Republicans for Obama will pull Democrats EVEN FURTHER TO THE RIGHT.

[Caro]

That’s not what I want, and maybe not what you want, either.

Texas Republicans cross over to vote for Obama
A poll released this week by SurveyUSA of Verona, N.J., indicated that registered Republicans would make up 9 percent of Democratic primary voters next week. Michael Baselice, head of Baselice and Associates, a Texas polling firm, said that was in line with what his company was finding. A bloc that large could make a significant difference for Obama, who holds a large lead over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York among Texas Republicans, especially in a close race. Polls this week were showing a dead heat in Texas as Obama began pulling even with Clinton.

A Number You Probably Haven't Seen
Obama, despite being ahead among pledged delegates, has fewer total votes among people who identify themselves as Democrats. (He has 7,392,809 votes; Clinton has 8,229,063.) That gives Clinton as lead with 52 percent of Democrats. Lanier also breaks the numbers down by race and points out that Obama has won white Democrats in only two states: New Mexico and Illinois… It helps you understand why the party gives so much power to its 796 superdelegates. If they didn’t, independents and Republicans could essentially hijack their election.

Besides, how can we be sure Obama can carry the Red States in the general election that he has carried in the primary?

Could Obama Turn Red States Blue?
Of the 14 red states Obama has won in this nominating contest, half of them haven't voted for a Democrat for president in a general election in more than 40 years… It's obvious that a handful of red states -- Colorado, Iowa, Missouri, Virginia -- are almost certain to be competitive whether Obama or Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) is the Democratic nominee. The demographics in those states have shifted toward Democrats of late, and the party made gains in each in 2006. A far more debatable premise is whether Obama is uniquely suited to put red states in play.

Obama's Red-State Prospects Unclear
In winning Tuesday's primary in the key swing state of Wisconsin, Sen. Barack Obama drew support from tens of thousands of Republicans and independents. He pulled off the same feat in (other victories). All along, Obama has argued that he can redraw the political map for Democrats by turning out unprecedented numbers of young voters and African Americans, and by attracting independents and even Republicans with his message of national reconciliation. But the picture emerging of his appeal in GOP strongholds and in swing states, even as he widens his delegate lead over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), is more complex than his claim to broad popularity in "red state" America would have one believe.

Not only that, at least some of Obama’s support seems to be engineered to defeat Hillary Clinton, rather than to elect a Democratic nominee that those voters would also vote for in November. See below.

Attention All Texas Republicans and Independents!! (Republicans for Obama)
On March 4th, Texas Republicans and Independents will have an opportunity to end Hillary Clinton's (and Bill's) presidential ambitions once and for all! Since Texas has on open primary, Republicans and Independents should sign in at their polling place and request a Democratic ballot. They should then vote for Barack Obama. Even James Carville admits that if Hillary loses Texas, "she's done!" Republicans can help make this a reality!!! Just think, no more Clintons in the White House! Voting Democratic this one time will have NO effect on your ability to vote in the next Republican primary or obviously on your vote in November.

I believe a similar email and flyer was being distributed in Nevada.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

[Avalux]

1. Sure this stuff is out there.

But from my own personal encounters with Republicans here in Texas, they genuinely like Obama and are voting for him because they want him to be President, not because they're gaming the election.

And I have news for you; Obama is about as liberal as they come (but don't tell the Republicans who will vote for him).

[panader0]

2. I don't think so

You further to the right than now? Take a look at the repub candidate. There is no comparison with Barack.

[Caro]

10. Obama is no liberal.

We Illinois progressives sent Obama to the U.S. Senate, where he promptly joined the Joe Lieberman wing of the Democratic Party.
http://progressivepunch.yvod.com/members.jsp?member=HI1&search=selectScore&chamber=Senate&zip=&x=43&y=9

He’s not a progressive.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=11936

But he’s a master at pretending to be one.
http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=463&Itemid=34

"Obama is a company man.”
http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=251&Itemid=34

“Barack Obama Inc.: The birth of a Washington machine”
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2006/11/0081275

Friend of Exelon
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/03/america/03exelon.php

His economic advisers are very conservative, from the University of Chicago-Milton Friedman school of economics.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080211/fraser

His voting record is pro-business.
http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Feb2007/street0207.html

His voting record is pro-war.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=12687

He glorifies American imperialism.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=13396

He flip-flopped on the Palestinians and Israel, and now is AIPAC-approved.
http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2008/01/obamas-israel-shuffle.html

He has shown repeatedly what good friends he is with anti-gay African American preachers.
http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2007/11/obamas-anti-gay.html

His chief political adviser is the Daley machine’s chief strategist.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/01/magazine/01axelrod.t.html

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

[blm]

28. Clintons protect Bushes and that is what YOU WANT? Again? Deep-sixing BCCI matters

and CIA drugrunning wasn't enough for you in the 90s, now you want Bush2 protected and all the secrecy and privilege the Clintonsa gave to Poppy Bush, Jackson Stephens, Dubai and Saudi royals extended for another decade for Bush2 and Cheney?

