Whose Ox?

    My democratic friends are in a tizzy and screaming to high heaven over Rep. Rodney Alexander’s switch to the Republican Party in the final minutes of the last day for filing for reelection to the U. S. House of Representatives.
   The radical left wing and some of the liberals in the National Democratic Party have called him every nasty and hateful name in the book and then some. Senators Breaux and Landrieu have gone out of their way to chastise him severely. Landrieu called him a “coward”.
Kori Bernard, spokeswoman for the DCCC, stated that Rodney Alexander owed his seat in Congress to the DCCC. Other democrats including Breaux and Landrieu expressed the same sentiments.
  But the question arises: did Breaux, Landrieu and the National Democratic Party really elect Alexander? Some have a different view including Moon Griffon, a radio talk host in North Louisiana: more later.
Of course, a Baton Rouge newspaper known for its liberal views comparable to those of that great American, Molly Ivins, weighed in with an editorial highly critical of Rodney too. Calling Alexander’s last minute switch “outrageous”, the editorial quoted John Breaux as saying, “Alexander became a confused politician who has placed loyalty at the very bottom of his priorities.” Landrieu is quoted as saying; “I have seen some cowardly things in my career, but this is the worst.” “She is right” so said the newspaper.
   The editorial stated that Alexander had a right to switch parties but objected to the “underhanded way” in which it was done. It pointed out that Mike Foster and many others have switched parties.
My sense is that Mike Foster and the many other former democrats have switched parties because of the very same reasons Rep. Alexander did and that is, he and they didn’t leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left them.
  The National Democratic Party demands that elected democrats vote the party line irrespective of the views and beliefs of their local constituents. That’s what they call party loyalty. Senator Breaux is an exception because he has a diverse group of constituents and is too strong for the party to punish; so they thread lightly. Some like Landrieu can easily vote the party line because they are elected by die hard liberals in urban areas who are her constituents; most of whom support the Democratic Party and who vote 98% for the party nominee no matter who he or she is and to whom Landrieu owes her seat in the senate.
  Alexander, on the other side of the horn, comes from a rural north Louisiana area that is mostly conservative. He said that: ‘it had become discouraging to me to have to defend my voting record and that it had gotten increasingly hard for me to represent my district”. He was being criticized for his conservative votes in Congress and his refusal to endorse John Kerry the Democrat from Massachusetts running for president.
  He reported he had a sleepless night before making the decision and that it wasn’t an easy decision. It was the toughest thing in the world he said.
Alexander said he was hurt by the comments of his former Democratic colleagues, citing specifically Mary Landrieu, who called him a coward. He said that being called a coward was not fair. He went on to say that when people come to him for help, he doesn’t ask what party they belong to.
   Moon Griffon, a statewide radio host, had a different take on who elected Alexander. In his view the Baton Rouge newspaper and Mr. McGinnis, a well known political column writer, had it all wrong in their belief that Senators Breaux, Landrieu and the National Democratic Party elected Rep. Alexander in the last election. Simply stated, the area republicans elected him because of infighting in the Republican Party that caused thousands of republicans to stay home and not vote.
   Well, I guess the upcoming election will prove who is right. The democrats are out for blood and will leave no stone unturned to defeat Rodney. Maybe, just maybe, the republicans have learned a lesson and they, together with conservative democrats, will meet the challenge and support Rep. Alexander with equal vigor. Time and money will tell.
In the interim, I believe it takes a lot more courage to stand on principle and what’s best for our country than political expediency. For the record I think it would have been better had he switched earlier, but his critics would have demonized him anyway. Besides, I agree that it was a very difficult decision and that he probably didn’t make it until the last minute.
   After it’s all said and done, I guess one’s viewpoint depends on whose ox is being gored. Republicans and conservative Democrats will welcome the chance to vote for Alexander while liberal Democrats will lament that their ox errrr donkey is being gored.
   That’s my story and I am sticking to it.

   Milo A. Nickel is the former President and COO of Louisiana State Newspapers.

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