Former Bush donors now giving to Obama's campaign

[dragonrider]

McClatchy Washington Bureau | 05/30/2008 | Former Bush donors now giving to Obama's campaign (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/39067.html)

A McClatchy Newspaper's analysis has found that hundreds of people who gave at least $200 to Bush's 2004 campaign have donated to the Obama campaign.

These are the kinds of reasons cited:


Moderate Republicans who are disatisfied with the direction of the country.

Economic conservatives who are dissatisfired with the direction of their PARTY.

Concern about the war.

Concerned about the disintegration of our status and credibility in the world.

Concerned about division within the country.

Gult over having supported Bush.

Want to nudge Hillary aside.

The article says the the number of Bush donors who are now giving to Obama is not large, but the fact that they are WRITING CHECKS indicates some serious trouble for the GOP.

I think there are a lot of Republicans who have serious misgivings about where Bush and the GOP have led this country. I know for certain there are in my family. There are a lot who will either sit this election out, vote for the other side, or even write checks to the Obama campaign.

[Fencewalker]

Yep, the "Republicans" (I quote it because they aren't the Republicans of my time) have a huge hill to get over if they are going to be anything but decimated this election. Not just Presidential either, but all the way down the line to the state positions.

[dragonrider]

Yep, the "Republicans" (I quote it because they aren't the Republicans of my time) have a huge hill to get over if they are going to be anything but decimated this election. Not just Presidential either, but all the way down the line to the state positions.

They are going to be decimated up and down the whole ticket, like you said.

I know what you are talking about when you say these aren't the Republicans of your time. Many in my family are Republicans. I've been a Democrat for a long time because I care so much about environmental issues that it overrides some of my other concerns. But I am actually fairly conservative, and I agree with my other family members on many TRADITIONAL Republican values --- mostly fiscal responsibility, constitutionalism, and military strength (though not this forward-leaning neo-con aggressiveness). Almost all of my Republican famly members are at a total loss this year. They do not know what to do. They feel betrayed by the Republican party and the Bush Administration, and they don't see McCain as any different.

After adding 3 Trillion dollars to the national debt, Republincans have lost credibility on fiscal responsibility.

After the Patriot Act and the other abuses of constitutional rights, they have lost credibility on constitutionalism.

And after the mismanaged war that never ends, they have lost credibility on traditional Republican use of military power and strength.

My dad has voted Republican for 50 years. The last time I saw him, he was expressing misgivings about having supported Bush twice. He said he couldn't believe how badly the Republicans have mismanaged this government, and he had serious concerns that we are going in a radically wrong direction. My dad never talks politics with me, and the last time I saw him, he was on almost a rant about how far wrong his party has gone and how they have betrayed him. I was actually kind of shocked. He said he wasn't convinced Obama was the right guy for the job, but there was no way he was going to vote for McCain. I've had that same kind of conversation with several other Republicans.

I'm pretty convinced that the Republicans are going to see massive defections from a seriously dissillusioned rank and file this year. It's going to be a landslide up and down the whole ticket, and the party is going to have to go off into the wilderness and decide what it is going to be about. Maybe it will come back to it's roots and away from this neo-con, national debt, police state, fundamentalist Christian nightmare they have been leading us into.