Feh - - you used to be able to research this stuff and make HONEST conclusions - I hope shilling for Clintons has some reward for you, because a CITIZEN committed to honest and open government would never shill for Clintons.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

34. He's TOO liberal and IS the Anti War Candidate

I heard some redneck call into CSPan today and say that he liked Hillary because
she voted for the war and "kept us safe from Saddam's WMDs"

So Hillary represents the pro war idiots.

[Caro]

42. Obama is NOT anti-war.

He wasn't in the Senate when the vote was taken on the Iraq War resolution, and when running for the Senate in 2004 he made conflicting statements, even telling the New York Times at one point, "There's not that much difference between my position and George Bush's position at this stage."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0407270351jul27,0,3085726.story

Also in 2004:
"When asked about Senators Kerry and Edwards’ votes on the Iraq war, Obama said, 'I'm not privy to Senate intelligence reports,' Mr. Obama said. 'What would I have done? I don’t know. What I know is that from my vantage point the case was not made.'"
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9407E2DF153DF935A15754C0A9629C8B63

His much-touted 2002 speech wasn't as anti-war as he'd like you to believe. In the speech, he never said "Do not attack Iraq", or "If I were in the Senate right now, I'd vote against any resolution that could in any way be construed as giving the President the authority to send troops to Iraq." That gave him deniability, in case the war went well.
http://www.barackobama.com/2002/10/02/remarks_of_illinois_state_sen.php

In 2003, when the war was popular, he took the speech off his website.
http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=491&Itemid=1

His war funding voting record has been exactly the same as Clinton's.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_01/012953.php

He didn't make it back to Washington to vote on the Kyl-Lieberman Iran resolution, even though he'd been notified the vote was imminent.
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00349

"hose looking to the Obama campaign as a means of ending American militarism will be sorely disappointed. The Illinois Senator has vowed not to reduce the ballooning US military budget—which consumes an estimated $700 billion annually—but rather to increase it. He has called for the recruitment of another 65,000 soldiers for the Army as well as 27,000 more Marines. He has vowed to put 'more boots on the ground' in the 'war on terror,' the pretext invented by the Bush administration to justify 'preemptive war,' i.e., military aggression aimed at asserting US hegemony over the oil-rich regions of the Middle East and Central Asia.

"As for Iraq itself, his promises to end the war are belied by his pledge to keep American forces in Iraq to defend 'US interests' and conduct 'counterterrorism operations,' a formula that would see tens of thousands of US soldiers and Marines continuing to occupy Iraq and repress its population for many years to come."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/feb2008/obam-f14.shtml

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

[Yael]

3. Republicans who are voting for Obama aren't looking to pull the party right

they are admitting that "right" is a complete mess and they are willing to give our ideas a chance for a change.

But you just run with whatever gets you through the night.

[Caro]

13. You are deluded.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

[Yael]

17. LOL!

Run with that too. :D

[Pirate Smile]

4. Please read this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4835932&mesg_id=4835932

[Caro]

23. No need to read it, Obama is no liberal.

We Illinois progressives sent Obama to the U.S. Senate, where he promptly joined the Joe Lieberman wing of the Democratic Party.
http://progressivepunch.yvod.com/members.jsp?member=HI1&search=selectScore&chamber=Senate&zip=&x=43&y=9

He’s not a progressive.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=11936

But he’s a master at pretending to be one.
http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=463&Itemid=34

"Obama is a company man.”
http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=251&Itemid=34

“Barack Obama Inc.: The birth of a Washington machine”
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2006/11/0081275

Friend of Exelon
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/03/america/03exelon.php

His economic advisers are very conservative, from the University of Chicago-Milton Friedman school of economics.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080211/fraser

His voting record is pro-business.
http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Feb2007/street0207.html

His voting record is pro-war.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=12687

He glorifies American imperialism.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=13396

He flip-flopped on the Palestinians and Israel, and now is AIPAC-approved.
http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2008/01/obamas-israel-shuffle.html

He has shown repeatedly what good friends he is with anti-gay African American preachers.
http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2007/11/obamas-anti-gay.html

His chief political adviser is the Daley machine’s chief strategist.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/01/magazine/01axelrod.t.html

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

[intaglio]

32. Ah, yes! the answer to everything you don't like

ignore it and hope it goes away.

