Larry Pressler voted for Obama, but he didn't feel good about it.
Pressler, who said that he had never voted for a Democrat for president before, added, "I feel really badly. I just hate to go against someone I served with in the Senate. I voted and I got it mailed and I dropped it in the mailbox, and it tore at me to do that."
It was more a sign of unhappiness with the Republican Party than anything.
Like some of Obama's other Republican supporters, Pressler said he had concerns about his party's fiscal policy, particularly the war in Iraq, that went beyond the presidential campaign."We have to be a moderate party. We can't be for all these foreign military adventures. We have to stop spending so much money. My God, the deficit is so high!" he said.
"The Republican Party I knew in the 1970s is just all gone."
Despite his support for Obama, however, Pressler emphasized that he intended to stay in the GOP and described himself as a "moderate conservative.""I'm not leaving the Republican Party. We're going to reform it," he said, but added: "In the general election, if you have disagreements, you should not vote the party line."
I recall Pressler as an amiable man with a bit of a gift for gaffe when he was in office, but he's pretty much right. More Republicans need to think this way.
hat tip to Andrew Sullivan
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I like that he's not leaving his party. Too often, people leave their parties or churches or whatever because the lunatics have taken over, instead of fighting to regain control from them. We need opposition parties in this country, and I say that as someone who really, really wants the country to be way more left than it is, because unchecked power is always dangerous, no matter what it's in service of.
MONDAK said...
Well, Pressler made the right decision in this election and I commend him for it. It’s not easy to cross party lines, especially, when you are a Republican and support a Democrat in a race like Pressler is doing. Make that 2 Democrats with his support of Obama. I can empathize with Mr. Pressler because I too was once a Republican and had voted for Democrats and Republicans. I left the Republican Party three years ago, although Pressler is reported to still be registered as Republican. I am now a registered Independent and have never regretted the decision to leave the GOP. It was the best decision I could have made. I just find that the GOP has become increasingly extreme in their views. The hatred that is coming from some of the Republicans in this election is just shameful and sad. Sadly, it’s not the party of Reagan or Eisenhower, or even Pressler anymore. I just see a political party increasingly consumed by anger and rage and that is hindering their ability to reason and stay focused on any viable message for supporting the middle class. In a democratic republic, such as ours, all people have to work together to get anything meaningful accomplished. Demonizing and insulting other people who do not agree with our political views just serves to further divide and keep us from working together for everyone’s benefit. The party that embraces hatred and hostility for the otherside will lose this election and it’s become quite apparent what Party that is.
Post a Comment