One less thing the matter with Kansas?

By Lee Russ

Wednesday, May 31, 2006 at 10:11 AM

The AP reports that the former head of the Kansas GOP has recently switched affiliation to the Democratic Party, which is assumed to be in preparation for becoming the running mate of the current Democratic Governor in her reelection bid.

Moderately funny excerpt on the Republican reaction:

Republican House Speaker Doug Mays said he was disgusted by Parkinson's lack of loyalty to the party that made him chairman, but he isn't surprised by the rift.

The Republican Party, which has dominated Kansas politics since statehood, has shifted to the right in recent years and it inevitably will shift back to the left, he said. Instead of defecting to challenge one another, though, Republicans need to find common ground, he said.

Looks to me like they have: the moderately sane branch and the intensely insane branch ech recognizes the other as the enemy.

The House Speaker must be either blind or dishonest.  How do you find "common ground" with a bunch of religious extremists without becoming one yourself?  That's the story to me: the slow but steady realization on the part of independents and Republicans that the Republican Party really is led by a bunch of revolutionary extremists who want to inflict their little free market theocracy on everybody.  And since their beliefs are always the beliefs, there's no arguing or reasoning with them.

Switch.  It's the right thing to do for you and your country.

Update [2006-5-31 10:26:8 by Lee Russ]:AsI was posting this, the news was breaking that Parkinson has announced he is running as the Democratic Governor'srunning mate. And it looks to be getting nasty between current and former Kansas Repubs. According to the Seattle Post Intelligencer report:

The Kansas GOP fired off a statement calling Parkinson a hypocrite and pointing out that four years ago Parkinson had called Sebelius a "left-wing liberal Democrat" and said Republicans who supported her were "either insincere or uninformed." "Mark Parkinson obviously feels more at home with liberal Democrats than he does with Republicans. By his own words, he is either uninformed or insincere. Or third, he is simply coming out of the closet," said Ron Freeman, executive director of the state Republican Party. Parkinson, 48, acknowledged that he had doubted Sebelius when she first ran for governor four years ago but said he now believes she provides "independent leadership" for Kansas. "In an age where leaders duck responsibility and dodge their mistakes let me be the first to say: I was wrong," Parkinson said in a written statement.