I don't why do you?

[Caro]

57. Nope, I showed you the facts.

Deal with them.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

[Warren Stupidity]

5. It aint about reknucklians

oh they can vote whomever they like, but in the fall they will mostly vote reknucklian.

It is about the independents. If we capture a sizeable majority of the independent vote in the fall then Barack Hussein Obama is going to win in a landslide. I'm all for that.

[Nitrogenica]

6. I'm going to assume there are many Republicans who know

how bad the Republican party fucked up over the last 7 years, and know how low their party would go to win, and are embarassed by that.

[Auntie Bush]

36. That's a cute little Ferret.

[Nitrogenica]

53. I love our little carpet sharks. Thanks.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

7. nice break down of the real numbers of real Democratic voters

[napi21]

8. The frightening thing to me is that I've heard people like Limpballs

are telling Pubs to vote for Hillary in a primary becaue theirs is already decided and they can screw up the Dems! We all know there are aquite a few dittoheads out there and they listen to that idiot!

[joeybee12]

9. Interesting...time will tell...sure you'll get a lot of people here who will

dismiss this right off...I mean, if they're for Obama, how can anyone possibly be against him????

[ElsewheresDaughter]

11. Rec and bookmarked

[Sensitivity]

12. Can we get away from RIGHT V LEFT and start thinking RIGHT V WRONG

[anonymous171]

14. Aren't you a bot?

[Caro]

24. Are YOU?

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

[davidinalameda]

15. can Hillary turn any red state blue?

I think that she'd be able to turn a couple of blue states red

[bowens43]

16. more nonsense. This is why your candidate is losing.

[Drunken Irishman]

18. Sure, cause Reagan Democrats pulled the GOP to the left, right?

Oh wait.

[leftstreet]

21. LOL Best response I've ever seen !

:thumbsup:

[Alexander]

22. You win in this incredibly stupid thread.

:thumbsup:

[Caro]

25. No, but that's because Republicans don't cave ...

... the way Democrats do.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

[Drunken Irishman]

29. Not really, it laid the foundation for the Republican revolution in the 90s.

[Alexander]

30. ...the way Hillary Clinton caves on war, health care, and credit cards.

[Caro]

43. And Obama caves on those very same issues.

His voting record is pro-business.
http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Feb2007/street0207.html

His voting record is pro-war.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=12687

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

[FunkyLeprechaun]

33. I was thinking exactly that once I read the OP

GMTA!

[Hepburn]

40. Yeah....

....didn't you notice all those left over libs in the Repubbie party from the Reagan years? Made the GOP a hell of a lot more liberal. Geez, I say that EVERY day to myself....like a mantra!

:sarcasm:

[ElsewheresDaughter]

19. oh dear.....the Obama peeps are going to kill you....RUN!

[Caro]

26. I have my armor on, thanks!

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

[RC]

20. It is not how far left or right of center Obama is, It is

how honest he really is. How much integrity he has. Can he see a big enough piece of the picture at a time. Can he put the welfare of the country ahead of his or his "Friends" best interest.

[Caro]

27. Honest?

He misuses history, according to a prominent historian.
http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/46866.html

He, uh, stretches the truth.
http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=463&Itemid=34

Example:

Trying to sound authentically African-American during a speech memorializing the forty-second anniversary of the 1965 Voting Rights March at the Pettis Bridge in Selma, Obama claimed that his black (Kenyan) father and white (Kansan) mother married and conceived the future Barockstar because of the great Civil Rights struggles fought in Selma and Birmingham, Alabama… (Obama 2007).

Wow. Too bad Barack Obama Jr. was born in 1961, two years before the famous campaign to desegregate Birmingham, three years before the Civil Rights Act, and four years before the famous Selma march!

More on his “gaffes”.
http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2007/03/sweet_column_item_obamas_gaffe.html

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

[RC]

31. Another Hillary supporter, huh?

I wasn't saying Obama was anything, I was saying that is what we need from him.
I wish they would cut the price of reality so more folks could afford some.

