Artur Davis: 'Democratic Label No Longer Matches What I Know About My Country'

[Draggingtree]

Weekly Standard:

 

 

Artur Davis: 'Democratic Label No Longer Matches What I Know About My Country'

 

A once proud Democrat becomes a Republican.

10:39 AM, May 30, 2012 • By MICHAEL WARREN

On his personal website, former congressman Artur Davis confirmed at least some of the recent rumors surrounding him—that the lifelong Democrat, the man who endorsed Barack Obama for president early in 2007 and seconded his nomination at the Democratic party convention in 2008, now considers himself a Republican. Here's Davis on his switch:

While I’ve gone to great lengths to keep this website a forum for ideas, and not a personal forum, I should say something about the various stories regarding my political future in Virginia, the state that has been my primary home since late December 2010. The short of it is this: I don’t know and am nowhere near deciding. If I were to run, it would be as a Republican. And I am in the process of changing my voter registration from Alabama to Virginia, a development which likely does represent a closing of one chapter and perhaps the opening of another….

On the specifics, I have regularly criticized an agenda that would punish businesses and job creators with more taxes just as they are trying to thrive again. I have taken issue with an administration that has lapsed into a bloc by bloc appeal to group grievances when the country is already too fractured: frankly, the symbolism of Barack Obama winning has not given us the substance of a united country Read More http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/artur-davis-democratic-label-no-longer-matches-what-i-know-about-my-country_646288.html

[NCTexan]

From his blog as reported by Jennifer Rubin of the WaPo....

 

As I told a reporter last week, this is not Bill Clinton’s Democratic Party . . . [i have described] growth as a deeper problem than exaggerated inequality; who wants to radically reform the way we educate our children; who despises identity politics and the practice of speaking for groups and not one national interest; who knows that our current course on entitlements will eventually break our solvency and cause us to break promises to our most vulnerable — that is, if we don’t start the hard work of fixing it.

 

On the specifics, I have regularly criticized an agenda that would punish businesses and job creators with more taxes just as they are trying to thrive again. I have taken issue with an administration that has lapsed into a bloc by bloc appeal to group grievances when the country is already too fractured: frankly, the symbolism of Barack Obama winning has not given us the substance of a united country. You have also seen me write that faith institutions should not be compelled to violate their teachings because faith is a freedom, too. You’ve read that in my view, the law can’t continue to favor one race over another in offering hard-earned slots in colleges: America has changed, and we are now diverse enough that we don’t need to accommodate a racial spoils system. And you know from these pages that I still think the way we have gone about mending the flaws in our health-care system is the wrong way—it goes further than we need and costs more than we can bear.

 

She says this about his blog statement...

 

Now, that’s one searing indictment of the modern Democratic Party, which has become increasingly anti-free markets under President Obama and a prisoner of its constituent groups, which demand more political goodies each year.

 

You’d think the media would be buzzing about the extremism of the Democratic Party? You’d think there would be panels assembled and Charlie Rose-hosted round tables bemoaning the polarization of the political scene? Oh, no. Birds chirp. Walk along, nothing to see here.

 

A moldy GOP incumbent or two gets sacked by the folks back home and the chattering class goes nuts. An African American Democrat and one of the first elected officials to back Obama for president leaves his party with a devastating indictment of its extremism and, well, that’s just not a big deal.

.

 

Full WaPo Column

[NCTexan]

Two interesting reader comments from the WaPo article...

 

 

“You’d think the media would be buzzing about the extremism of the Democratic Party?”

 

Not until fish exclaim about the wetness of water.

 

and a DEM's comments with a factual response.

 

comment: Arthur already fell flat on his face when tried to appeal state wide to red necks in Alabama. He is just trying to get a gig on Fox now.

 

respones: Actually he lost in the democrat primary where the overwhelming number of voters are black.

[righteousmomma]

Reminds me that Zelll Miller coined the phrase and wrote the book "A National Party No More" back in 2003

Too bad more did not heed his prophecy.