Pressler… Pressler… Why does that name ring a bell?
From the Rapid City Journal:
“I voted for the guy who beat me,” [former Sen. Larry Pressler] said. “But I felt kind of good when I walked out of the courthouse.”
In the contentious campaign against Johnson in 1996, Pressler lost in his bid for a fourth term in the U.S. Senate, ending a 22-year congressional career that included two U.S. House terms.
Pressler said he is still “very much a Republican” but has been inspired by Johnson’s recovery from a life-threatening brain hemorrhage almost two years ago and admires the Democrat for his ongoing battle to overcome speech problems.
“I just admire so much his struggle, and I’ve gone to see him a few times and feel like I’ve gotten close to him.”
I guess I can understand that feeling of empathy from Pressler. Last time I saw our former champion of South Dakota values, it felt to me as though he could barely hold a conversation. Then again, I was just a TAR who was a lifelong supporter of his. What would I know?
Read the rest at: http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2008/10/27/news/top/doc490635a4847ed940629189.txt
October 27th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Well, Pressler made the right decision in this election and I commend him for it. It’s not easy to cross party lines, especially, when you are a Republican and support a Democrat in a race like Pressler is doing. Make that 2 Democrats with his support of Obama. I can empathize with Mr. Pressler because I too was once a Republican and had voted for Democrats and Republicans. I left the Republican Party three years ago, although Pressler is reported to still be registered as Republican. I am now a registered Independent and have never regretted the decision to leave the GOP. It was the best decision I could have made. I just find that the GOP has become increasingly extreme in their views. The hatred that is coming from some of the Republicans in this election is just shameful and sad. Sadly, it’s not the party of Reagan or Eisenhower, or even Pressler anymore. I just see a political party increasingly consumed by anger and rage and that is hindering their ability to reason and stay focused on any viable message for supporting the middle class. In a democratic republic, such as ours, all people have to work together to get anything meaningful accomplished. Demonizing and insulting other people who do not agree with our political views just serves to further divide and keep us from working together for everyone’s benefit. The party that embraces hatred and hostility for the otherside will lose this election and it’s become quite apparent what Party that is.
October 28th, 2008 at 8:28 am
You’re obviously looking at a different GOP than I am. The one I see has become gutless in taking important stands.
You see, my dear Mondak, in a two-party system it’s perfectly alright to have polar opposite ideologies. That’s what makes the system work, through each side keeping each other in check. Why would we want to keep each other in check? Well, because government is not supposed to be able to simply do whatever it wants. Read the Constitution.
What has happened, however, is that the two parties have become so closely aligned that people fail to see a difference in the two. I heard a funny but very true quote at the Americans for Prosperity summit in D.C. a couple weeks ago by an author named Dinesh D’Souza.
“My mom, who lives in Mumbai, India, has trouble understanding American politics. Recently she asked me to give her a brief summary of what’s going on.
“I explained, ‘There are two parties in American politics. There is a stupid party and there is an evil party.’
“In an attempt to put my own cards on the table, I confessed, ‘I am a proud member of the stupid party.’
“Then I added, ‘Sometimes, American politicians do things that are both stupid and evil. Those things we call bipartisanship.’”
October 28th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Mondak, What policy of Reagans or that Reagan promoted is your favorite? And not Ron Reagan!
October 28th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Mon(dull)dak is just another phony leftist blogger claiming to be a former Repo “who saw the light.” He probably voted for Carter, then for Mondull in Reagan’s second campaign. He (or she) sees only hate, and “a political party increasingly consumed by anger and rage.”
Poor mon(dull)dak doesn’t see the hate and bigotry of Jeremiah wright or the other anti-Americans nObama sought out in his quest for power. Pressler is a very sorry and bad joke in the current political situation. Perhaps he’s vieing for for the post recently vacated by tony green.
October 29th, 2008 at 10:27 am
I always wondered if Pressler had a brian disfunction, now we all know.
October 29th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
It seems like Anon IS a brIAn disfunction.