Parker Griffith Jumps Out of the Frying Pan
Democratic Rep. Parker Griffith announced Tuesday that he's switching parties from D to R and cited his belief that Democratic policies were sending us down the road to debt-laden ruin. He's a freshman congressman so it's not the earth-shattering shift you might expect, but the timing and circumstances are interesting. This is the week Democrats (and make no mistake, it's Democrats alone) will pass healthcare reform in the Senate, bringing us just two short steps from the biggest fundamental reform to our health insurance system in at least two generations. Details of the House and Senate bills aside, this is an opportunity for Democrats to stake a claim for passing historical legislation. It's a far cry from the do-nothing slog we've become accustomed to.
But beyond that, this may be the worst time in modern political history to jump ship to the Republican party unless you're coming from the far-right fringe of nutter politics. With Tea Partiers, Birthers and Tenthers purging the existing ranks of actual, loyal Republicans because they don't hew to a strict conservative orthodoxy, do you really think this is the right time to come in as a Yellow Dog? That D after your name doesn't fade fast.
