Barbs 'Hurt' Party-Switching Congressman

[Rose Siding]

BATON ROUGE, La. - A party-switching Louisiana congressman said Tuesday he's surprised and "hurt" by Democrats' reactions to his defection to the Republicans — and vowed to return nearly $90,000 given to him by members of his old party.

"I'm somewhat puzzled as to how much hoopla this has created," Rep. Rodney Alexander (news, bio, voting record) said in a conference call with reporters Tuesday.
...
"It hurt like the dickens," the first-term congressman said. "I wasn't a coward. That took a lot of courage to do that."

His explanation of the switch has shifted somewhat.

On Friday, he declared: "I'm ashamed of some of the things the Democratic Party stands for."

On Tuesday, he suggested a political calculation was at the root of his decision. He said he had become worried about "erosion" in his base of support, after another Democrat, a politically unknown black woman, qualified to run against him.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20040810/ap_on_el_ho/louisiana_congress

[Ducks In A Row]

1. the moron really expected to take the money

the Reps deserve the mouth-breather. take him.

[opihimoimoi]

4. Prolly was a Pub Mole planted with us then split in a way to hurt us

That is treachery deserving of banishment. He will never be able to call himself a Dem from this moment on....

[bluestateguy]

2. I'm not angry at all

The Democratic Party is a liberal party. We don't need anymore Zell Millers.

[noiretextatique]

3. "His explanation of the switch has shifted somewhat."

On Friday, he declared: "I'm ashamed of some of the things the Democratic Party stands for."

On Tuesday, he suggested a political calculation was at the root of his decision.

:think: wondering which explantion is accurate

[SoCalDem]

5. Not "courage".. Courage would have been announcing the switch

MONTHS ago, so that the Dems could have had time to find an opponent.. He took the coward's way out.. Took the money..and announced when it was too late..so he could "run" unopposed....Coward !!

[wildmanj]

6. party switching congressman

you know why it takes to party switching congressmen in Louisiana to eat and armadillo------ONE TO EAT IT AND THE OTHER TO FLAG TRAFFIC

[truebrit71]

7. It 'hurts'??...too fucking bad mate...

..then you shouldn't shaft the people that funded you then should you?

[trogdor]

8. Boo frickin' hoo!

I hope he realizes that this could blow up in his face. I mean, if it happened in my district, I'd vote for a cartoon character before I'd vote for his silly ass.

[gratuitous]

9. Awww, widdle Wodney got hisself a boo-boo?

You can always resign if the game's too tough, Mr. Alexander.

[kitkatrose]

10. Well, maybe, just maybe,

asshole, you shouldn't have waited until the last day to change parties. What a frickin' idiot. :grr:

[Cha]

12. I saw Rep. Bob Menendez asked about this on c-span

this morning and he was articualtely livid and put this into a great perspective for us.

He talked about all the time and money the Dems had put into rodney's campaign as an endangered candidate. And now it was so late to put someone else up to run on the Dem ticket. Bob thought the money should be returned to the Democratic Party.


Said he had never seen anything like this in his life.

[PsN2Wind]

11. Any of those terrible trial lawyers out there

able to tell us if there is fraud here? Maybe even racketeering if this was a conspiracy?

[Florida_Geek]

13. He also lost most of his staff,

they quit on him.

[MGKrebs]

14. Puzzled by the hoopla, but it took courage.

punk ass punk. it would have taken courage if you had done it EXPECTING the hoopla. But you thought you could slip it in under the radar.

"Puzzled by the hoopla". Kind of poetic I guess.

[AspenRose]

15. "Knee-deep in the hoopla" is more like it....

to quote Starship.

[SemperEadem]

16. coward!

What is he saying? That he's afraid of a woman?

