – couldn’t be bothered to serve when it was their time?

    They are comfortable using force, if by “comfortable using force” you mean “comfortable sending other people to die for their policies, all while staying safely away from the fight.”

  18. Drew Avatar
    Drew

    The Republican Party is about business – about rewarding the businesses who fund their campaigns with our money. It’s not trying to carve the pie to different groups; it’s ensuring the entire pie goes to the wealthiest few. Got any more rhetoric?

    Also, I know this website doesn’t ban people for poor grammar, but if you do want to present yourself as a leader of anything, you might want to learn how to use a period.

  19. theodore herrera Avatar
    theodore herrera

    Promise victory in afghanistan?the dem party needs to shake off the mcgovern carter passivity towards our enemis

  20. theodore herrera Avatar
    theodore herrera

    Gunner having done a tour in iraq I can tell you that the iraq war inspired a lot of jidadis to go to iraq and get themselves killed……better we fight them in iraq and afghanistan than here.Hey did not President

  21. Gunner Avatar
    Gunner

    I think the difference is that Democrats use force wisely. How are those stock piles of WMDs working for ya?

  22. BEZERKO Avatar
    BEZERKO

    Oops, I didn’t realize Rubyduby was still signed in, I was making a mental note to myself, then I hit the enter button instead of the shift button. Sorry!

  23. Rubyduby Avatar
    Rubyduby

    copy and paste

  24. Rubyduby Avatar
    Rubyduby

    “but people know that the GOP is about business”

    Yes, we know that all too well. Business as usual, screw whoever you have to to get the almighty dollar. There are some people who actually care more about actual individuals, be they left/black/and brown, than business. I’ve known as long as I can remember that Republicans are for business, Democrats are for people and I’ll take my chances listening to the band on the deck as we go down, than I will hanging out in the lifeboats with opportunistic whores who care only for themselves and their thirty pieces of silver.

    Don’t you have a flag to be wrapping yourself and spouting off about family values in instead of messing about with sinking ships?

  25. Trevor Southerland Avatar
    Trevor Southerland

    Then why haven’t Republicans done more to help our veterans? Why did Republicans block health care of the 9/11 first responders?

    The GOP isn’t the party of the military, it’s the party of the multi-national corporations that make military supplies. There’s a huge difference.

  26. theodore herrera Avatar
    theodore herrera

    Amy let me also jump in.Republican tend to be the party of the military and the 2nd amendment.The Dems have had a Jimmy Carter problem dealing with our enemies and using force.Republicans are more comfortable using force.Fair or not its the daddy party sort of thing.That’s why the Dems have been losing the male vote and its something that your party has to deal with.

  27. Justin McDaniel Avatar
    Justin McDaniel

    Let me ask you guys this… Mr. Epps won by a 9 point spread. I would say that is a fairly safe seat (that being said, I am not very familiar with that race). Is it really that he put his own electoral self-interest over his policy/ideological preferences? Or is it due mainly to the manipulation of political information, at the national level, having shifted what people generally conceive of as democratic values to a degree where people like Rep. Epps no longer fit in between what people now label as a ‘democrat’…

    A similiar example is the ‘shift’ of supreme court justice John Paul Stevens from what was once considered a conservative philosophy to among the most liberal. It isn’t that he changed, its that the commonly understood definition of his beliefs shifted…

    Republicans have a clean cut message that right now resonates with a large portion of Georgian’s, my advice would be to start clearly defining the wedge issues democrats want to go after, and then start building these into the public dialogue as much as possible, on the state and national level. Hopefully a Repulican majority in the US House will help this effort.

    JM

  28. Bernita Avatar
    Bernita

    and this post is yet another reason why Love thee Mr. Peter Tondee.

  29. theodore.herrera Avatar
    theodore.herrera

    Gunner I am impressed you know so much about berrien….hendly lost by a narrow margin.we had tried to convince her to run with us but she said she is a dem to her bones.I can respect that.In the past 2 election cycles we have wiped ………………out the dem party by linking them to obama……now barnes gave us fits because some of our rino republicans jumped on his bandwagon.they made the wrong bet and they will be dealt with.So I understand the anger with turncoats

  30. Gunner Avatar
    Gunner

    I wouldn’t say crush. On the local level Democrats in Berrien usually get around 44%. Federal and state races Democrats do have a hard time in Berrien. But at the local level they seem to stay competitive. If Hendley decides to run again she will most likely win. The Sheriffs race was tough and there might have been a county commish race that looked bad for Democrats. The local Dem party there is well funded and I think that if they focus on the commission they can get some wins there.

  31. theodore herrera Avatar
    theodore herrera

    I was the Republican Chair

  32. theodore herrera Avatar
    theodore herrera

    Troy Spicer is a good guy….he is the Dem Chair of Berrien…..we get along great but we crush his candidates at election time.:)

  33. BEZERKO Avatar
    BEZERKO

    Wow! Really? That’s like the pot calling the kettle white.

  34. Gunner Avatar
    Gunner

    @theodore ahhh perhaps you mean that you are a former party chair of the local GOP?

  35. Gunner Avatar
    Gunner

    Former Party Chair from Berrien county? The only person you could be is Troy Spicer and you don’t sound like Troy.

  36. theodore herrera Avatar
    theodore herrera

    Peter why would you want to hang with a party that tries to divide people by white left/black/and brown…thats the whole problem….people should be treated as individuals not groups.That is the reason the Democratic Party is sinking like the Titanic.The Republican Party has its faults to be sure….but people know that the GOP is about business….not trying to carve up the pie to different groups…….I am a fmr Party Chair from Berrien County and I would be trying to get you to run with us too….you can’t fault them for trying….did the Dems even ask you by the way?

  37. Mel Avatar
    Mel

    I remember this story. Thanks for retelling. It makes me proud of you, but also cheers me.

  38. Steve Golden Avatar
    Steve Golden

    I sent Daniel a text message last night. It asked “Why the do we even try?”

    This is why we try. Good to know we’re not alone.

  39. Daniel F. Avatar
    Daniel F.

    Well said, sir. Thank you.

  40. BEZERKO Avatar
    BEZERKO

    Their switch in the long run will prove to be short sighted. Most of them, if not all, are more concerned about their own fortunes than their principles. Their passion is more for themselves than for their community. This is a good thing, it’s a test of everyone’s character.

  41. Sara Avatar
    Sara

    Thank you. This is exactly what needs to be said. If they would even seriously consider switching, we don’t want them anyway.

  42. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    I’ve had at least one of my candidates told the same thing too. He’s likely quite a bit more conservative in general, but he was still uncertain he would do it either. But it’s coming from everywhere too. But on the basics? You’re either working to see the betterment of the whole, or whoring to see & advance the betterment of the plutocrats. Everything else is mere commentary. And usually, diversionary. That’s the bottom line here today. JMP

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