"The Republican Party has left me, and I will run as a Democrat, in a sense permitting a claim to ultimate bipartisanship, along the lines of Ronald Reagan. The current iteration of the party abandoned real Republican principles long ago to cater to ideologues and corporations – the Koch entities, most notably – whose interests lie in the profiteering of America and the sacking of the middle class. Current Republican leaders have neither patience with nor allowance for honest elected officials, and they demand that members of the various legislatures – who, after all, have sworn to uphold the Constitution – instead just follow the hijacked party line and shut up."And in Chronicle Online she said:
"Contrary to the current crop of Republican leaders, I do not want Halliburton in charge of the Pentagon, BP heading up the Department of Environmental Protection, or Enron making energy policy.
I have a problem with those who have hijacked the Republican Party to use it for their own self gain; those who wouldn’t have a clue what a Republican platform is and who have mutated the “R” philosophy beyond recognition. I take offense that they use the hard-working grassroots level Republicans to help promote a philosophy that they do not practice. Many good Republicans who worked hard for this party have written books telling us what was happening, apparently to no avail. It cannot be that all that matters is that our side wins at any cost. I refuse to believe anyone could not see the harm in doing that."
Is Florida the epicenter of the Civil War within the Republican Party? We have the Charlie Crist third party candidacy for Senate, another jumped-ship Republican. We have the unruly, insane Governor, Rick Scott - proof that Republicans are off their rockers. Now we have Nancy Argenziano - a small player in a big debate in a "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" moment - who tries to answer the question: What the fuck has happened to Republicans?
13 comments:
As a Republican, nothing pleases me more than to see a RINO leave the party. Good riddance. The only reason people like Argenziano join the Republican Party is to get elected. Let's see how well she does as a Democrat.
Above: typical clueless Republican.
One Florida state legislator leaving her party does not warrant the headline death knell of any national political party ?
Let's be serious and raise the discussion here on Eye on Miami.
She was always a renigade , both in the legislature and while on the PSC. By that I mean she thought about what was best for Florida and her constituents rather than those Repubs who are strictly serving as an ideologue, or one who voted lock step with the Republican party. The democratic party should embrace her and encourage others whether independent or republican to come over to the bright side, fighting for the middle class and those who government was meant to serve, the most vulnerable of our citizens.
Okay:
Portent.
Are you serious...are you going to choose one word and then NOT have a discussion now because of it.
When was the end for Alvarez, when he approved the stadium...when he gave raises...when he raised taxes.
To me the death knell was the stadium....the beginning of the end.
I can choose what I want...choose what you want...maybe the tea party movement will be the death knell in your eyes. Maybe you think the party is thriving...stop being a baby.
Sadly, I sort of agree it's not a death knell. Possibly desperately wishful thinking. I am so disillusioned by the tea party success, this budget "deal" and no backlash against holding out twits like Michelle Bachmann as serious candidates, that I think Argenziano's principled attempt to be a clarion cry is just a cry in the wilderness. The powerful rich have discovered how to get support from the uneducated, deluded underclasses by convincing them they share something. They don't. Sad sad sad.
Never one to go with the trends, I registered as a Republican when I turned 18 -- very soon after Watergate. I was (still am) a fiscal conservative who values privacy and freedom, but appreciates that there must be government action in areas that affect us all (i.e. pollution control; care for the least able, etc...). The GOP left me when Ronald Reagan aligned with the Christian right and pushed for prayer in the schools and an end to a woman's right to control her body. Abraham Lincoln, Barry Goldwater and, yes, even Reagan must be rolling in their graves over how the party has evolved.
This is the same woman who in her first run for the Florida House in 1996 inundated her campaign literature with insulting and offensive messages about the Hispanics in Florida. The same person who delivered a bag of manure to a woman on the 4th floor Rotunda during a legislative session.
Classy lady!
I knew I liked her -- you know how we both hate Aif:
Maybe it has something to do with the target of her temper. On Wednesday, when Argenziano's office delivered a 25-pound box of cow manure to Jodi Chase, many of her colleagues cheered her on because the recipient is a notoriously abrasive lobbyist for Associated Industries of Florida.
Thousands of Democrat elected officials and millions of conservative Democrats switched to the Republican Party after the 1994 GOP landslide, and yet, that was not the death knell for the Democrats. The Republicans can withstand the loss of a true maverick, sometimes conservative, sometimes not, Argenziano. I suspect the switch was more personal than political, since overall she is still right of center.
It appears to me that all she really wants is to be elected to public office. She could care less what party she represents because its not about public service, its her sick desire to feel important that makes her do anything that might help herself get elected. Look what happened to Charlie Crist this past election and its going to happen to her also.
The Republicans are too wacky to recover....
The Republic Party will never be the same as the TEA-Party is crazy and just proved it with the debt. ceiling - Unfortunately while we still have uneducated "R" the Tea-Party will hold the reins and the Republican party will keep on losing their "Balls" and not stand up to what the true party was...
Certainly a total lost of respect for Republicans lately!
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