[primavera]

17. Be honest: what did you think of Jeffords' defection?

I can't help but feel that there's an analogy here. I mean, I think most of us were pretty pleased when Jeffords defected from the GOP, I confess I was. So is it hypocritical to lambast Alexander for doing the same thing? Personally, I reconcile the matter by telling myself that, although I was admittedly pleased to see the GOP's drive to recreate 1930s Germany checked at least somewhat by Jefford's defection, I'm pretty sure there was another part of me that kind of disapproved of his methods - after all, Jeffords won as the GOP candidate, his supporters cast their votes for him at least in part because he was a Republican and he might very well not ever have made it into office were it not for that fact. So a part of me felt that it would have been more ethical for him to have retained his party affiliation and waited to change parties until his next election, at which point voters could have decided for themselves whether they agreed with his motivations and still wanted to support him as a Democratic candidate. Then again, I seem to recall myself defending Jeffords actions at the time by telling friends that I thought it was only acting responsibly to conclude that his party was no longer representing his constituents' interests, so maybe I'm full of shit and being hypocritical after all.

I guess I'm not sure what to make of this party switching business. Is it ever ethical? Should we pass a rule that says that Congressional representatives can't change parties in mid-stream without some sort of public referendum on the switch? Or is it contextual, okay in some circumstances and not in others? What do DUers think?

[KamaAina]

19. Jeffords is an Independent

at which point voters could have decided for themselves whether they agreed with his motivations and still wanted to support him as a Democratic candidate.

Jeffords is officially an Independent. He is not now, nor has he ever been, a member of the Comm, uh, er, Democratic party.

We do appreciate his support on the leadership votes, though... :-)

[primavera]

21. Right, sorry, that's what I meant

But does it make a diference to you that he switched to indepenedent? Would it let Alexander off the hook if he had switched to independent status rather than joining the Nazi, uh, er, Republican Party?

[goobergunch]

20. The scummy part is

that Alexander switched just minutes before the filing deadline, therefore preventing any opposition to his re-election. Jeffords switched about five years before the filing deadline.

[primavera]

23. Good point

I hadn't thought of that, thanks! :hi:

[KamaAina]

18. 1, 2, 3, ... Awwwwwwwwwww!!

:nopity: :nopity: :nopity:

He said he had become worried about "erosion" in his base of support, after another Democrat, a politically unknown black woman, qualified to run against him.

Translation, courtesy of KamaAina Labs: "You good ol' boys know damn well that the Democrats are the party of those people. That's why I switched. I just can't say it out loud... yet..."

[Bombero1956]

22. Big difference

Jeffords didn't wait until after the primary to switch parties. What he did is ruin any chance the Dems had to find a suitable candidate.

[Charlie Brown]

24. At least this guy changed before the election

That little weasel, Nathan Deale, who represents my district changed over AFTER being elected as a Democrat.

[The Magistrate]

25. What A Pile Of Dung!

If the treacherous pole-cat does not like being accurately described, he should conduct himself like a human being, instead of a turn-coat low enough to walk upright under a snake's belly....

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[Liberal_Dog]

26. As Far As I Am Concerned...

Alexander is a gutless loser. He belongs with the Repukes. Good riddance!

[jus_the_facts]

27. HE's hurt? WTF about those o'US who VOTED for his sorry ass....

...only to find out after the fuckin' fact that he's a DINO? :grr: :mad: :puke:

[True_Blue]

28. It's obvious he can't be trusted

Who in their right mind would vote for him now?

[bobbyboucher]

29. Here's another Rod, you're a whore!

What a pussbag.

[AndyTiedye]

30. I Feel Sooo Sorry For Congressman Benedict^H^H^H^HAlexandar

:nopity::nopity::nopity::nopity::nopity:
:nopity::nopity::nopity::nopity::nopity:
:nopity::nopity::nopity::nopity::nopity:

[neuvocat]

31. What a weakling.

If he's gonna be feeling sorry for himself like that then he better just get out of politics altogether. We sure wouldn't want his delicate constitution to be upset now, would we?