Dave Wiegel notes that before the pixels were dry on the announcement that Rep. Parker Griffith had switched party affiliations, both RedState and the Club For Growth showed their disapproval.
Here’s Erick Erickson:
We should now hope him be an extremely endangered Republican in a primary. We will not fix the GOP’s problems if we keep allowing people who are not one of us to suddenly switch the letter next to their name and magically become one of us.
Being a Republican should be about more than just the letter next to a person’s name. We can improve that seat.
And here’s more from the Club For Growth:
Griffith’s voting record is far from conservative, too. Granted, he voted against the Big 4 – Obama’s first budget, the Stimulus, Cap and Trade, and ObamaCare. However, his vote on the budget is slightly deceptive since he originally voted for 9 of the 12 spending bills that make up the budget. And he voted against all the Stimulus amendments that would reduce its size.
[…]
This party switch signals Griffith’s nervousness, but it doesn’t signal that his incumbency is safe.
I find this fascinating. Not because I’m surprised that RedState and Club For Growth are contemplating Republican candidates more suited to them, but that they’re doing it so fast and so publicly, without getting Griffith a chance to work with the Republican leadership and perhaps align himself more with the Party.
I think that if there’s a strong GOP primary challenger to Griffith that the GOP leadership doesn’t at least try to forestall, it’s only going to make conservative Democrats less likely to switch party affiliations. More to the point, it will help underscore the idea that the GOP is only interested in adhering to a narrow ideal of “purity” rather than pragmatic governance, which in turn will help strengthen the Democratic Party at its expense.
That doesn’t bode well for healthy, two-party democracy.
