Saturday, March 22, 2008

Alabama's 5th CD may get another "Blue Dog"

I must 'fess up that I know little about Parker Griffith. Apparently he's rich as Roosevelt and a fast riser in Alabama politics. He's entering the 5th Congressional race (and Susan Parker isn't!) to replace the retiring Bud Cramer. Although recently elected to the Alabama Senate, he's hardly a career politician. Dr. Griffith's medical and education background are likely positives. His real estate development and business experiences may help as well. Reckon the Republicans will still try to paint him as a Communist?

However, Senator Griffith starting out telling us that he wants to join the Blue Dogs (here's another site they've apparently got up on the internets) isn't a positive to this Progressive. I'm all for the idea of a "big tent" yet I do think the best way to deal with the GOP's radicalism is head on with pretty much utter contempt for "conservatism". I'm somewhat sympathetic to "fiscal conservatism" yet "welfare reform" and "bankruptcy reform" was a damned poor way to demonstrate that construct.

I also worry that Senator Griffith might think he'll need to demonstrate his commitment to "family values" but I'll wait to see how that shakes out. He's supposedly Episcopalian so he's likely not a Bible thumping nutjob. Let's hope his Rector doesn't show up on YouTube!

I might ponder on this some and get a better post up later but for the time being I'll just hope Dr. Griffith will avoid being a Republican Lite candidate. John Gunn

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