You know what they say about organizing Democrats-It's like hurding cats.  Hillary is probably going to take this all of the way unless Obama can bounce back from the Wright issue.  I am very concerned with this because Hillary has not touched this issue and it appears to have a life of its own.  I don't personally believe that Obama should be held accountable for his pastors words that are contained in a 30 second sound bite.  Right now everyone is looking for blood.  It is truly disheartening.

It is frightening what is happening to our country.  

I'm not horrified by the Wright tapes, mostly because these are not uncommonly heard sentiments in many black churches, but I'm interested in how Republicans will regard it.  My take is that the people it will bother the most will never vote for him anyway.

the Democratic party has is the ability to keep an open mind and think for yourself.  We have many different flavors and shades of opinion.  No lock-step required.

inexperienced".

That's true and we all know it, but look where an experienced politician has taken our country so far. Our country is in a dire situation because our commander and chief has time and time again refused to listen to experts because his experience tells him that "he knows best".

I believe Barack has qualitites which will make him a great president:

(1) His lack of experience will mean that he WILL listen to a diverse group of experts who DO know more about a subject than he does and make decisions based upon REAL evidence, not his gut feeling or a political agenda.

(2) His message of optomism will help reunite this country. You are evidence of that, as are a large number of other Republicans and Independents who are tired of the same old politics.

(3) His honesty. Americans desperately want someone who they can believe in and TRUST, even when the news is bad.

Personally, I am not voting for a president because of the things he promises he can give me, but for what he can do for our nation.

We are in for some tough economic times and Americans are not going to like the news that our next president will eventually be forced to tell the American people so we need someone in office that they can trust.

Again...welcome

i hope you don't mind that i quoted your entry in it's entirety on my blog.  

i quoted it because i hear similar sentiments from my conservative friends here in texas.  all of them are supporting barack this year for the reasons you've stated.  thanks to giving voice to these thoughts.  we hope you stick around. =)

I remember when the Republicans had a president who could say a complete sentence. We heard every freaking day about the power of oratory to lift and inspire. Now all of a sudden words are scary, bad things, because the Republicans have no one who can use them.

I suppose they could make a case that it's about experience and the weight of your resume and stuff, but they lose there too!

Anyway, nice diary. Welcome!

it just warms my heart to hear your words.  That stupid "D" next to one's name is quite meaningless in the end when there were Dems voting for the war and a couple of pubs against it.

thanks for your diary...we have to stop thinking as one another as the enemy when the real enemy (IMO) is the misinformation and soundbites people are fed from the MSM.

For the record, as a NYer, I watched FOX non-stop after 911...i was a drone, crippled in my living room only willing to listen to the most "patriotic" of voices.  Its still hard to admit that, so I know coming here was hard for you.  

tipped and rec'd!!!! (1000 times if I could...bless you)

I know plenty of principled Republicans who essentially have been kicked out of their own party by the escalating extremism of a relatively small faction. It's a shame, because balance is important to our political discourse. It may take a few cycles until that balance is restored; for all our sakes, I hope it happens soon.

In the meantime, it's good to know we all can be the change we seek.

But I could never get the nerve to vote for W, so I cast protest votes.  No more.  Obama is worth voting for.

democracy is strengthened when people (such as yourself) approach the (non)issues bandied about so casually by the media and the punditocracy from responsive rather than reactive positions.

I, too, am a recovering Republican. I was a Republican my entire life (literally, my father and grandfather were small town Republican politicians). I've been fed up with the party for many years. Four years ago I decided to campaign against Bush. As I learned more and more about what's really going on, I realized that the Republican Party left me a long time ago (if it ever really was my party). I changed from Republican to Independent, I guess you could say I was finding my political self. And I didn't feel like trusting another political party...

This year, Barack Obama inspired me to change from Independent to Democrat. He is not an extreme liberal as they purport. He stands for common sense. The Democratic Party is at a crossroads, and it is the Obama movement that will take it forward, into the future. We will stand for things like putting an end to torture, protecting our country without getting into needless wars, balancing our budget, social justice, and economic justice. This is the new Democratic Party. I know it's a big step, but if I can do it, so can you. Join us!

to have you with us sir. Thank you.

