N.H. Republicans drift from national party

N.H. Republicans drift from national party
Delegation breaks on major issues
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff | December 26, 2005

WASHINGTON -- With signs pointing to a resurgent Democratic Party in New Hampshire, the state's all-Republican congressional delegation is becoming increasingly at odds with the national Republican Party in a state that was long a GOP bellwether, according to an analysis of votes and other actions in Congress over the past year.

Congressmen Jeb Bradley and Charles Bass voted for expanded stem cell research and opposed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and Bradley notably declined to endorse Bush's Social Security plan.

Senator John E. Sununu opposed Bush's plan for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, joined a filibuster to insert civil liberties protections into the USA Patriot Act, and voted against his party leadership on several major spending bills.

Even the state's senior senator, Judd Gregg, who is a member of the GOP leadership and generally backs the party's priorities, voted against the transportation bill and the massive energy bill that grew out of Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force.
(snip/...)

http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2005/12/26/nh_republicans_drift_from_national_party/

current "reverse Robin Hood" budget, cutting and slashing services for those in need in order to protect the tax cuts for fat cats coming up in January.

watch the GOP when their guy is out of the WH. Going to be a free for all for every one to keep their jobs. Top of that ill wind, their is no money left to buy any thing any more. Bush has used it up.

I live in MA, but near the NH border. And I'm liking the trend up there. But their congressional delegation is still all rethugs. Gotta work on changing that.

I thought, at long last, when I wrote to my congressperson, it would actually be a Democrat. I write alot of those letters, but they're pretty half-hearted attempts.

Blue state GOP orgs will try to pretend that they're not that close to the radically corrupt national party, so they can market themselves as more "moderate" to blue voters. This is only an attempt to help get local republicans elected for statewide offices and Congress in 2006.

But it's a temporary strategy; a cyclical charade. As soon as the national elections get revved up in 2008, they go right back to hive of ultimate evil (National GOP) so they can get the big money.

Election-year moderates pretend to be centrist during an election year, in the hopes of tricking voters to cast their ballots for them, only to hang a sharp right after they're elected or re-elected.

Example: Rick "Man on Dog" Santorum

There's no way these clowns are anything but party-line neocons.

But when thrir votes aren't needed, they're occasionally given "a pass"
to vote against the party in the hopes of fooling the rubes back home.

Tesha

I don't care what side of the aisle they're on.

NO ONE tells them what to do. Period.

I know...I married one :-)

They take that "Live free or Die" thing SERIOUSLY.

I had heard so much about New Hampshire being independent that it surprised me when the voters seemed to fall in line with Iowa. Don't they have a history of going their own way and taking pride in NOT DOING what Iowa does? I thought that NH would go for for Dean or Clark, probably in that order.

Is it true that the Independents in NH trend Republican? I had heard that once but maybe, as the original poster implied, that has all changed because of the incompetence of "W".

> Is it true that the Independents in NH trend Republican? I had heard that once but maybe, as
> the original poster implied, that has all changed because of the incompetence of "W".

A NH "Independent" is a white male who *ALWAYS* votes Republican but is afraid he
won't get laid if he admitted this to his wife/girlfriend.

Kerry won the NH primary precisely because of strong support from NH Republicans,
err "Independents" (who cast 50% of the votes in the Democratic primary in 2004).
This is precisely why you shouldn't let NH have such a big say in the choosing of
the candidate that will carry the Democratic standard.

Tesha

I know, 'cause I was one of them. Plus there are a lot of MA transplants living in NH, and they were already familiar with Kerry. Many of them moved there for the lower cost-of-living, and took their liberal politics with them. So I don't think Kerry won the NH primary because of Republicans voting for him. I think he won it fair-and-square.

The folks who moved up from Mass may have brought their expectations
of liberal politics and big government services with them, but many (most?)
of them somehow expected these big government services to somehow be
delivered without taxing anyone. Like ex-smokers regarding smoking, these
Mass ex-pats are some of the most virulent anti-taxers running around the
Granite State. And many of them end up getting whip-sawn between NH's
high levels of property taxes and the MA income taxes they still pay on
their Massachusetts jobs that they still commute to.

There is a perpetual conflict in NH between the expectations of high
levels of service and the tooth-fairy beliefs that they can be provided
without actually imposing taxes.

Tesha

tradition be damned.

What a monumentally stupid comment that was. NH is still quite important due to our independent streak. It tends to vote Republican because of fiscal conservatism, but is getting more and more Democratic lately as the GOP becomes infested with bible-thumpers and intrusive government practices.

:eyes:

A single anecdote proves nothing.

Spend more time perusing voter checklists or working as
a Democratic poll-watcher, and I think you'll come to agree
with me. ;-)

Tesha

tend to lean republican.

What I don't agree with is your blanket statement that "A NH "Independent" is a white male who *ALWAYS* votes Republican but is afraid he won't get laid if he admitted this to his wife/girlfriend."

NH Independents come in all flavors, an increasing number of which are people like my parents, former republicans both, who feel that they've been left behind by the republican party. My folks have no use for bush, but that doesn't by any stretch make them Democrats. It's more of a "pox on both their houses" type of feeling.

To dismiss Independents as merely white males who vote republican but won't admit it because they are afraid they won't get laid is to dismiss a voting block that is actively looking for an alternative. NH Democrats have done a terrible job appealing to those voters. We've been fortunate in a couple cases that the republicans have thrown up stinkers like Lamontagne and Benson, but we can't keep counting on that good fortune.

Do we need to acknowledge the fact that Independents, by and large are more conservative than Democrats in NH? Absolutely, but dismissing them *ALL* as closet republicans is a big mistake.

> Do we need to acknowledge the fact that Independents, by and large are more
> conservative than Democrats in NH? Absolutely, but dismissing them *ALL* as
> closet republicans is a big mistake.

Okay, 84% of them are closet Republicans. 15% of them are non-closeted
Libertarians who don't (currently) have ballot status so they can't register
as Libertarians. 1% of them are closet Democrats. ;-)

But do you really want these people choosing the national Democratic
candidate? I certainly don't!

Tesha

Kerry/Edwards..my sister and I were at a rally in Manchester for Kerry on Nov 2, 2004 and the town was PUMPED!

Those recons in New Hampshire better watch it cause it sounds like sanity is the rule rather than the exception.

and the Repukes starting to morph into Dems to save their hides, I think it's time we get some Dems in office! That goes to the two Repuke Senators too!

And that's a good start. But NH Dems need to start working harder on getting some Dem congresscritters and senators elected.

Until the GOP Dirty Tricks folks got involved.

if they step too far out of line the Nat'l Party will smack 'em down. Witness Bob Smith.

The NH subspecies of republican tends to have a pretty broad libertarian streak. NH conservatism is generally more about "leave me alone, nobody's gonna tell me what to do and keep yer filthy hands off my wallet" then about the "god told me to stick my nose in your business" type fundie republicanism seemingly so prevalent elsewhere.

As a result the republicans up here show some independence from time to time, but not too much. Sununu's up for reelection in '08 so he's looking to step out from Gregg's shadow. The fact that NH went for Kerry, coupled with bushCo's poll numbers being in the tank, makes now an opportune time for him to show some of that much heralded Granite State independence. Sununu's not going so far out on a limb as you might imagine. The Union Leader, the most vile right wing rag imaginable (and only state wide newspaper) supports him on his opposition to portions of the Patriot act.

This supposed moderation on the delegation's part is mostly just an act. They are pretty hardcore pukes most of the time.