Republican Switchers

Quick list of Republican Switchers for Kerry

As Kerry gains more momentum, and as more people discover this blog, many kind readers are sending ideas for entries--more than I have time to post as a mom with full-time employment outside the home. Thankfully, Dkospedia has a an entire section listing and linking to conservatives and Republicans supporting Kerry. Dkosopedia is a Wiki published by Daily Kos. This is a great example of how, as a group effort, a Wiki can be a very efficient way to collect and share knowledge. Brilliant!

Swing State Switchers: In Arizona, Republican officials cross over; in Colorado, a Halliburton (yes, that Halliburton) seems likely to vote for Kerry.

Please send a link to this story to every moderate you know in Arizona and Colorado, two key battleground states, and ask them to pass it on to other moderates.
In this fascinating story from the Guardian newspaper in Britain, three strong Republican women protest Bush's policies toward women. Two -- Linda Binder, a Republican State Senator, and Judith Allen, a lifelong Republican and former Superior Court clerk -- are from Arizona. Mary Lou Halliburton, a Colorado Republican, is a retired lawyer who worked in the Nixon White House. Her family founded the company that Dick Cheney headed. So frustrated was she that she started a group called Republicans Who Want Their Party Back. According to the article, Halliburton won't say whom she is voting for but many think it will be Kerry.

And then there's Steve May, a Republican former state legislator from Arizona. A Kerry supporter, he says, "Contrary to the man he promised to be in 2000, he has become a fiscal liberal and a social conservative.....Those of us who care about the Republican Party must repudiate this administration and this campaign. Bush has not governed as a Republican should govern on issues of freedom, family and fiscal responsibility." Learn more here.

Republicans switch in key Swing State: Ohio.

Please forward to all voters you know in Ohio--and ask them to forward it to others in the state. "Often people vote from habit or party loyalty. I believe that in this election of 2004 there are greater considerations and all voters should ask themselves: Are we better off than four years ago? Are we safer? Is our economy stronger? To me the answers are clear. That is why I support John Kerry for president." So says Republican former General Assemblyman of Ohio John A. Galbraith. And then there's Retired Republican judge Robert L. Black, who will support Kerry because "The record of this incumbent president is a history not only of repeated violations of the key principles underlying our democracy, but of the core values of the Christian faith to which he claims commitment." (Thanks to the folks at www.democraticunderground.com for notice of this Switcher.)

Reaganite: "Why Conservatives must not vote for Bush."

On Salon.com: "A Reaganite argues that Bush is a dangerous, profligate, moralizing radical -- and that his reelection would be catastrophic both for the right and for America." The author is Doug Bandow, former advisor to Reagan and a fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute.

Former Bush-backing business leaders switch to Kerry-Edwards.

Robert Trigaux, business columnist for the St. Petersburg Times writes about business leaders switching to Kerry. An excerpt: "Consider wealthy corporate Texas financier David Bonderman, who founded and runs the Texas Pacific Group investment firm in Fort Worth, and who backed Bush both when he ran for president in 2000 and earlier for Texas governor. Now he's supporting Kerry - and he's not shy about saying so...'
He's turning out to be the worst president since Millard Fillmore - and that's probably an insult to Millard Fillmore.'"

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."

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.)

"I can see myself as a Schwarzenegger Republican. But I can't vote for Bush."

Says William Saleten on Slate: "I'm no huge fan of John Kerry....But the alternative is a president who sees one side of every issue, no matter how many sides it has."

Back to the Mainstream

backtothemainstream.org is an interesting site that calls for a return to the roots of the Republican party.

(We have) "been abandoned by the present extremist adminstration..."

"Republicans for Kerry 04" appears to be the most established group of conservatives and Republicans for Kerry. From the Web site: "We are ordinary Republicans...moderate, conservative, and progressive -- who believe in the sanctity of our Constitution and Bill of Rights. This unites us in our desire to return our country and our party to the traditional values that have been abandoned by the present extremist administration ...we believe he (John Kerry) more honestly represents these values so vital to the health and well-being of our democracy. " Another organization, with a similar goal and name is Republicans for Kerry (no "04") .

Convinced? Get your toolkit for Kerry Republicans.

Download the Republicans for Kerry-Edwards toolkit, courtesy of the special section for Republicans on the Kerry site: republicans.johnkerry.com. And then sign up as a Republican for Kerry-Edwards.