Roy Moore is the last straw, you can now call me a Democrat

[marble falls]

Roy Moore is the last straw, you can now call me a Democrat
Kurt Bardella, Opinion contributor Published 5:00 a.m. ET Dec. 8, 2017 | Updated 8:23 a.m. ET Dec. 8, 2017

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/12/08/roy-moore-last-straw-you-can-now-call-me-democrat-kurt-bardella-column/930454001/


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At the end of the meeting, during the public comment section, I went up to the podium and tore into the council for their “unconscionable” demonstration of pettiness and immaturity. The following day, my local newspaper ran a story that featured a picture of me with my comments quoted in the story.

That’s the day I learned about the power of the press and what can happen when you speak out.

My political identity was forged at a time when the Republican Party, led by President George W. Bush, was embracing the notion of “compassionate conservatism.”

I believed then, as I do right now, that government can be an instrument of good that raises the welfare of it citizens it serves. At the same time I acknowledge that government is in need of checks and balances; that left to its own devices, it resists change, transparency and accountability.


<snip>

On the evening of March 8, 2016, then-Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski got into a physical altercation with then-Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields.

On Friday, March 11 at 2:00 p.m., after Breitbart refused to stand by Fields, I informed the organization that I would no longer be representing it as a spokesman. And so began a long period of self-reflection about my own political compass.


For the first time since I was in high school, I was free from any professional loyalties. It was liberating at first, then very sobering and ultimately just disappointing. I couldn’t understand how so many in the GOP could stand by, silently, as Donald Trump and Steve Bannon remade and redefined the Republican Party. An unrelenting assault on the Constitution, the free press and freedom of expression while Republican “leaders” do nothing. Ignoring legitimate issues about race relations in America, environmental policy, gun reform and equality to instead pander to a lunatic fringe that subscribes to an ideology of hate and fear.

Which brings us to Roy Moore and the Alabama Senate race.

President Trump and the Republican National Committee are endorsing, supporting and funding Moore because they would rather elect a sexual predator who preys on underage teenagers at the local mall, than a crime-fighting prosecutor who happens to be a Democrat.

President Donald Trump tweeted an endorsement of Roy Moore, who has several sexual misconduct allegations against him. Video provided by Newsy Newslook

This is not a party I want to be associated with any longer.

This is not a party that is trustworthy enough to protect innocent children from sexual predators.

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The embrace of Moore by the Republican Party’s top “leadership” is all the proof you need to know that this is a party that no longer stands for anything.

I believe that the Democratic Party will do more to create equality in America than the Republican Party ever will.
Roy Moore, left, and Steve Bannon.


I believe that the Democratic Party will do more to protect the freedoms guaranteed to us in the First Amendment than the Republican Party ever could.

I believe that the Democratic Party will do more to ensure the survival of our planet and its natural resources than the Republican Party ever would.

I am throwing in with the Democratic Party because at the end of the day, I believe its portrait of America is better than the one being painted by today’s Republican Party. And I want to be a part of it.

Kurt Bardella is a former spokesperson for Reps. Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.), Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee, and Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter: @kurtbardella




My wife has come over, too. She was a President of the county Republican Women, and now considers herself a Democrat and lurks here, a lot.

[northoftheborder]

1. Welcome.

The Republican Party, years ago, was a respected party, who worked across the aisle with Democrats to pass laws bettering the country. I have always been a Democrat, but do not recognize the Republican Party of today. It is a cult, full of racists and religionists. I hope many others of that party will either leave it, or change it back to a working and respected group once again. Congratulations for having an open and educated mind to the truth of what is going on.

[tazkcmo]

2. They need you!

Especially after losing so many from the Franken lynching.