Liberal Republicans - isn't this an oxymoron?

[question everything]

From the OC Blog

GOP Liberals Using Gilchrist To Help Brewer Win

A GOP group founded by liberal Republican members of Congress is attempting to ride to Jim Gilchrist's rescue with mailers and a TV ad attacking John Campbell on immigration.

From Congress Daily this afternoon:

HOUSE RACES

Moderate GOP Group Injects Immigration Into Calif. Primary

The Main Street Individual Fund, which supports moderate GOP causes, has seized on illegal immigration in a new radio ad campaign beginning today to criticize the special election candidacy of GOP state Sen. John Campbell in California's 48th District. Spokeswoman Sarah Chamberlain said the ad campaign would challenge Campbell on votes he cast in the state General Assembly. "We're challenging his poor immigration record," she said. "He says one thing and does another." Campbell, who has campaigned on conservative GOP issues, faces opposition from former Assemblywoman Marilyn Brewer, a GOP moderate, in the Oct. 4 open primary to succeed former GOP Rep. Christopher Cox, who is now SEC chairman. The ad campaign comes as Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., a vocal immigration critic, is set to appear Wednesday in television ads for American Independent Party candidate Jim Gilchrist, a founder of the Minuteman Project that monitors the U.S.-Mexico border.

Chamberlain declined to release a copy of the 30-second ad until it begins running but cited Campbell's 2001 vote in favor of allowing illegal immigrants to receive in-state university tuition and two 2002 votes calling on cities and counties to accept Mexican consular cards as valid identification. Chamberlain said the Individual Fund has also sent 140,000 mailers to district voters. The fund, a so-called 527 group, is distinct from the Republican Main Street Partnership, for which Chamberlain serves as executive director. The latter group has not endorsed a candidate in the race. The Club for Growth, which supports Campbell, has run ads critical of Brewer but has not announced plans for additional spots.

Campbell campaign manager Jim Terry said the criticism misrepresents Campbell's votes and ignores many others he has cast against illegal immigration. "They must be getting some bad information out there," Terry said. He said Campbell received praise Monday from two prominent radio personalities who last year heavily criticized the immigration record of House Rules Chairman Dreier. Campbell is considered the favorite in the heavily Republican district but is competing in an open primary against 16 others. If no one wins a majority, each party's top candidate will advance to a Dec. 6 runoff. As his party's only candidate, anti-immigration activist Gilchrist is guaranteed a spot in any runoff, but the open primary allows him to draw from any party, including potential Campbell backers.

Gilchrist, who is in Washington today courting GOP support, wrote in a letter to House Speaker Hastert Monday he would like to caucus with the Republican Conference if he wins, writing "my values and beliefs similar to those of former President Reagan and the mainstream of the Republican Party." His campaign maintains Gilchrist wanted to run as a Republican but state election law did not allow him to change his party affiliation in time. A Tancredo spokesman said Tancredo is backing Gilchrist because he is a "strong conservative," especially on immigration, and no Democrat is likely to win this seat.

-- by Mark Wegner

http://www.ocblog.net/ocblog/2005/09/gop_.html#trackback

[sakabatou]

1. No

Someone can still be in the Republican party, yet be liberal in voting.

[flaminbats]

7. name one Republican in Congress with a liberal voting record..

I can name some moderates, even some real conservatives..but not one Republican in the House or Senate has a voting record more liberal than Harry Reid! Jeffords was liberal, but he switched parties. Lincoln Chaffee is a moderate, but he is more of a Lieberman or Bayh..rather than a Kennedy or Feingold. Chris Shays has a voting record similar to moderate Democrats like Jim Cooper or David Price.

I remember listening to a debate many years ago in the south. Some Republicans from Michigan were talking with Democrats from Georgia. Both groups of people were pissed at pappy Bush, but for very different reasons. The Georgia Democrats were pissed because Bush compromised with liberals in Congress to reduce the deficit with spending cuts and a tax increase, they wanted Bush to invade Iraq..not stop with Kuwait, and they even resented his support of Kennedy-Kassebaum as another liberal cave-in!! The Michigan Republicans were pissed because Bush opposed every form of universal healthcare, they were pissed because he supported NAFTA, and they were strongly opposed to the war in Iraq..which we were even winning at the time!

