The Midnight Hour

Today Alabama District 5’s democrat congressman, Parker Griffith, switched parties to become a republican. At a local press conference he said, ” I now believe I have to go farther and stand with a party that is more in tune with my beliefs…This was not an easy decision for me.” I’ll take his words at face value and say kudos to Dr. Griffith for making a difficult decision to follow his principles.

However, I also think this is a brilliant political strategy by Griffith. Democrats still win in the south because there are a ton of elderly people out there who still vote democrat even though the modern democrat party does not represent their values. They learned that Roosevelt saved the working man with the New Deal and because of that democrats represent the “working man” and republicans represent the “rich man.” My grandparents who lived through the depression fit that mold, and my parents did too until recently, just because that dogma was passed to them by my grandparents.

In this scenario Griffith has cemented himself as the incumbent by playing both sides of the issue during the 2008 campaign. He had a (D) next to his name so the old people, who took a break from watching the Price is Right to do their annual political duty of casting an uninformed vote, would come to the polls for him. However, he was quasi-conservative on the issues, so he also drew some conservative votes. Much like many conservatives, I would not have a problem voting for him, and I would have voted for him in 2008 if I hadn’t thought Wayne Parker was an overall better candidate.

Now, if he can make it through a primary race that is sure to be nasty, he will solidly win re-election again and again. He won’t have the (D) next to his name anymore, but he’ll have name recognition as someone democrats have voted for once before, and that is enough for the average uninformed voter (of which there are as many republicans as democrats). He’ll also get the vote of GOP loyalists. Finally, he’ll get the votes of people who just plainly think he is the best candidate. All of that adds up to too many votes to unseat him…ever. He will become the next Bud Cramer. He will remain in congress as long as he pleases.

Don’t be confused, I’m not an ardent opponent of Parker Griffith like most conservatives. I agree with him on most issues. He is, after all, pretty conservative. I would have preferred to see Mo Brooks elected in 2010, but I don’t think that’s going to be the case after Griffith’s switch today. I’m really interested to see how this debacle will play out in local politics. During the 2008 campaign the GOP made Griffith out to be the anti-Christ. He was said to be BFF with Nancy Pelosi, and I think I once heard it said that he only smiles while kicking puppies. The GOP hated this guy, almost entirely because he had a (D) next to his name. Sure, some questionable scenarios surround his extra-political career, but in the end the GOP attacked that because he’s a democrat and the democrats united behind him in spite of it for the same reason. That’s how politics works now. You join a gang that loosely aligns with your ideas and then try to dominate rival gangs.  I’ll wager that if Griffith makes it through the primary then 75% of the GOP will begin applying gratuitous lip service to his posterior. It will only take a year or two for that to rise to 95%.

Eventually, this will be forgotten. Just like most political topics that matter, like Ron Paul and John Edwards’ love child, this will soon be a distant memory and soon we’ll all go back to pulling the lever for our preferred gang.