I have been over at redstate.org a bit recently, and I am again dismayed at how I am told to shut up, go away, I'm a "moby" and a liar. I went over there because I wanted to share the reasons I am no longer a moderate Republican, but am now a moderate, independent-leaning Democrat. I guess it is like talking temperance to a group of alcoholics, none of whom want to listen to you. Well, I have always prided myself on listening to both sides of an argument, and my husband says I am always ahead of the curve, so I would like to share some of the things that turned me off of Bush/Republicans, and see if they relate to why so many Americans now dislike the president and the GOP.
I was a republican until I realized there were no WMDs. I voted for Anderson, no one, Bush 41, Dole and then Bush 43. (I grew up in a Democratic family that turned Republican around the time of Reagan; I thought I had voted for Reagan, but my husband just reminded me that I hadn't.) Another reason I am no longer a republican is that I was really upset at that video shown at the Press Dinner, the one in which Bush 43 went looking under desks and tables for WMDs. I was appalled - it was no joke to those of us who had believed and defended him or those who knew soldiers fighting in Iraq at the time. Even if we were Republicans.
The tax cuts and the growing deficit got me very nervous, I can tell you that. I was not placated by Alan Greenspan telling me that deficits don't matter. I said "bullshit" on that - my bank tells me pretty damn quick if I run a deficit, so I lost confidence in the republicans economically.
The final nail, however, was the behavior of the convention-goers at the Republican convention with the purple heart bandaids on their cheeks. As a daughter of a Korean War veteran who received a Purple Heart, I could no longer associate with a party that says they support the military and then promotes such shameful mocking of a member of the military who was awarded a Purple Heart. So, I am now a moderate independent-leaning Democrat, rather than a moderate Republican.
Now, I have been called a liar, a faker, a phony and a fraud on redstate, but guess what: it is people like me who are the reason Bush's approval rating is in the 30s. Yes, I came to the realization sooner than most of the republican sheeple out there (although later than most of you, I am ashamed to admit.) And, yes, I am more liberal leaning on cutting taxes for the rich and cutting programs for the poor than many of these new Bush-disapprovers. But I, and many of them, are looking for a new home, a place where they can be comfortable and feel that those in government care about them and their families.
And that place is not the republican party anymore. Actually, it never was, but they fooled a lot of people with that "compassionate conservative" nonsense. But in order for their new home to be the Democratic party, they need to start really outlining what they will do about some major issues: health insurance, outsourcing jobs, the disappearance of the middle class. I think many, many Americans have woken up and looked around and are saying: Hey! Clinton's America was pretty good for me. What did this Bush fella do to my America in five short years???
So I wish the Dems would get organized and get together a five or ten point plan. And I wish they would do it sooner rather than later. Because Americans, like I was, are looking for someone or some group to lead them out of the darkness BushCo have created.