Things have really changed!! Those rural Democrats still blamed Republicans for reconstruction, but I feel sure that those Georgian farmers are now Republicans and the suburban workers from Michigan are currently Democrats. Strange how liberty and democracy are both considered cuss words among whites in the south. I often see southern Republicans go psycho just at the mention of Abraham Lincoln or even Nelson Rockefeller! :crazy:

Perhaps the time has come for liberal voters to give these neocons a real-asskicking in the Republican primaries.

[sakabatou]

11. I can't think of one

But my tutor's friend is a republican who votes liberal on social issues and conservative on fiscal issues.

[sandnsea]

2. Take back the word liberal

I go on a rant every now and then, trying to get people to call them liberal Republicans. When you're pro-choice, pro-gay rights, pro-environment, you're liberal. Make them own liberalism or join their knuckledraggers. It only helps the rest of us.

[MADem]

5. Good point

They try to denigrate the word, but that is, by any definition, a liberal voting record...and one I think makes sense, too!

[Zero Division]

3. That's "liberal" by this right wing blogger's standards.

And look at the issue this RW blog is concerned with: immigration. I really think immigration is going to be the determinant issue in many Republican primaries, including the presidential primaries in '08. It's the one point on which Bush has pissed off the hard right.

[question everything]

4. Certainly in border states: CA, AZ, NM, TX (nt)

[longship]

6. Gov William Milliken (R-MI)

He was a fairly progressive guy and served as MI governor for better than a decade. Ol' George Romney was well liked, too. (Yes, Mitt's father.) Neither one of these guys exhibited the mindless idiocy of today's Repugs.

[noonwitch]

9. Gerald Ford is a moderate, too, which is suprising for a man from GR

Grand Rapids, Ford's hometown is one of the more conservative communities in Michigan, but Ford is not part of the dutch community there, he is a episcopalian, not christian reformed.

[Ignacio Upton]

14. Bob LaFollette

was one of the few Progressive Republicans, but then he formed his own party because the Eastern Eastablishment conservatives hated his guts.

[question everything]

19. The Republican party used to comprise of decent men and women

who supported small government and "live and let live." Sure, they did not want to raise taxes to spend on what we call "social" programs, but they certainly were not interested in getting into what is going on with adult people in the privacy of their bedrooms and their doctors' offices. And, they were educated and articulate.

But then the Southern rednecks took over the party when boorish people like Gingrich, DeLay, Lott and others took over. They would not recognize class if they will see one, their are crude and they use their bible and Jesus as a guidance, as opposed to the Constitution, the Bill of Right and, yes, the classic studies. And, of course, now that they hold the purse strings they lavish goodies on themselves and on their cronies.

Thus, anyone who is not rabid, who does not fall into the above category, anyone who is... from the NE, the Midwest and some Californians, who are well mannered are considered moderate, even liberal.

[chaulieu]

8. Liberal Republicans

25 years ago, I remember the press used both party and ideological position to identify politicians. There used to be more moderate and liberal republicans; conservative democrats (in the south).

I vaguely remember that this was formalized. Now we see "John Doe (R)"; back then "John Doe (R - Moderate)."

Once the conservative wing of the Republican paty took control in 94 or so, different combinations are less likely.

Maybe someone can corroborate?

[newyawker99]

10. Hi chaulieu!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[clintoncomeback]

15. Changing definitions are what it's about.

I am a democrat, but I consider myself a conservative Democrat. It's just that(as you sort of said) the republicans in office now are SO CONSERVATIVE that they make Regan look like a democrat!! The right has gone "off the deep end" right. And the extreme left has become "more left" in the last 20 years or so.

[renie408]

12. Bush huffing canned air?

[rateyes]

13. No....

it's an oxymorAn....sorry, couldn't resist. I hear you.

[question everything]

17. LOL should have thought about it

[Crunchy Frog]

16. No. At least it didn't used to be.

There used to actually be some liberal Republicans, like Lowell Weicker who once occupied the seat that Lieberman has now. Lieberman ran to the right of him, and was endorsed by Jerry Falwell btw.

Actually, Nixon would just about qualify as a liberal Democrat by the standards of today's political spectrum. That's how far right the country has gone. That party has not always been a fascist party, and there used to be some honorable people in it.

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

18. The late Senator John Heinz (R-Pa) was a liberal Republican

And I loved having him as my Senator. Of course, (P)rick Santorum is in that seat now.:mad: