Reply #94: Iran-Contra, then the field in the '88 GOP primary, then '94. [View All]

[carpetbagger]

I had hoped that Reaganism would go with Reagan, and thought the moderate Yankee wing would again take over, and try to balance the budget while retaining the best the New Deal and Great Society had going for it. Once I came to the realization that the best candidate in the primary was Bob Dole, that was it.

Even in the first years of the Bush administration (I voted for Dukakis), I still kept hoping against hope that I'd be proven wrong. I liked the no-net-wetlands-loss thing, I liked the appointment of Souter, but the Latin-American killer thing really bugged me, although I supported the invasion of Panama on the grounds that Noriega was trying to keep a democratically elected government from taking office.

The rest (Thomas, economic mismanagement, bungled diplomacy, and finally the 1992 campaign) is history. Even in 1992, I voted for Connie Morella in the general election.

Starting in 1994, I have not voted for a single republican for state or national office, either in Maryland, West Virginia, or Texas (although I admit to protest voting for a 3d party candidate in the 1996 WV governor's race). I think the last time I voted against a democrat was in '00, when one of the dems running for county commission beat his kid up at the local bowling alley.

So the process was gradual, but the Gingrich revolution was the event that made me glad to be in the forefront of the Jeffords revolution.