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Gee, no surprise that I've been wrong before.
I once wrote speeches for Lt. Amy Tuck that said something to the effect: I know people say I should switch to the GOP, but darn it, I'm a Democrat and Hell will freeze over before I ever do anything different.
Feeling colder out there?
Anyway, U.S. Rep. Travis Childers insists he's a Democrat with a Big D, and I believe him. But there's no doubt it's hard to be a conservative D, although he's found a real home with like-minded colleagues as a Blue Dog.
Tuesday, in the Daily Journal Editorial Board, he said very strongly his party loyalty is not up for grabs, as apparently it's been lately with a fellow Blue Dog or so. He appears not to be running scared about what his North Mississippi constituents think about his voting record, which is hardly liberal.
And so, it's got to be hard on him when outsiders speculate very publicly that he'll be among the next to change parties. Personally, he's sorry to see friend Rep. Parker Griffith of Alabama make the move.
Check out this Christian Science Monitor comment, which doesn't look like anybody spoke with the man himself:
Emory University prof. speculates Childers next Dem. defector
“This has to be a calculation that it’s going to be easier for a congressman to have a career as a Republican than a Democrat, even if it means joining the minority party, [and] that really is quite astonishing,” says Merle Black, a political science professor at Emory University in Atlanta and author of “Divided America: The Ferocious Power Struggle in American Politics.” “The result is you might see more changes or challenges within the Deep South from some of these districts where Democrats think it’s easier to win election as a Republican.”
Freshman Rep. Bobby Bright (D) of Alabama and Rep. Travis Childers (D) of Mississippi, who took office last year, are other possible party defectors, Professor Black says. They have voting records similar to Griffith's, represent similarly conservative districts, and are likely to encounter similar sentiments from voters.
According to MSNBC’s "First Read," a political blog, Democrats are hardly surprised by Griffith's move, given his voting record and given that he had once asked people to not call him a Democrat, but simply a "Blue Dog."
Yet Democrats argue that Griffith’s switch pales in comparison with Sen. Arlen Specter’s defection from the Republican Party, which helped give the Democratic caucus its current 60-vote supermajority.
For tradition-bound Southerners, change may simply be happening too fast in Washington. But it's also possible that Griffith's frustrations with the direction of the Democratic Party are shared beyond Dixie, Black says.
“The Democrats have gone too far, gone way too liberal, changing one-sixth of the whole economy [with proposed healthcare reform],” says Black. “This is really big social change.”
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Good grief, it's not even 2010 and the campaign is on.
Buckle up ... patsy
ever thing that the american people enjoy the dems. have done the work a passed bills todo it.
unemployment droped this last week in 15 mos,spending is up and the economy is getting better theres still more to do and i know it will be a lot better by this time next year.
Now abouth childers he is doing what he has todo to keep his job in washington,so nothing he does will surprize me or any dem, he vote no the same as the republicans.
The onley reason the republican part got so strong here is because of civil rights and to hate any one that took up the fight for civil rights for ever one not just white men.
Do you know what socialism means,well let me tell you, a theory or system of goverment based on publice owbership and controlof the means of production and distribution of goods. the people of the united states or the public and we do own many things and we move goods.
the health care bill is not done yet and i think it will be a good reform for everone that has insurance and for people that can't get insurance can get it and the ones that can't pay a high prem.can get insurance that is a good thing,
The democrates or for democracy always.
For those that are younger, every time you have gotten a raise when the minimum wage has risen, or have received a unemployment check, thank a democrat. Because the republicans have fought hard against every damned one of these programs!
I wonder what the percentage of Mississippians today that have benefited from one or more of these programs.
It is certain that electrification would have occurred, with or without the TVA. In a different form, certainly, but it's hard to say what that form would be like.
To assume that we'd still be suffering from hookworm, shoeless in feces-laced clay, watching a kerosene powered TV except for the sagacity of Democrats is akin to assuming that except for the Republicans, slaves would still be gathering the raw material for Kotex.
There are dynamics of business development that government may delay, but is powerless to abort -- witness Red China's embrace of capitalism.
What my Yahoo friends and associates don't remember or are not old enough to know is that most of the what they enjoy now like indoor plumbing and electric lights was made possible by some very FISCAL liberal Mississippi politicians. So the next time they turn a light switch they should thank a DEMOCRAT.