to me anyone who has voted republican in the past 50 years:

[gopiscrap]

this is on you. You should be charged with being an accessory to murder

[SCantiGOP]

1. You might need a Xanax

I don’t think voting for Bob Dole constitutes accessory to murder

[CatMor]

2. Or McCain

[marybourg]

4. Over Obama?

[CatMor]

6. That wasn't what I meant it was about voting for a Republican..

in the last 50 years. Not who they ran against. I was a big Obama backer and still am.

[gopiscrap]

10. dole enabled republicans to be where they are today

he was a nasty mother fucker

[SCantiGOP]

20. He risked his life

And sacrificed his health to defend his country.
I disagreed with his politics and never voted for him, but he was a decent, patriotic American and I would not call him a nasty motherfucker.
I’m trashing this thread, nothing worth debating here.

[Polybius]

40. A Dole win in 1996 means no W Bush, and no 9/11

Let that sink in.

[marybourg]

3. Definitely in the last 12 anyway.

[aquamarina]

5. Come on!

A bit over the top, eh?

[LeftInTX]

7. I voted for Gerald Ford

[gopiscrap]

9. who pardoned Nixon

[LeftInTX]

11. I was 20

[Polybius]

8. I voted for Bob Dole for President (first election) and Bloomberg (2nd term)

This is absolutely not on me. I was 18 voting for Dole, and didn't know any better. As for Bloomberg, his first term was fantastic, second term not so good, and third term a disaster.

Accessory for murder? How can you put 200 million people in jail?

[Brother Buzz]

12. Any republican who voted for Pete McCloskey in the 1972 presidential primary deserves a high-five

A pro-peace/anti-Vietnam War platform sounded pretty good to a lot of young 'old school' republicans.

[Mr.Bill]

16. You posted that while I was typing the post below you.

High five indeed.

[Brother Buzz]

19. Was he on California's primary ballot or had he dropped out by then?

It's all kinda muddy to me as I was drafted that year and did not figure out the absentee ballot thingy for the primary. However, I did get it right for the general election, and I DID NOT vote for Nixon.

My brother and SIL, both republicans, were real keen on him.

FWIW: Pete McCloskey lives on his ranch on Cache Creek, not to far from you as the bird flies, although it's still a long slog by road.

[Mr.Bill]

13. My first vote was in '72.

I registered republican just so I could vote for Pete McCloskey in the primary against Nixon. McCloskey, for those who don't know him, was a Congressman from the San Francisco peninsula. He was my congressman. He was actually quite liberal, especially on social issues. He was against the Viet Nam war. Today (he is still alive but retired in his 90s) he would be called a Communist by the republicans.

I voted for McGovern in the general election. For as long as we had closed primaries, I maintained my republican registration just to vote against someone in the primary. I always either voted for the Democratic candidate in the general, or did not vote at all a few times. Been a solid voter since the 80s.

[StarfishSaver]

14. I voted for a Republican recently

An outstanding local candidate who hates Trump, votes straight ticket Democrats except in their own race, fights for justice and is an excellent public servant and a really good person.

I understand your frustration, but I think the OP is a little over the top.

[DrToast]

15. Bad news for Elizabeth Warren

[MH1]

17. In the 90's I voted for an R for Congress

because they had a really good score from LCV for an R, and had major concerns about the "D" running. Back then I didn't know well how to research and thought the "D" might be more conservative than the R I ended up voting for.

Later something came up with that rep and I helped vote him out. But at the time it seemed like the right vote.

Oh and I haven't voted for ANY republican since.

But I guess I'd fail your test. Sigh.

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

18. Never voted for a Republican. never will. Never even considered it for a second.

They have always been fascists. Nazis waiting to happen.

[gopiscrap]

26. exactly

[Meowmee]

41. This

[moonscape]

44. I used to be theoretically open

to voting for a. Republican, but never came across one who inspired me to pull the trigger. I think it was a case of wanting to believe there could be an exception but through the years the possibility dimmed to black.

Never voted for a republican, nationally or locally. My first vote was for McGovern.

[anamnua]

21. Does that include those who switched to Biden in ovember

and conceivably swung the election for him?

[gopiscrap]

27. yes they helped trump get to where he is

[GulfCoast66]

22. Well aren't you special.

So a white evangelical coming to age in the late 70s and early 80s, pre-internet, in a mid-sized southern city who was a republican but as they went to university, started working in a big city with a progressive workforce eventually evolved their views on religion, government, diversity and so much more and became a liberal democrat is responsible for all this? Because you know, being a democrat should have blessed on them when nothing they were were exposed to as a child or young adult supported the idea.

I hope you’re not involved in trying to grow the party.

Because you just slandered this liberal democrat. And many others on DU. And many liberal democrats.

You should delete your post.

[gopiscrap]

25. I was never dumb enough to vote

for a shit stain republican EVER!!!

[GulfCoast66]

28. Were you raised in the south as an evangelical before the internet?

Were your parents, extended family and entire circle of friends very religious and conservative? You ever go from evangelical to freethinker?

I get it. It makes some people feel good to think they are better than others. With never walking in their shoes.

If your history is the same as mine, then ok, I give it to you.

Otherwise, I scoff your feelings of superiority.

If you want me to admit you are a better liberal then I do. You are a better democrat than me.

Feel better now?

Your acting a sophist.

[gopiscrap]

29. I lived in Texas

[mvd]

23. Wow

That gives people no opportunity to grow. Should Warren really be charged with accessory to murder? I personally have never voted Republican, but I don’t look down at those who realized their error. I have less sympathy for those who ever voted for Trump, but thread is still over the top.

[DFW]

24. Oh, so now I'm an acessory to murder? OK, bring on the cuffs.

The first time I was eligible to vote, I voted Republican. I would make the same choice in a second.

