Republican Switchers

Son of Republican President Eisenhower endorses Kerry; calls Bush's war moves "maverick": "Recent developments indicate that the current Republican Party leadership has confused confident leadership with hubris and arrogance."

The lifelong Republican son of Republican President Dwight D. (Ike) Eisenhower has left the Republican Party to become an Independent. Eisenhower is endorsing Kerry because of Bush's maverick decision to go to war and his fiscal irresponsibility. "Senator Kerry... is courageous, sober, competent, and concerned with fighting the dangers associated with the widening socio-economic gap in this country, " Eisenhower said.

Nation First, Party Second excerpts and links to many other Switchers not (yet) blurbed here.

Find more Switchers here, including a link to a long article in Esquire by Ron Reagan Jr., pictured here with his family. (Click to enlarge image.)

Former McCain aide, Bull Moose Republican wants Kerry for President.

Marshall Wittmann, a former aide to Republican Senator John McCain has a long and thoughtful essay about choosing Kerry over Bush. An excerpt: " I am an independent McCainiac who hopes to revive the Bull Moose tradition of Theodore Roosevelt, and I support the Kerry-Edwards agenda. Don't get me wrong -- this Bull Moose is not completely in agreement with the Democratic donkey. But the Bush administration has betrayed the effort to create a new politics of national greatness in the aftermath of 9/11."

Reagan administration veteran Clyde Prestowitz explains that four years of Republican rule have put the country on the wrong track.

In the first of a series from Mother Jones on prominent conservatives who have become Bush critics, Clyde Prestowitz, counselor to Ronald Reagan's secretary of commerce, says this and much more: "I think that we are less safe today than we were three or four years ago. And I’ll tell you something else: I have recently had discussions with several former national security advisors -- people who were national security officials in former Republican administrations -- who have told me they feel the same way. They fear that the administration’s policies are further endangering and undermining the security of the United States."

Former Repub. Gov. of Michigan will vote for Kerry: "The truth is that ... Bush does not speak for me or for many other moderate Republicans on a very broad cross section of issues."

This is a very powerful statement from William Milliken, Republican former Governor of Michigan (1969-83). An excerpt: "My Republican Party is the party of Gerald R. Ford, Michigan's only president, who reached across partisan lines to become a unifying force during a time of great turmoil in our nation's history. This president has pursued policies pandering to the extreme right wing across a wide variety of issues and has exacerbated the polarization and the strident, uncivil tone of much of what passes for political discourse in this country today."

Pedigreed Republicans ditch and switch: "Sen. John Kerry offers us a choice. He offers us hope and a new direction..."

Two longtime prominent Republicans from Kentucky prefer Kerry. Writes Ballard Morton from Kentucky: "For nearly 50 years, I considered myself a Republican. I usually voted for Republicans, and I voted for George W. Bush in 2000. I have deep family roots in the Republican Party. My father, Thruston Morton, served as a Republican U. S. senator from Kentucky and also served as national chairman of the Republican Party. My uncle, Rogers Morton, also served as national chairman of the Republican Party, served as a Republican in the U. S. House of Representatives, and served in the cabinet under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. I cannot in good conscience vote for President Bush in this election."

Ballard's aunt, the Republican Congressman's widow, concurs.

Top security advisor to first President Bush criticizes George W.; calls Iraq war a "failing venture"

He may not be a Switcher, but a Brent Scowcroft, the former security advisor to President George H. W. Bush and a mentor to Condi Rice has blasted George W's handling of foreign affairs. He is pictured here to the left of the first President Bush. (Click on the photo to enlarge it.)