GOP Hurt By Progressive Conservatives

[dweller]

by David J. Sirota

In the wake of the 2004 election, there has been much talk about how the American Left lacks policy prescriptions to
solve America's problems. As President Bush's political guru Karl Rove asserted recently asserted, "conservatism is
the dominant political creed in America" while progressivism is lost at sea.

But is this conventional wisdom really true? Not if you look at the handful of Republican politicians who have recently
headed back to their states from Washington to serve as governor. Once reliable conservative ideologues inside the
Capital Beltway, these governors have undergone a conversion on their road to America's heartland. And they
threaten the conservative movement more seriously than any Democrat in America.

In the South, for instance, two GOP congressmen-turned-governors have abandoned their past willingness to gut
Medicaid funding and are now raising hell about budget shortfalls. Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher told Fox News last
month that he's "very concerned about any cuts" to the low-income health care program, apparently forgetting how
his party tried to cut Medicaid repeatedly when he was a House member. Similarly, South Carolina Gov. Mark
Sanford, a hard-core economic conservative in Congress, actually proposed raising cigarette taxes to increase
Medicaid funding.

In two other "red" states, this same sort of reversal occurred on tax policy. Alabama Gov. Bob Riley last year ignored
his votes in Congress for deficit-expanding tax cuts and instead pushed a referendum to raise taxes on his state's
top income earners to deal with budget shortfalls.

more here

now while the repugs eat their own, the Democratic party should be focused on winning these states gov's offices...
dp

[Coastie for Truth]

1. The high point of the GOP was the "North Eastern Progressives"

or "Rockefeller Republicans." When Dick Thornburgh went from being a member of the ACLU Board and "Pro-Choice" to Reagan's AG -- the "Rockefeller Republicans" were purged -- and the country has suffered because of it.

The GOP has won elections without the "Rockefeller Republicans" - but the country has lost.

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

2. Oh, but we are still around

and mad-as-hell. More and more of us are working with the Democrats and pledge to work in partnership with the Democrats in 2006/2008.

We have a common enemy: The Rapturist Right.

[sojourner]

3. Welcome to the ranks! n/t