It was in 1971, and I was 19. I was going to school in Philadelphia, PA, and the old, established Democratic Party owned the place.

The police commissioner, Frank Rizzo, was an oafish lout who was proud that his cops used their nightsticks to beat Vietnam War protestors unmercifully with their nightsticks. Every last cell in his body was corrupt, and he was the darling of the local mafia. He was the Democratic candidate for Mayor. His Republican opponent in the mayor's race was a mild-spoken city bureaucrat named Thatcher Longstreth. No one special, but he wasn't a neo-Nazi like Rizzo, and he had no stench of corruption about him. So I voted Republican.

Rizzo soon boasted that Nixon was "his friend," and sure enough, he soon switched parties, and went down to DC for a few photo ops with Nixon. After he had no explanation for how he was found to be building a $400,000 house on his $40,000 salary, his political career was mostly over, but he remained Republican pond scum to the end of his life. But when he first ran for mayor of Philly, he ran as a Democrat, and you bet your ass I voted against him.

That was (just barely) within the last 50 years. If that makes me an accessory to murder, then it's a charge I'll face proudly. I still say the evidence against me is a little thin.

[GulfCoast66]

30. Good evening. How are things in Germany?

I miss being able to travel. Had planned to take our godson to Normandy for his graduation this year. Great kid. Will have his AA when he graduates High School and is studying aerospace engineering. His second love is history. Guess it will have to wait.

Always enjoy reading you here.

[DFW]

31. Even here, travel is restricted. Plenty of anti-maskers here, too, unfortunately

Thanks for the vote of confidence. Not all share your sentiments!

[GulfCoast66]

35. Not surprised at negative reactions.

You have obviously done well with an extended history few have. That always becomes ripe for interpretation. But please stay around. Many enjoy the insight and historical background you provide.

At least I do.

Have a nice evening and stay safe.

[Archae]

32. I voted for Reagan. Twice.

Well, what was the alternative?

[robbob]

33. Umm...Jimmy Carter?

One of the most decent men to ever hold the office?

[Archae]

34. Carter was a decent guy, in fact he still is.

But as President he was in over his head.

And I was in the USAF from 1978 on, we were understaffed, undertrained, undersexed and under Carter!

[JonLP24]

39. It seems like a lot of problems that occurred when Carter was in office

Were brewing before he got there. One example is the Iranian revolution. The US overthrew a democracy before Carter got there so obviously the Iranian people would overthrow the US puppet.

There is also this. Some may attack the source but I think Reagan was awful.

Ronald Reagan’s “October Surprise” Plot Was Real After All

A batch of quietly released documents confirms what many have long suspected: Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign worked behind the scenes to delay the release of US hostages in Iran, for the benefit of Reagan’s election campaign. It raises the question: When was the last time a Republican won a presidential election without the help of dirty tricks?

(Snip)

[T]he team around Mr. Rockefeller, a lifelong Republican with a dim view of Mr. Carter’s dovish foreign policy, collaborated closely with the Reagan campaign in its efforts to pre-empt and discourage what it derisively labeled an “October surprise” — a pre-election release of the American hostages, the papers show.

The Chase team helped the Reagan campaign gather and spread rumors about possible payoffs to win the release, a propaganda effort that Carter administration officials have said impeded talks to free the captives.

“I had given my all” to thwarting any effort by the Carter officials “to pull off the long-suspected ‘October surprise,’” Mr. Reed wrote in a letter to his family after the election, apparently referring to the Chase effort to track and discourage a hostage release deal. He was later named Mr. Reagan’s ambassador to Morocco.

https://jacobinmag.com/2020/1/ronald-reagan-october-surprise-carter-iran-hostage-crisis-conspiracy

[roamer65]

36. C'mon.

We have to make tent bigger, not smaller.

The goal is to destroy the Repuke party, not ours. The only way we can accomplish it is through defections.

[Crunchy Frog]

37. There's loads of people on here who have voted R in the past. 50 years is a reeeeally long time.

[Crunchy Frog]

38. You're going to have to charge Jon Stewart with murder. He voted for GHWB in '88.

I think it's time to go to bed.

[JI7]

43. Exactly, When we have 74 million that voted to re-elect that shit and only about half support

getting rid of Trump because of what happened we should be attacking Jon Stewart and Elizabeth Warren .

[JI7]

42. Majority of Muslims use to vote Republican until Obama became President

This is just stupid and so useless in doing anything to stop the shit going on now.

We need to go after Elizabeth Warren ?

We don't even have that many on our side right now . Polls show only about 50 percent support getting rid of Trump.

[karynnj]

45. There were some decent Republicans in the last 50 years

I know many people here in very progressive Burlington who voted for Phil Scott. This year, he announced he vote for Biden before the election and was the first Republican in office to cLl for him to resign.

As to me, I voted in the late 1970s for Millicent Fenwick for the House in the primary. There were no close races and she was running against a very right wing Republican in a district that only very recently elected a Democrat.

[JonLP24]

46. Vermont Republicans have always been different

Vermont voted for the GOP in their first Presidential election and they voted Republican in every Presidential election after that until 1988 except for when they voted LBJ over Barry Goldwater in 1964.

[marlakay]

47. I voted for Reagan the second time

I was religious in my late teens and 20's and voted for Carter because he was born again and then Reagan because my church at that point said to and I was totally brainwashed.

After that democrat rest of life except one time a state office because wife was a democrat he was republican and I naively thought he would make nice. Learned my lesson. That was in 90's.

[betsuni]

49. It's 2021. This is the twenty-first century.

[Raine]

50. Tell that to "Goldwater Girl" Hillary Clinton. 🙄 nt