Sunday, June 25, 2006

Kansas Republican defections hit the news worldwide as possible start of Democratic takeover

By Diane Silver

Britain’s Guardian newspaper today takes note of the fact that the blue revolution may well begin in Kansas, the reddest red state.

The Guardian reporter may be on to something because one fact is clear: The religious right is not a majority, even in scarlet states such as Kansas. I believe that if moderate Republicans and Democrats join forces, the right cannot win.

The problems for progressives like myself are (1) persuading moderate Republicans to jump ship, and (2) protecting the only remotely moderate party we have from leaning too far to the right as more Republicans join. (By the way, moderate Kansas Republicans are generally no danger, I believe. Most are much more liberal than the average member of the GOP, but that is a story for another day.)

Discussing former Kansas Republican Chairman Mark Parkinson’s defection to the Democratic Party, The Guardian says:

If Democrats want to become the dominant party again, the revolution must begin in such places as Kansas. And Democrats in Kansas, deep in reddest America, are dreaming of a time when the whole country turns blue.

Parkinsan’s decision is particularly significant because he defected to become the running mate of the state’s top Democrat, Gov. Kathleen Sibelius. The newspaper writes:

Republicans in Kansas, he says, have let down their own people. 'They were fixated on ideological issues that really don't matter to people's everyday lives. What matters is improving schools and creating jobs,' he said. 'I got tired of the theological debate over whether Charles Darwin was right.

The newspaper reports that other Republicans who have jumped ship in red states include Jim Webb in Virginia and Barney Giese in South Carolina.

1 comment:

Ian B Gibson said...

Surely the biggest problem for the Dems (and this has been the case for many years now) is their spineless and incoherent attitude? No clear policies or goals, always on the defensive and obsessed with opinion polls and focus groups, they come off as utterly inept & unconvincing.

At least, that's how they appear to me, and I'd love to be able to support them as something more than merely the least bad option.

If they do make gains, it'll be by default because the GOP is so thoroughly awful.