I've always believed, that if we could all stop playing the partisan game, the divisive game, and start actually talking TO each other, instead of AT each other, we can find our way.

Welcome to the big orange! :) Be careful and mind your head on the way in! Things can get pretty bumpy around here!

I was raised Republican.  Very Republican.  My father is the president of a major oil company.  My uncle was on the House Judiciary Committee back during the Clinton impeachment. Very Republican family.

The historical Republican party had a lot that was admirable about it.  But the more I started learning about how the party as a whole had been voting these days as I began getting into politics in college (late 90s), the more I realized that they were supporting things that were completely against my ideals.  It's one thing to support a market economy, but another to support getting rid of any and all regulation on it that you can and to give it a free pass on environmental externalities.  It's one thing to support the ability of your nation to defend itself and to support our troops with good equipment and benefits, but another entirely to make the US spend more than half the world's total military spending.  The gay-baiting, race-baiting, the censorship promotion, the outright hostility to the notion that not everyone is born with equal opportunities or that we should try to give everyone a fair chance to make a success of themselves (education funding, healthcare, etc), hostility to international diplomacy, and so on.  The party simply was not for me.

I'm sure you won't agree with everything we do over here, but that's just fine.  We're a very diverse party.  While that means sometimes it can be like herding cats, we all share the desire to give everyone a fair shot of achieving their American Dream in as clean, peaceful, and prosperous of a world as we can muster.

Obviously not a neo-con. If your a libertarian, you'll be surprised to find out how well recieved you'll be. You seem about my age and there is a growing fusion between social progressives and libertarians our age going on. Did you also like Ron Paul?

My wife had a solid life-long identity with the Republican Party before (a) she met me, and (b) Bush launched his pre-emptive war.  Her older sister has also come to identify with the Democratic Party (and dis-identify with the Republican Party) this year and is earnestly hopeful that Barack Obama will win the Presidency.

Since November, 2004, I have argued that the Democratic Party will only succeed when it finally finds a way to respond effectively to the character assassination tactics that the Republican Party has relied on almost exclusively to win elections since the Reagan Revolution.  To me, that meant defining them back, demonizing them for using using their talents at misrepresentation and obfuscation.

I was slow to see it (I was an Edwards supporter) but Barack Obama has shown me over the past couple of months that he has a grasp of the political world and human nature that far exceeds anything that we typically see out of Washington or the mainstream press.  It's his utter lack of guile that does it, I think.  He has shown me that we may be able to define the Republican Party without the expressions of scorn that I thought might be necessary at a certain point.  Barack simply relies on being his real self, and that just might be enough to shine the mirror back on his attackers.

He knows that he needs to be heard quickly whenever his political opponents launch another attempt to malign his character, but fortunately he has supporters who have given him the opportunity to do this with their generous contributions.  He is able to get his REAL motives/character quickly out there on the airwaves, where it is able to displace the negative images/associations that his political opponents are trying to create.

I am getting really hopeful of profound change in this country, driven by an exceptional man's example and his willingness to listen, if only we can get Hillary to stop being---if you'll excuse the expression---a Republican jerk.

Our state has no registration... so unless you are involved with the party, you can just observe.

When I ran for office, I had to publicly declare and could not in good conscience choose the Rush Limbaugh party, even though most were shocked that I wasn't a "Republican".  To this day, many claim I'm not really a "Democrat" whatever that means.  

I believe you and I are probably not that far apart in our views, and like I did many years ago, you will have to decide where you can make the most difference.  Republicans would have loved to have had me but would have patted me on the head as they marginalized and ignored my moderation.    

I have always said the Religious Right would destroy the GOP... adding the Neocon element has been like pouring gasoline on a fire.  The GOP house is burning down.  If the crazies do what it appears they are gleefully beginning to do with this race crap... the Republican brand will go the way of the Whig party as far as the next generation is concerned.  The young people who have to live in this world when we are gone are just not interested in that crap anymore and are not going to take it.  

so here's my thanks.  Saner heads need to prevail.