Abandon Ship!

I don’t hear many conservatives talking very much about the ever-growing defections within the GOP. Not that I would if I were in their shoes. “We’re fighting a civil war,” is how one GOP operative put it this week. It seems that every day more and more Republicans are abandoning the sinking ship of the Grand Old Party. No, that’s not right. Not simply abandoning ship. Jumping, swimming the choppy seas, and dragging themselves safely aboard the other team’s ship is more like it.

This is not normal. Competing political teams don’t usually align themselves promiscuously with the perceived victors just because they are the perceived victors. There has to be more to it than that. There has to be something that leads them to believe that their own side is fundamentally flawed in some way, or that the other side can better lead the country than their own.

Have you checked out the list lately?

Government Officials:

Colin Powell, Secretary of State under Bush 43
"...he has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president. I think he is a transformational figure. He is a new generation coming into the world-- onto the world state, onto the American stage, and for that reason I'll be voting for Senator Barack Obama."

Scott McClellan, Former Press Secretary to President George W. Bush
"From the beginning I have said I am going to support the candidate that has the best chance for changing the way Washington works and getting things done and I will be voting for Barack Obama and clapping."

Susan Eisenhower, Granddaughter of President Eisenhower & President of the Eisenhower Group
"Given Obama's support among young people, I believe that he will be most invested in defending the interests of these rising generations and, therefore, the long-term interests of this nation as a whole."

Douglas Kmiec, Head of the Office of Legal Counsel under Reagan & Bush 41
"I was first attracted to government by Ronald Reagan, who lives in our national memory as a great leader and an inspiring communicator. Senator Obama has these gifts as well, but of course, more rhetorical flourish without substance would be worth little. Is there more to Senator Obama? I believe there is."

Charles Fried, Solicitor General of the United States under Reagan
"I admire Senator McCain and was glad to help in his campaign, and to be listed as doing so; but when I concluded that I must vote for Obama for the reason states in my letter, I felt it wrong to appear to be recommending to others a vote that I was not prepared to cast myself."

Jackson M. Andrews, Former Counsel to the U.S. Senate, & 1986 Republican Senatorial Nominee for Kentucky
"Barack Obama is a thoughtful visionary leader who as President will end the decline of American law, liberty, and fiscal responsibility that are the hallmarks of the extremist policies of the current Administration, now adopted by John McCain."

Francis Fukuyama, Advisor to President Reagan
"...Obama probably has the greatest promise of delivering a different kind of politics."

Rita Hauser, Former White House intelligence advisor under George W. Bush "McCain will continue the wrong-headed foreign policy decisions of Bush, while Obama will take us in a new direction."

Larry Hunter, Former President Reagan Policy Advisor
"I suspect Obama is more free-market friendly than he lets on. He taught at the University of Chicago, a hotbed of right-of-center thought. His economic advisers, notably Austan Goolsbee, recognize that ordinary citizens stand to gain more from open markets than from government meddling."

Bill Ruckelshaus, served in the Nixon and Reagan administrations
"I'm not against McCain, I'm for Obama."

Ken Adelman, served in the Ford administration
"The most important decision John McCain made in his long campaign was deciding on a running mate. That decision showed appalling lack of judgment... that selection contradicted McCain's main two, and best two, themes for his campaign-- Country First, and experience counts. Neither can he credibly claim, post-Palin pick."

Timothy Ashby, served in the Reagan and Bush 41 administrations
"America needs a courageous and innovative president rather than one such as John McCain who would only perpetuate the failed Bush policies. On Nov. 4, this Reagan Republican is voting for Barack Obama."

Lilibet Hagel, Wife of Republican Senator Chuck Hagel
"This election is not about fighting phantom issues churned out by a top-notch slander machine. Most important, it is not about distracting the public-- you and me-- with whatever slurs someone thinks will stick."

