The Business Editor of the Times Herald-Record of Middletown, N.Y. published a hard hitting explanation of why he is voting Dem. this year. He implies that he is a life-long Republican.
Here is the money quote (after the flop):
http://www.recordonline.com/...
The reason Republicans are bent out of shape is that this Foley scandal is the proverbial last straw. We've had it. The out-of-control spending. The earmarks. The graft with the lobbyists. The arrogance. The abrogation of principles that Goldwater, Reagan and others worked decades to spread.
His anger is not just directed at Foley (or Foley and Hastert).
... Speaker Dennis Hastert, has got to go. As in now. I'm thinking we need to plow through four or five people right below Hastert, too.
He is voting for the Democrat in his district, Chris Carney (PA-10). His paper is the only daily in two counties in the Hudson Valley of New York. And he is the Business Editor.
On the simplest level, the GOP run has been fueled by a united front of business conservatives and religious conservatives. They each gave each other what they most wanted (tax cuts and right-wing judges), but each had to accept a bit of what they did not like (such as meddling in private family matters in the Terry Schivo case). The Foley scandal will turn some religious conservatives off electoral politics entirely. (See http://www.tpmcafe.com/... long article, but well worth it.) But it also gives economic conservatives the freedom to abandon the pact because those in the alliance who claim the moral high ground are not that moral after all.