Mainly because of his arrogance and it was all about him...he didn't want to lose his seat, never said anything even remotely about how the Dems ' positions were closer to him, it was solely about keeping his seat. So, it has to be on a pol by pol basis as to who it is and why.

Welcome them with open arms, albeit with the caveat that the party isn't going to stop supporting things like reproductive freedom and LGBT marriage equality, etc.

shift it does imply erosion of the Republican Party and a long overdue leftward drift of national policies.

Thanks for the thread, Nye Bevan.

Thats exactly whats wrong with the idea

With proper attitude adjustment. Paradise.

w3ho would probably be democrat by today's standards "trust, but verify."

Some Democrats vote with Republicans already, and I'd like to have less of these.

Anyone coming to throw in and support the ideals we share is appreciated.

right, stay where you are.

I think it may be our party's tendency to encourage independent, critical thought. Republicans are more herd-minded and thus less likely to slip from the fold. For all their recent setbacks, I don't see the internal dynamics of GOP politics as having been rearranged. They suffer from the same fools retaining the same faulty logic and leading to the same radical histrionics in their lawmaking. Some thing, some day, some issue will drive the Republicans to break along their fault lines. But it won't be this year.

except for representatives who do it right after they've been elected like my state district's representative did. After winning her fourth term as a democrat, she switched parties to republican before she was even sworn in and then proceeded to vote with the R majority right down the line. I find that unconscionable, and we have collected enough signatures to submit a recall petition.

Regular people? I don't give a care.

Just don't meet modern Republican crazy standards. Like the traitor Joe Lieberman, they'll caucus with the Democrats, but vote with the Republicans on everything. Fuck 'em.

But no litumus tests..

the strain between the Left part of the party and the right part. The Center is where a fracture will happen, depending on whether a Centrist leans Left-Center or Center-right. There is no true Centrist.

that Obama was elected and we control the Senate. I also agree that there is really no "true Centrist."

If either the very liberal faction of our party or "Blue Dog" Democrats gain full control they will only succeed insuring that many good Democrats will become somewhat reluctant to show up at the polls. These voters may not turn into Republicans but if they fail to vote, it could cause our party to lose close elections.

We also have to look at the future. It's quite possible for a party to elect consecutive Presidents to office but often the nation is often ripe for change after twelve years. It is true that the Republican Party is currently weakened by their ultra conservative Tea Party members but eventually this faction may realize that a divided party is a weak party. Many here feel the Republican Party is dead but I feel it is quite possible that it may rise like a phoenix from its ashes.

We also need to elect more Democrats from the red states where a moderate or conservative Democrat has a far better chance of getting elected than a very liberal Democrat.

I figure Better Late Than Never.


The way I see Political parties evolving in the next few decades....


Teabaggers take over the Republican Party and end up being a mostly southern regional party.

Politicians who want to win a national election have no choice but to become Democrats.

Corporate influence within the Democratic Party increases and it eventually splits (since Democrats like nothing better than to fight among themselves) so that the Democrats are the center-right party and we get a real Progressive party (for a change).


From there on it is anyone's guess. Hopefully there are enough on the left and to the center-left to make the new party viable. If so the Teabagger party will eventually die off and we will have The Conservative Democratic Party v. The Progressives.

Party to split in two. That is ok with me as long as the modern republican party is dead when the Democratic split happens. The country really, really need two parties that have philosophical differences, but can talk to each other and compromise, two halves of the Democratic party will be able to do that. The risk that the Center-right split of the Democratic Party will have is tea-losers and religious righties from the dead republican party trying to sneak in and corrupt it.

We are not the Republicans...we should not require a litmus test for party membership.

A considerable amount of people that voted for President Obama in 2008, and to some extent in 2012, did not agree with the ENTIRE Democratic platform.

It may be painful to them, but the nation has to quash the power of the religious right (that the Republicans enabled.) They are the most dangerous entity threatening our nation at this time, politically.

The world is changing and the U.S. should be the leader - and this means Republicans have to be willing to compromise on the issue of revenue.

This will only happen when the old, stale thinking of the Reagan era, the Norquist pledgers, and the current apocalyptic destroy the U.S. economy end timers lose their political power base.

Just as the 60s are over... so are the 80s.

If a repub discovers all of a sudden he's too liberal for the GOP and wants to switch, fine...

If he switches only because the demographic data shows his district/state is getting bluer by the day; and this is his only way to stay in office, then fuck 'im

policies. We don't need any more centrist democrats. We need more progressive democrats like Warren and Grayson and independents like Sanders.

Albeit my conversion was 30 years ago.

I'm glad he's seen the error of his ways, but it can't erase the fact he was an asshole.

And then, educate them in our ideals. If there are any transgressions, simply help them come back to the left, instead of booting them out as if they can't, or won't, ever learn. What's the point of antagonizing all the time instead of taking the opportunity to transform them for the better?

As long as they want to move the country forward and not backward, I welcome their voice. It may be over-ruled, but we are better for having it.

To dismiss or mistreat them is counterproductive to our cause. You should not assume all Republicans are selfish, racist, sociopaths.



Edit- When I first registered it was for Republican. I didn't pay much attention to politics when I was 18 as I should have and was influenced by others. I has some stupid and ignorant ideas. As I began to pay attention I realized how fucked up they were and changed my affiliation to Democrat. I see things very differently now and am embarrassed by the way I thought back then.

Democratic Party. I have thought for a long time that the republican party would vanish and be replaced by a party that split off from the Democratic Party. In the long run, having the republican party disappear and having two parties existing that can argue policy in a civilized manner and find compromise is healthy for the nation.

Simple math

Someone who's run with the Republicans for the last 30 years isn't going to change their spots.

There are more than a few people in my town all hot over the Republican antics in Congress and claiming they'll switch. When I hear that I usually give them the mom look and tell them they crapped up their own party. Clean up the mess instead of crapping up mine.

we have 2 running as Democrats here now against one that won as a Democrat and switched....I remind the party ideologs of the same BS thats broke us up year after year. I actually its part of the Republican plan where I live.