Bruce Rabb, served in the Nixon administration

George C. Lodge, Assistant Secretary of Labor under President Eisenhower

William B. Ewald, Jr., Special Assistant under President Eisenhower

Robert R. Bowie, Assistant Secretary for Policy Planning, Department of state 1953-1957

Jarold Kieffer, Assistant Secretary, Health, Education & Welfare, 1959-61

Roswell B. Perkins, Assistant Secretary, Health, Education & Welfare, 1954-56

Elected Officials:

Jim Leach, Former Congressman from Iowa
"For me, the national interest comes before party concerns, particularly internationally. We do need a new direction in American policy, and Obama has a sense of that."

Lincoln Chafee, Former United States Senator from Rhode Island
"As I look at the candidates in order who to vote for, certainly my kind of conservatism was reflected with Senator Obama, and those points are that we're fiscally conservative, we care about revenues matching expenditures, we also care about the environment, I think it's a traditional conservative value to care about clean air and clean water."

William Weld, Former Governor of Massachusetts
"It's not often you get a guy with his combination of qualities, chief among which I would say is the deep sense of calm he displays, and I think that's a product of his equally deep intelligence."

Arne Carlson, Former Governor of Minnesota
"I think we have in Barack Obama the clear possibility of a truly great president. I would contend that it's the most important election of my lifetime."

Wayne Gilchrest, Congressman from Maryland
"We can't use four more years of the same kind of policy that's somewhat haphazard, which leads to recklessness."

Charles Mathias, Former Congressman from Maryland
"My decision is based on the long-range needs of our country and which of these two candidates I feel is better suited to recharge America's economic health, restore its prestige abroad and inspire anew all people who cherish freedom and equality. For me, that person is Barack Obama."

Larry Pressler, Former Senator from South Dakota
"I just got the feeling that Obama will be able to handle this financial crisis better, and I like his financial team of [former Treasury Secretary Robert] Rubin and [former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul] Volcker better."

Richard Riordan, Former Mayor of Los Angeles
"I'm still a Republican, but I still will always vote for the person who I think will do the best job."

Lowell Weicker, Former Governor and Senator from Connecticut
"At issue is not the partisan politics of two parties, rather the image we have of ourselves as Americans. Senator Obama brings wisdom, kindness, and common sense to what is both his and our quest for a better America."

Jim Whitaker, Fairbanks, Alaska Mayor
"If we are as a nation concerned with energy, then our consideration should be a national energy policy that is not predicated on crude oil 50 years into the future. We need to get to it, and I think Barack Obama is very clear in that regard."

Linwood Holton, Former Governor of Virginia
"Obama has a brain, and he isn't afraid to use it."

Columnists and Academics:

Christopher Buckley, Son of National Review founder William F. Buckley & former NR columnist
"Obama has in him-- I think, despite his sometimes airy-fairy 'We are the people we have been waiting for' silly rhetoric-- the potential to be a good, perhaps even great leader. He is, it seems clear enough, what the historical moment seems to be calling for."

Andrew Sullivan, Columnist for the Atlantic Monthly
"Obama's legislative record, speeches, and the way he has run his campaign reveal, I think, a very even temperament, a very sound judgment, and an intelligent pragmatism. Prudence is a word that is not inappropriate to him."

CC Goldwater, Granddaughter of Barry Goldwater
"Nothing about the Republican tickets offers the hope America needs to regain its standing in the world, that's why we're going to support Barack Obama."

Jeffrey Hart, National Review Senior Editor
"It turns out that these political parties are not always either liberal or conservative, Democratic or Republican. The Democrat, under certain conditions, can be the conservative."

Andrew Bacevich, Professor of International Relations at Boston University
"For conservatives, Obama represents a sliver of hope. McCain represents none at all. The choice turns out to be an easy one."

David Friedman, Economist and son of Milton and Rose Friedman
"I hope Obama wins. President Bush has clearly been a disaster from the standpoint of libertarians and conservatives because he has presided over an astonishing rise in government spending."

Wick Alison, Former publisher of the National Review
"I made the maximum donation to John McCain during the primaries, when there was still hope he might come to his senses. But I now see that Obama is almost the ideal candidate for this moment in American history."

Michael Smerconish, Columnist for the Philadelphia Enquirer
"...an Obama presidency holds the greatest chance for unifying us here at home and restoring our prestige around the globe."