Lieutenant Gov. Sue Wagner leaves GOP - GOP Tent continues to shrink.

[scootrd]

Nevada Lieutenant Gov. Sue Wagner has left the Republican Party because hardline conservatives have pushed the party too far to the right. “I’ve been a Republican all my life,” she said, adding her father was active in the GOP in Maine, where she was born.   “It was more of a moderate, liberal Republican Party,” she said. “It’s grown so conservative and tea-party orientated, and I just can’t buy into that. Said Wagner: "I did it as a symbol, I guess, that I do not like the Republican Party and what they stand for today.   

She is now registered as an independent rather than a Democrat.

The lesson here for both parties is that “big tents” win elections. The GOP is hemorrhaging membership. Fewer People Identify As Republicans Now Than At Any Point In The Past 25 Years. In 2013 42% of Americans identified as political independents. The share of Americans who identify as Republicans has steadily fallen. Democrats Hold a six-point lead in party identification, 31-25%. That's the lowest percent Republicans have seen in 25 years.
The percentage of Americans identifying as independents grew over the course of 2013, surging to 46% in the fourth quarter. That coincided with the partial government shutdown in October and the problematic rollout of major provisions of the healthcare law, commonly known as "Obamacare."
In addition to the 31% of Americans who identify as Democrats, another 16% initially say they are independents but when probed say they lean to the Democratic Party. An equivalent percentage, 16%, say they are independent but lean to the Republican Party, on top of the 25% of Americans identifying as Republicans. All told, then, 47% of Americans identify as Democrats or lean to the Democratic Party, and 41% identify as Republicans or lean to the Republican Party.


January 8, 2014
http://www.gallup.com/poll/166763/record-high-americans-identify-independents.aspx


We are definitely a polarized country when it comes to our political views, and the best approaches to move our country forward.
Semper Fi

[ironglow]

  Yes, the GOP is losing membership..this Sue Wagner being a rare one.  Unlike most of us who have left the Republicans because they are too far left, she deserted because somehow she got the idea the various Tea Parties are getting too strong within the party..I hope she is right.
    The Democrats of all stripe don't seem to do that..they hang with the brand, no matter what kind of degradation that gang forces upon the American people..

  One thing you should notice however, the independents are growing and in most polls they are more numerous than either Democrats or Republicans.  It is very telling when you see Frank Luntz or others who take the pulse of potential voters with focus groups.. the independents agree overwhelmingly with the Republicans on most common sense issues..
   http://www.nationaljournal.com/off-to-the-races/democrats-need-to-keep-an-eye-on-republican-tilting-independent-voters-20130923

  Previously (4-5 years ago)  Independents were primarily people who sympathized with Leftist issues but did not want to be called Democrats or liberals..so they called themselves independents.  Today is a different story however..

[nw_hunter]

Personally, I would love to see party politics gone period.Never vote for an incumbent, and vote for the person......not a party.Took most of my voting life to open my eyes to the evils in party politics. Not an easy thing to do, because of the media, but with more interest in finding the truth than listening to patronizing words, it can be done.Check out the voting record of the person. If you didn't agree with their vote when they were a Congressman, you won't like how they lean as a Senator or President.Leopards don't change their spots.Neither does the smell of these skunks running for office.

When Sue Wagner left the GOP, it was for personal gain. "Take it to the bank" Most GOP people at the Federal level are just as Liberal as a Democrat anyway. She just wanted to lean a little more for the record.If she had said she left to join the Libertarian, or Constitution party, then it would have meant something.She is a typical liberal.Wearing the title of Democrat or Republican doesn't mean SQUAT!

[magooch]

There will always be party politics and the trick is to keep track of what they really are.  Today we have the commies (Dumycrats), the rinos (Republicans) and conservatives (tea party).  The rest of the myriad of other minor league groups don't count for anything.

[jhm]

     Was she ever a real Republican?  Did she support Ried or vote against his IDEAS?   When I see articals like this I usually check their voting record, but since it is Nevada I really don't give a darn.   Jim

[nw_hunter]

     Was she ever a real Republican?  Did she support Ried or vote against his IDEAS?   When I see articals like this I usually check their voting record, but since it is Nevada I really don't give a darn.   Jim

When they become a US politician, they become our problem.
People keep referring to the Tea Party as a real political party!It's a movement. An idea, that has it's roots in the Libertarian side of the Republican party. They are a minority among a huge liberal majority in the Republican party.

[scootrd]

     Was she ever a real Republican?  Did she support Ried or vote against his IDEAS?   When I see articals like this I usually check their voting record, but since it is Nevada I really don't give a darn.   Jim

Wagner has always been Republican , However she would be considered by today's GOP yardstick as a moderate republican.

[Larry L]

The current republican party is irrelevant and worthless. Here they own the purse strings to our pockets and they can't even handle that effectively. The Contract with America to lower Gov't in our lives ended up with even more Gov't than before. They are a dismal failure and Bonehead, their leader, is wuss and totally ineffective. He needs to go home and shut up. I rather like Palins idea of another conservative party that has real teeth, folks that will fight the current scum and corruption in DC. Frankly, we need to just nuke DC and start over after we have the Constitution in a safe area. After all, the current dimwits have no clue what it is or what it's about.

