Artur Davis switches from Democratic to Republican party

[Drunken Irishman]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/artur-davis-switches-from-democratic-to-republican-party/2012/05/29/gJQAbB25zU_blog.html

Not a surprise. He said last week he wasn't going to back Obama. Artur Davis is a typical butt-hurt politician who loses in a primary and then decides to take his ball and go home *cough* Joe Lieberman *cough*

Well, who needs this loser anyway? This is all you need to know about him:

During the primary campaign, Davis downplayed matters of race and emphasized his independence from Democratic party orthodoxy. He caused controversy, including within his heavily minority congressional district, by voting against President Barack Obama's new health-care law—the only black Democrat in Congress to do so. He also refused to sit for the endorsement screenings of Alabama's black political groups, drawing criticism from some that he was an opportunist in search of white votes. As a result, he became described as "the first African-American candidate in a statewide Alabama race to lose the black vote." Birmingham News columnist John Archibald said “He ran his whole race as it if were a general election and he wanted to claim some conservative street cred. Alabama Democrats—blue dots in this big red state—have very little patience for that.” State Representative Roderick Scott said Black Democrats “can no longer take for granted they will receive the African-American vote.”

[LiberalAndProud]

1. I imagine the GOP will make good use of him.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=696694

[Drunken Irishman]

4. Yup. What a fucking turncoat.

[Xipe Totec]

7. Let them have spitwads... this big...

[bigtree]

2. punk

good riddance

[bullwinkle428]

3. Allen West wanna-be.

[bluestateguy]

5. The white folks still won't like Artur

If he was a conservative Republican from the beginning, maybe he'd win some white votes, but this kind of transparent opportunism will not go over well.

If he runs against a white Democrat with good ole' boy credentials, Davis will lose.

And we should all be pissed at his shameful conduct on the health care bill. He came from the only safe Democratic district in Alabama and he voted no. Had he voted yes, that would have freed up another Democrat from a tougher district to vote no and save his seat, like say Baron Hill of Indiana, for example.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. Good riddance to bad rubbish! n/t

[SoutherDem]

8. Davis lost favor by not supporting "Obamacare"

So as far as I am concerned he has been a Republican for some time.

[Jamaal510]

9. Sounds like he caught the Scrooge McDuck disease

and thinks he can get richer rolling with the R's.

[cthulu2016]

10. There is money in being a black Republican

If the goal is elected office a black man pretty much has to be a Democrat.

But in the private sector, where Mister Davis finds himself, there are big opportunities for black republicans. (Ask Harold Ford. Sorry... but it's kind of true.)

Every corporate boardroom and most RW think tanks and lobbying firms and business associations desperately want a black face that is one of "the good ones." A safe token.

The fiction of black Republicans is necessary to the whole Republican racket. It isn't to convince the public, really. It is to convince themselves.

Racism is viewed so negatively, in broad society that a talisman-of-color to golf with and appear in group photos, who lets rich people tell themselves they aren't racist, is valuable.

"I don't belong to an all white country club! We have Artur, don't we?"

[jenmito]

11. I'm not surprised at all. I saw him on a panel on C-Span saying he agrees with Repubs. on

strict voter ID laws.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

12. Hey! We got Arlen Specter so it's even-Stevens, right?

[former9thward]

13. "Well, who needs this loser anyway?"

Apparently Obama needed him in 2008. In 2007 Davis was the first congressman outside of Illinois to endorse Obama. At the 2008 convention Obama chose Davis to give the seconding speech for his nomination.

I am disappointed he switched parties but I am not going to trash him like many of the posters who don't know what they are talking about. When I lived in Birmingham he was my congressman and was very progressive.

[KansDem]

14. Well, then shouldn't it be "Artur Davis switches from Democrat* to Republican party"

I mean, I'm sure he'll want to jump right into the pool of stupidity that Repubs like to call "biting political discourse."