Yep.
This is how it started for me, about 20 years ago! I used to be registered GOP. I didn’t love the Democrats, but the GOP’s being shanghaied by the religious wackos (for starters) was deeply disturbing to me.
These days, I do agree with Democrats more often than not, but I can’t imagine myself voting for GOP candidates until the party culture substantially changes. I’m not holding my breath.
The Democrats, however, are mostly bloody useless twits. Which is still hugely better than the maniacs leading the GOP these days…
Precisely.
The party that best reflects my views is the Libertarians; which have no hope of putting anyone into office around me or nationally. I have only been registered with them for maybe 2 years. So as a result I party-hop depending on the primary (PA has closed primaries). Mostly I find myself with the Democrats but there has been a time or two I went with the Republicans.
I have never loved the Republican Party (as a kid in New York, I associated the party with liberals like John Lindsay and Nelson Rockefeller).
I once loved certain Republican politicians, but I got over that. I know now that even my favorite politicians are flawed at best, and only have limited power to impose their/my will.
I did love the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party at one time. I still vote for them but the love petered out some time after my twelfth birthday.
And another vote for “the X I know and love” is a cliche and not a true profession of love.
But that beats hell out of tire rims and anthrax.
That’s part of it, but also, I don’t think any of the people posting in this thread are politicans or political staffers, like the guy quoted in the OP is. If anybody’s going to love a political party, it’s going to be a person who feels ownership in and benefits from that party—i.e. a politician.
No, I just currently find the smell of donkey shit slightly less nauseating than the smell of elephant dung.
I certainly don’t love any party. If you look at my voting record, I’m pretty loyal to the Republican party, but only because I can’t find any better alternatives. When someone asked me why I voted for Bush the second time, my answer was that I liked about 30% of Bush and only 25% of Kerry. This is basically true when applied at a party level.
I’m certainly not donating money, time or anything else to any party or campaign.
A lot of people use that phrase when referring to some idealized concept of an entity. It’s a little like the “No true Scotsman” argument, or phrases like “the America the Founding Fathers intended” (as if those guys could agree about anything).
Going back to myself, there’s some version of the Republican party that I could conceive of as a nearly perfect ideal. It takes less work with them than any other party… but of course, the reality falls way, way short of that ideal.
sorry double post
Nope. I’m rooting for the eventual destruction of both major parties, with the caveat that the GOP must be the first to disband.
I am a life-long Republican. I very very rarely vote for a Democrat. However, BOTH political parties have morphed into a group of folks that will say anything, do anything, and promise anything to get elected into office. Once elected, they will do anything to stay in office. I have very little respect for politicians. They are all crooks and liars.
I think the Democrats are cowardly and ineffectual, I hate almost all of them and it is a wonder they can get their heads out their asses for long enough to run a country. That said they are the only party any reasonable person could ever vote for.
This is my view, with the words “…anytime soon” added to the end.
In races where there’s a Libertarian candidate, I’ll vote for him/her (Johnson 2012!). In cases where there is not, I generally vote Republican while trying valiantly to keep my lunch down.
I think most people tolerate the parties whose candidates they generally vote for.
I would guess that most of the people here on the Dope all are generally left of the parties that they vote with.
Love? A Party…? :dubious:
A few Democratic Beliefs I agree with whole-heartedly. But Love them? I wouldn’t f-ck that party with Bill Maher’s dick.
That said, if Pfizer had 100 years of non-stop production, they couldn’t produce enough Bob-Dole-Strength Viagra to get me even partially interested in the Republican Party.