This is your Grandaddy's Democratic Party

My late Grandfather was a "Yellow Dog Democrat" to the bone. As was his Father and so on.

My Grandfather NEVER voted for a Republican, even when he felt the Democratic Party had moved away from many things he believed in.

My Grandfathers biggest complaint about the Party he belonged to all of his life, was that they had moved away from being a fighting Party. (This concern he expressed in the pre-Clinton 90's)

He longed for the days when the Party had Sam Rayburn and LBJ. Men who weren't afraid to get down and dirty. Men who, if you said something scurrilous about them they went after you so hard your ancestors and descendents both felt the pain. (One of my Grandfather's little witicisms)

He was irritated by Carter, who he found to be weak against Reagan on the campaign trail. He was angered by Mondales campaign in 84. He was outraged by Dukakis' patheticly weak campaign in 88 against bush I.

He wondered why Dukakis didn't hit bush harder. Point out the many crimes of the elder bush. The many weaknesses bush possessed. He said one time, "Why in the hell does he let that god d*mned Willy Horton ad go on without saying something!" He sat silent when Dukakis answered the question about the death penalty during the debate with bush. For him, that was the nail in the coffin. He voted Dukakis, but he didn't like it.

Things changed in '92 with Bill Clinton. Clinton was the first Democrat who hit back and hit back hard -- scrubbie probably still feels the sting from Clinton's attacks. My Grandfather enthusiastically voted for Clinton in '92, because Bill stood for something and he stood up for himself.

In 2006, we're finally seeing a return to the days my late Grandfather longed for. Democrats are running serious campaigns in areas where we haven't in years. When the republikkans employ their hit-and-run tactics, we hit back and hit back quickly.

We're no longer employing the "We're too good to get dirty" style of politics promoted by peter schrum and others (like joementum). We have serious candidates running and running hard. I'm not happy with all of them, but we're there. Our Party is running viable candidates and forcing the republikkans to spend money where they didn't have to before.

The 50-state strategy (strategery for you republikkan trolls out there) is paying dividends. Not only nationally, but in state elections as well.

My Grandfather would have been proud. We are slowly returning to the Party he remembers.

A life-long Republican who disowned his daughter (my mother) for voting Democratic.

Until Nixon. He stopped voting after telling us all "that man shouldn't be impeached, he should be committed" and he never said another political word to any of us. I'm glad he didn't live to see Bush II.

and I'm damn sure He's a Democrat."

Proud to raise another generation of yella dawg, my wonderful son. Proud to have brought my newly-sworn-in as a citizen husband to the party.

Proud to come from a LOOOOOONG line of yella dawgs on BOTH sides, too.

How on earth could I dishonor my railroad labor-organizing grandfather by doing anything else?

:patriot::patriot::patriot: