http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/12/parker-griffith-nancy-pelosi-republican-party.html

Ah, the perquisites of switching political parties as an elected member of the House of Representatives.

At least if, as Alabama Rep. Parker Griffith did Tuesday, you find yourself uncomfortable in Barack Obama’s party of liberal, know-nothing, big-spending, did-we-mention liberal Democrats.

And so, even though you were elected for the first time as a Democrat from northern Alabama just 13 months ago, you grandly, albeit figuratively, walk across the House of Representatives aisle to join the minute crowd of penny-pinching, no-saying, allegedly conservative Republicans who are so important in Washington these days that even empty taxis pass them by.

The first day as an arriving hero/traitor is pretty good times. One party’s Benedict Arnold is another party’s Sir Benedict Arnold.

Lots of media coverage and speculation about tghe increasingly unpopular young man from Illinois and the even less popular old lady running the House. (Have we mentioned Sarah Palin’s favorable ratings are increasing?) GOP smiles and handshakes all around.

But then comes Day Two as a member of the distinctly minority, albeit well-dressed party in Congress. And Speaker Nancy Pelosi begins to wreak her awesome revenge as only high-and-mighty San Franciscans can.

In this delightful video http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/12/parker-griffith-nancy-pelosi-republican-party.html courtesy of the all-knowing, all-seeing, Cyclopean eye of C-SPAN, and spoken in the precisely bland, preciously sanitized language of parliamentary rule, Pelosi has a bored clerk politely purge Griffith from his House committee assignments. Payback time. Bye-bye, Parker.

Oh, the political pain! Can you feel it, folks?

For the moment.

Of course, Griffith, like the slightly-used, new Democrat Sen. Arlen Specter before him, made his defection decision based solely, absolutely and unequivocally on the basis of political principle.

Who in their right or left mind would ever suspect a Washington politician of either party of making a cold, calculated decision on the basis of egotistical expediency? That all goes without saying. So we won’t repeat it here.
But just suggesting, as history does, that if Griffith has calculated correctly about next November’s congressional midterm elections, today’s purgers could well become next year’s purgees.

Politico reports http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30942.html
that John McCain and others are working on persuading other Dems to switch sides a la Griffith.)

A full-blown Republican Revolution like 1994, when the GOP rode public dissatisfaction over the last healthcare reform drive to take control of both houses, seems impossible.
For the moment.

But then, hey, the Guantanamo terrorist detention facility was absolutely positively gonna be closed/shuttered by next week for sure. No doubt about it. The new commander-in-chief vowed, ordered and promised same to the happily watching world on just his second day in office.

And now, just 337 days later it’s gonna be at least 2011 before that happens. If it ever does.

So who can tell what’s coming around the corner in politics?

Stripped

In my piece on Rep. Parker Griffith’s party switch, I quoted Huntsville, Ala., Tea Party leader Christie Carden, one of the conservative activists not impressed by the move. Carden and her fellow Tea Party leaders have just put out a punchy statement on Griffith that makes it clear that they “do not support him” continuing in office.

Whole statement after the jump.

Yesterday, Alabama’s 5th Congressional District Representative, Parker Griffith, switched from the Democrat Party to the Republican Party.

Huntsville Tea Party leaders agree that, “While unexpected, this does not come as a huge shock to us. We believe Griffith made this choice in an act of desperation because be is afraid of losing the 2010 election.“

“Unfortunately for Parker Griffith, we have high standards for our next congressman, and choice excerpts from his voting record do not satisfy us. If you look closely at his record you will see that his first vote was for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House, who is leading the charge for seemingly endless federal control over our lives, and you will see that he has voted with her 84% of the time.”

They added, “We do not consider him a constitutional conservative, which is one of our most significant criteria for candidates, or even a conservative at all. At the Huntsville Space & Rocket Center, when responding to a question about the constitutionality of the health care bill, he indicated that he is past that and that it would be like trying to put toothpaste back into the tube. He also did not deny, at a town hall over the summer, that he had voted with Pelosi about 75% of the time.”

“Over the past year, we have watched him pander towards different audiences. At August town halls he came out strongly against a government-run health care option. Yet, we have heard numerous accounts from local progressives, on talk radio and at town halls themselves, that before he was elected, in 2008, he was for a ‘health care for all’ type of option.”

They concluded, “We are thankful for Parker Griffith’s committed stance on health care, and that he has voted against major socialist bills this year. However, we do not trust him and we do not support him as our next congressman. There are two excellent candidates that are already running in this race: Les Phillip and Mo Brooks. It is our hope and goal that the strongest constitutional conservative will win, and we look forward to participating in this important race.”

http://connect.al.com/user/scampbell/index.html

Parker Griffith announcing his switch to the GOP.

The spokesman for Rep. Parker Griffith resigned Wednesday, the day after his boss switched to the Republican Party.
“It’s time to move on,” Sean Magers said. “It was kind of a tough decision.”

Minutes later in an e-mail to the media, Magers said he enjoyed working with reporters since serving as Griffith’s campaign spokesman.

“I have worked with most of you since April of 2008, and I just wanted to say that I can’t imagine working with and getting to know a better group of people,” Magers wrote.

http://connect.al.com/user/scampbell/index.html

Congressman Artur Davis

HUNTSVILLE, AL — The Artur Davis for governor campaign has fired the political consulting firm employed by Rep. Parker Griffith.

The Alabama Democratic Party today accused Main Street Strategies of downloading the party’s sensitive voter identification data hours before Griffith switched to the Republican Party.

Alex Goepfert, spokesman for Rep. Davis, D-Birmingham, confirmed that Main Street Strategies and its founder, Joey Ceci, are no longer advising Davis’ bid for governor campaign.

“Due to the events of the last 24 hours, Davis for Governor has accepted Joey Ceci’s resignation and terminated its relationship with Main Street Strategies,” Goepfert said.
Ceci could not be reached for comment.

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2009/12/artur_davis_campaign_fires_rep.html