[Nite Owl]

35. And those 'Reagan Democrats'

really moved their party to the left?

There are a lot of Republicans out there that hate this war, hate the fiscal irresponsibility, worry over the lose of our rights and destruction of the Constitution. They want, need, good health care too and job protections. We have a lot of Republican voters who are Dems but they just don't realize it. Obama brings sense to who we really are without the need of the labels.

[NC_Nurse]

39. What she said...

:)

[Caro]

44. Republicans don't cave to the other side.

The way Democrats do.

And if you think Republicans really want to join the Democratic Party, you're pretty gullible.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

[Nite Owl]

46. Gullible?

I think not. Maybe you don't get out much but many of the groups I belong to have ex-Republican members. They may have switched to Dem or to Independent but they know they no longer identify with the republican party. They aren't caving to anything, they have just come to the realization that the party that was once Eisenhower and Rockefeller is no longer.

[Occam Bandage]

49. Neither does Obama. That's why they like him.

[susankh4]

37. Party Shift Time

I'm not sure I like it... but I am seeing a major party mix up.

Catholics and other RTLers... coming to Obama. He is also drawing some evangelicals because he seems to be OK with school vouchers. That will piss off the AFT, but who cares. Right?

Some social liberals may move to McCain, esp. if they feel his voting history speaks at least as loud as his campaign rhetoric. Not every liberal Dem is anti-war and anti-experience. Some liberals actually are NOT for immediate Iraq withdrawal.... no matter how they felt about going there in the first place.

The youth and anti-war folks may well bail and go to Nader/ Gonzalez. Nader is washed up, to be sure. But Gonzalez has their ear.

Log Cabin Repubs may pick up some membership this year.

It's gonna be an interesting year indeed!

[theHandpuppet]

38. And just wait until all those IOU's come due

If folks don't think there will be a price to pay for all that Republican support they are DELUDED.

[FunkyLeprechaun]

41. You must not be reading your history books right

The Reagan Revolution took advantage of the burgeoning "religious" movement (they stole the idea from Jimmy Carter, in fact). If you thought the Democrats for Reagan pushed the Republican party to the left, then you're so wrong.

Sure, Obama appeals to disenfranchised Republicans... those are the votes WE need. Why are you slamming Obama for appealing to those votes?

These Republicans that now hate Bush had hated Clinton during the 1990s, do you think they'd vote for Hillary over McCain? I'm willing to bet they'll say no.

In my humble opinion, you should be embracing this idea of "Republicans for Obama" as they want the country to go in the right direction. Obama is pro-choice, anti-death penalty, pro-civil rights, etc etc... These are the kinds of topics that are anathema to the modern Republican party and in recent years they've been running on the platforms opposite the things Obama stand for in order to win the elections. Now... People are ready for change and they'll probably embrace those positions they had so hated... I would think that this is the right direction for America.

Just speaking as an expat (watching my homeland from the UK).

[Caro]

45. If you're talking to me ...

... I never said Reagan Democrats moved Republicans to the left.

But then again Republicans don't cave to the other side, the way the Democratic leadership does.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

[FunkyLeprechaun]

50. Yes I was talking to you

And the Democrats that unfortunately move to the other aisle in the House and Senate are usually from red states and probably pressured to vote a certain way.

When we have a Democratic president they probably won't feel as pressured....

[Occam Bandage]

47. Just like the Reagan Democrats did to the Republican party, right?

[GOPBasher]

48. Did the Reagan Democrats pull him to the left? n/t

[RBInMaine]

51. Did "Reagan Democrats" pull Reagan to the left ???

Maybe they actually like Obama and his message of inclusion. Maybe we can pull THEM to the left??? What about the Independents that our party will NEED to win in order to win in November. Obama does MUCH better with them. It's called UNITY. It's called a winning coalition for November. It's called having a broad tent and an ability to reach out to others. I guess these are things Hillary can't do???? And you expect her to be able to govern when HALF the United States doesn't like her??

[HCE SuiGeneris]

52. There needed to be greater rallying behind Kucinich.

Maybe by 2012 we can actually move in a progressive direction.

[LordJFT]

54. No, Obama won't cave to them like Hillary does to corporate and defense interests

[ElsewheresDaughter]

55. Obama there will be a price to pay for all that 1 time Primary Republican support

[ctaylors6]

56. Obama said he'd put republicans in his cabinet and apparently named names.

I posted this on similar thread too -- hope that's okay. I was a little surprised when I read it.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/12/obama-says-hed.html