Parker Griffith Not A First: Politicians To Switch Party Affiliations This Decade
Parker Griffith can’t win.
Earlier today, it was reported that the freshman Representative from Alabama’s 5th Congressional District has decided to switch parties, from Democrat to Republican. Politico calls the news a "jolt" to House Democrats, but it seems pretty clear that the only "jolt" they are concerned with is the one to his backside as the door to the Democratic caucus closes behind him. Meanwhile, conservative activists are already painting Griffith as the second coming of Dede Scozzafava.
As Media Matters was quick to point out, Democrats basically lost a party member who pretty reliably voted against their initiatives anyway. Griffith was a "no" vote on Lily Ledbetter, the stimulus package, the American Clean Energy and Security Act, the Affordable Health Care For America Act and financial reform legislation. On top of that, Griffith particularly fetishized having a missile defense system in Eastern Europe, which the administration plans to scrap. On his website, Griffith called the missile shield the "best stimulus," mainly "because his district contains the base for Boeing’s ground-based missile defense research."
Of course, the Tea-steeped conservative movement didn’t exactly welcome Griffith with open arms, either. Here’s RedState’s Erick Erickson:
That is a huge blow to Barack Obama. Griffith was an extremely endangered Democrat.
We should now hope him be an extremely endangered Republican in a primary. We will not fix the GOP’s problems if we keep allowing people who are not one of us to suddenly switch the letter next to their name and magically become one of us.
"We can pick this guy off and get a real Republican in that seat," says Erickson. The Club For Growth, which famously got Democrat Bill Owens elected in New York’s 23rd District, says the same thing:
Griffith’s voting record is far from conservative, too. Granted, he voted against the Big 4 – Obama’s first budget, the Stimulus, Cap and Trade, and ObamaCare. However, his vote on the budget is slightly deceptive since he originally voted for 9 of the 12 spending bills that make up the budget. And he voted against all the Stimulus amendments that would reduce its size.
But just a quick perusal of 2009 shows that he voted YES on the 2009 pork-filled Omnibus; YES on Cash for Clunkers, NO on waiving the harmful Davis-Bacon provision, and had a pathetic 0% score on the 2009 RePORK Card.
This party switch signals Griffith’s nervousness, but it doesn’t signal that his incumbency is safe.
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Thank you soooooooooooooooooo much for the article. this was just the thing I needed to see
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