[nw_hunter]

The current republican party is irrelevant and worthless. Here they own the purse strings to our pockets and they can't even handle that effectively. The Contract with America to lower Gov't in our lives ended up with even more Gov't than before. They are a dismal failure and Bonehead, their leader, is wuss and totally ineffective. He needs to go home and shut up. I rather like Palins idea of another conservative party that has real teeth, folks that will fight the current scum and corruption in DC. Frankly, we need to just nuke DC and start over after we have the Constitution in a safe area. After all, the current dimwits have no clue what it is or what it's about.

I hear people say......."We need a new viable party"! Why? We have several in place now we could vote for over Reps and Dems, but only a few of us will do it, and our fellow (So called Conservatives) in the Republican camp , call us traitors for not placing our vote for the Liberal Republican candidate.

The Libertarian party, and the Constitution party are chocked full of good, true Conservatives, but the sheeple are blind and they continue to support a party that claims to be something they are not.

I think the currant bunch of TRATIORS (Not Dimwits) know full well, what the Constitution is, and have NO intentions of following it.They are not pursuing the same thing the average American is. They work for the elitists............NOT you and I! They are experts at controlling, and the Republican and Democrat parties are their vehicle for doing it.They appear to be doing a damn good job of it We cannot change their mindset. The voters has to change theirs. I don't think enough will, to change things for the better.
 Just the way I see it, and we all know what opinions are worth

[Bob Riebe]

Another Rino shows it true colors.

Bye-bye.

[magooch]

What really is the threat to be concerned with in this country is not the rinos; by far the menace that should be every patriots worry is the communists and they are not in the Republican Party.  They call themselves Democrats, but they are only fooling the low information crowd and the leeches that feed off the workers and producers.  It's quite possible that the only way to rid this country of this vermin is to eradicate them by violent means.  Whatever it takes.

[Bob Riebe]

What really is the threat to be concerned with in this country is not the rinos

No that is wrong at any  level.

The Republicans are supposed to be the opposite of the Democrats as far as party line goes, Rinos run the Republican party; therefore the Republican Party as it stands is of absolute zero difference from the Democrats you are paranoid about.

You cannot see the forest for the trees.

[Conan The Librarian]

Did she get elected by misrepresenting herself as republican, then switching? Seems to happen a lot lately. Just wondering if this is another one.

[Three44s]

IF we were to believe that the Republican party was getting TOO conservative ...........


............ then why is it that THREE MILLION more conservatives stayed home and did not vote for Romney that stayed home and did not vote for McCain either?


Too conservative ........... REALLY?


Hogwash!


The left is afraid of the Tea Party ........ that's why the IRS has the long knives out in 2012 and even longer ones planned for '14.


News flash:  When a liberal tells their opposition how to win .............. DO THE OPPOSITE!


Three 44s

[RPRNY]

The issue is what constitutes "conservative"?

If the Tea Party Movement is indeed from the Libertarian wing of the Republican Party, then it may indeed offer hope for the future. However, there are many who confuse the term Conservative with 'reactionary Christian Fundamentalist. Replacing Godless Communists who have no regard for the Constitution (aka Democrats), with Christian Fundamentalists who have no regard for the Constitution is no improvement. Freedom means allowing people with whom you fundamentally disagree to lives their lives the way they like as long as they don't violate the law - the law based on the Constitution, a document written by our founding fathers not a law based on the Bible, a book edited to suit the purposes of the Catholic Church.

The "Conservative" fixation on regulating the uterus in minute detail, in barring gays from marriage, and in imposing "family" values, which are in fact the religious and moral values of Christian fundamentalists, are in fact alienating many libertarian Conservatives who believe that getting the deficit under control, pulling us back from a transfer payment dependent society, diminishing the size and reach of the Federal government, and protecting our Constitutional rights are what is truly important. The Republican Party is in the process of  splitting. That part which is Conservative and secular may have a future governing this country. That part which seeks to impose a white, Christian Fundamentalist, reactionary agenda on this country will be a fringe element.

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[ironglow]

The issue is what constitutes "conservative"?

If the Tea Party Movement is indeed from the Libertarian wing of the Republican Party, then it may indeed offer hope for the future. However, there are many who confuse the term Conservative with 'reactionary Christian Fundamentalist. Replacing Godless Communists who have no regard for the Constitution (aka Democrats), with Christian Fundamentalists who have no regard for the ConstitutionWRONG; it was primarily Christians and their ideas which created our constitution is no improvement. Freedom means allowing people with whom you fundamentally disagree to lives their lives the way they like as long as they don't violate the law - the law based on the Constitution, a document written by our founding fathers not a law based on the Bible (but much of it was), a book edited to suit the purposes of the Catholic Church (fail..misinformed).

The "Conservative" fixation on regulating the uterus in minute detail re..killing babies, in barring gays from marriage Civil union, have at it..marriage was instituted by God for one man & one woman, and in imposing "family" valuesnot imposing, but they have worked well for 5,000 years of history, which are in fact the religious and moral values of Christian fundamentalists, are in fact alienating many libertariandissolute? Conservatives who believe that Agetting the deficit under control, Bpulling us back from a transfer payment dependent society, Cdiminishing the size and reach of the Federal government, Dand protecting our Constitutional rights are what is truly important. The Republican Party is in the process of  splitting. That part which is Conservative and secular may have a future governing this country. That part which seeks to impose a white, Christian Fundamentalist, reactionary agenda on this country will be a fringe element.  I guess we are trying to "impose" Christian values upon society just about as much as you are trying to "impose" dissolute values on society.. 

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