Remember, as long as someone is a Democrat, it is much better to support them without question. A Democrat in office is always better than a Republican, even if they act like a Republican.
At least that is what I read when Sen. Ben Nelson retired. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I give you former Representative, and Blue Dog extraordinaire, Artur Davis.
Davis also suggested running as a Republican might be a viable option, but said that the Alabama Republican Party has declined to embrace politicians who have switched parties. He noted that party-switching former congressman Parker Griffith was defeated in a GOP primary last year after leaving the Democratic Party. A series of Democrats in lower offices, including the state legislature, have made the same switch, with mixed results.
“While there have been Democrats who have switched down there, the Republican Party has refused to accept them,” Davis said. “Do I agree with the agenda items in the Alabama Republican Party? Some I agree with, and some I don’t. [The state GOP-drafted] immigration law is not something I would have written.”
Davis said he doesn’t identify with a political party in his current role as an increasingly vocal pundit. He caused a splash recently by speaking out in favor of a voter ID law. Given that the Democratic Party regards such laws as an attempt to disenfranchise black voters, having an African-American former Democratic congressman espouse that view wasn’t exactly helpful to the party’s cause.
What happens when more Democrats really turns into more Republicans capable of undermining the Democratic agenda from within, as seems to consistently occur from the Blue Dog caucus. Where do you draw the line? I don't see the upside of a Democrat causing havoc in the party, watering down progressive legislation, only to have the failures hung on the head of the party and President, instead of themselves.
Maybe Davis just feels jilted. Maybe he was using the Democratic Party just to get into office. But between folks like him, Nelson, Harold Ford, and Joe Machin, the Democratic party is going to have to decide very soon whether it truly is willing to have its basic platform constantly questioned by its own members publicly without retribution and if they believe that is helpful to its cost long term. And when I say Democratic Party, I mean all members, not just elected officials.
I think it is about time we stop just assuming that because someone calls themselves a Democrat, they actually have an interest in the party's ultimate success.