Why do people switch Parties ?

Do they simply grow sick and tired of the "leadership"? Do they think they have somehow betrayed the Party ideals? I recall that Clinton lost a lot of people with his NAFTA votes and his Welfare Reform proposals. I recall that Bush Sr lost a lot of people when he said "read my lips" and then raised taxes. They both had betrayed the ideals of what their Party stands for.

With that in mind, what does it take for Republicans to leave Bush and Cheney? Have they already deserted them? If so, why?

Oh.. Political parties. :dunce:

party values."

I would say more so the former for Ds who go to R and vise-versa for the latter.

If their district becomes more Conservative or more Liberal, so they'll switch from R to D or from D to R, simply because they think they'll stand a better chance of getting re-elected.

I thought the number of switches from Democratic to Repuke in Georgia were incredibly disturbing.

Also this pig fucker called Rodney Alexander, he got narrowly elected in Louisiana in 2002...he PROBABLY rode in on Senator Landrieu's coattails...and then the pig switched parties last year.

Also Mayor Ray Reagan, was and is a lifelong Repuke, and he switched parties at the last minute to Democratic to get elected, because the business community was backing him anyway...but he couldn't get elected as what he is, which is a Repuke.

Others switch because they think their party has become too Liberal or too Conservative.

I must agree with you, I find it SHOCKING that we still are having so-called Democrats switching to Repuke after what Junior's done...most bizarre was the NAACP fellow in Orange, Florida switching to Repuke, because we KNOW how FAB the Repukes have been to the blacks in Florida.

I think we should be getting WAY MORE GOP switching to Democratic or at the LEAST to Independent.

At least for me, I became aware of the hypocrisy and realized the party didn't align with me values.

I started off Republican, not so much as a matter of choice, but rather that they were in office, and I was young enough, and didn't follow politics, and believed what they said about Democrats (this is Reagan era).

Then the Democrats get in power, and I see the Republicans (Newt, etc) doing all the obstructionist things they always blamed the Dems for doing, and I realized it was a lot of hooey.

You know, if you don't independently research stuff, and just get your info from the morning disc jockeys yapping off on your way to work, you can end up believing a lot of stuff, mainly because you don't have the time to find out otherwise. And it's easier, and there are other priorities in life (partying, dating, whatever), and politics isn't high on the list and you figure you don't matter much anyway. So a lot of America slides by with these weak alignments to political parties just because it goes over well with their peers or family or neighborhood, when they haven't really given it a whole lot of thought.

Why do people stay with Bush now? I think the only ones with him are either those that believe the rhetoric about the "America-hating Liberals", and the very religious, who excuse everything because "deep down, he's a good man", and "he belives in god".

I don't care if he believes in God or not. I don't want a pope, I want someone to run this country properly. If I want a pope, I'll go to Italy. Here, though, I need someone to kick FEMA's butt, to appoint qualified people to important positions, to find the right people to uphold the constitution in the Supreme Court, not my personal lawyer, and serve the nation, not line their frickin' pockets.

Many switch from the Dem to the Repuke parties because:
1: They struck it rich, and don't want to share their newfound wealth with others.
2: They're closet racists, sexists, and/or cases, and the Dems no longer represent their prejudices.
3: They (for women only) married into a filthy rich family and their husband has it made. Once again, they don't like sharing.
4: They joined a cult, which becoming a repuke is required.


Many repukes switch to dem because:
1. They lost their livelihood and/or pensions to outsourcing, especially those represented by unions.
2. They've repented of their prejudiced attitudes because a member of another race, religion, or even a gay may have saved their lives or those of their families.
3. They've always been social libertarians, and the repuke party has become increasingly authoritarian.
4. They have military-aged kids and either have lost them in the war or risk losing them.

a similar process no matter the party identity of the switcher.

Many "lifelong" Democrats were driven out of the party by the vicious class-bigotry expressed in the Democratic leadership's genocidal betrayal of the poor and disabled (Clinton's "welfare reform" and Democratic collaboration in further destruction of the social safety net); the Democratic leadership's equally vicious betrayal of the working class (NAFTA, CAFTA, "bankruptcy reform," obstruction of mass transit, etc.); and finally -- often pivotally -- the relentless hostility to blue-collar and rural peoples demonstrated by the Democratic leadership's fanatical hostility to gun owners and the private ownership of firearms: the source of the oft-repeated statement "the only difference between the Republicans and the Democrats is the Republicans will let me keep my guns."

The Democrats who were thusly purged from the party -- whether by the anti-working-class bias in general or specifically by the personal (and exceptionally nasty) vindictiveness of the anti-gun minority -- in every instance I know of went into exile with profound reluctance: all the more so for the fact their allegiance to New Deal values was strong and undiminished. When they voted Republican, they typically did so with the sense they were risking a pact with the Devil.

Thus the way to bring these people back into the Democratic fold is the John Edwards way: purging the party of the bourgeois bigotry that lingers from the Vietnam era and making the party once again the party of economic justice and humanitarianism: in other words (precisely as Edwards has said) by resurrection of the New Deal.

Bottom line, what disempowered the Democratic Party was a tragic combination: abandonment of New Deal principles and espousal of the ideological authoritarianism of the anti-gun fanatics -- a perfect recipe, Karl Rovian in its cunning, for self-destruction: a recipe imposed on the party by the Democratic Leadership Council (and the source of my accusation the DLC is in fact the corporatist/Republican Fifth Column within the Democratic Party).

In contrast, the potential Republican switch-overs are motivated by precisely antithetical values. To be a Republican, one must by definition be a sworn personal enemy of every American who is not part of the oligarchy -- especially every American who is impoverished, disabled or limited-income elderly -- and one must also be a sworn enemy of the liberties guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, especially the freedoms of speech, assembly and above all religion. The people who are fleeing the Republican party thus do so not out of aversion to increasing Republican harshness -- for example the genocidal aftermath of hurricane Katrine -- but rather for the opposite reason: because Bush and his henchmen are not moving fast enough to peel the velvet slipper of "compassionate conservatism" away to reveal the jackboot of unabashed fascism beneath.

A harsh indictment? To be sure. Too harsh? Given the fact 63 percent of the U.S. population believes the Bible is literally true, and that 75 percent reject the scientific truth of evolution -- undoubtedly not harsh enough.

I have noticed, after reading biographies on people such as the heinous Michael Medved, and the even more heinous Michael Savage (Weiner), (both of whom were extremely liberal in their youth), that they usually went to the conservative side after realizing they were neither smart or funny enough to make it on the liberal side. They become disgruntled at the lack of attention, and because of their gigantic egos, end up preaching (yammering) to a bunch of idiots that consequently think theyre brilliant........maybe this shines a little light on the subject, huh

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

They aren't ready to admit that it's them that is the problem yet.

atleast when they switch to repuklican for example Sen. Richard Shelby of alabama in the 80's and as recent as last least Rep. Ralph Hall of texas.

Disgusting of how you vote these people in and then betray you later on in the process.

:)

sidelines or having your vote work in unintended way.

Just ask Nader or Perot voters.

contemplating a switch to non-partisan this year just to distance myself from the asinine losers. It' happens.