In the Tennessee Senate, a Historic Shift of Power (Rise of Southern Repugs)

[rodeodance]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/27/us/27tennessee.html?_r=1&th=&oref=slogin&emc=th&pagewanted=print


January 27, 2007
In the Tennessee Senate, a Historic Shift of Power
By THEO EMERY


.......But a sign of perhaps the most significant change can be found outside Room 1, the office of the Senate speaker, where the nameplate on the wall has been replaced for the first time in 36 years.

Earlier this month, senators voted out John S. Wilder, an 85-year-old Democrat who had been speaker since 1971, choosing instead Ronald L. Ramsey, the first Republican to lead the body since Reconstruction. In Tennessee, the powerful Senate speaker is also lieutenant governor, and next in line for the governorship.

Back-room politicking and shifting loyalties played a role in the ouster of Mr. Wilder, who comes from a wealthy West Tennessee cotton family and who flew his own plane to the capital. Until he was voted out, he was the nation’s longest serving state legislative leader, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The change reflects a reality in the South: rising Republican strength in state politics, said Prof. Merle Black of Emory University, a co-author of “The Rise of Southern Republicans.”

[MikeNearMcChord]

1. And eventual doom of the GOP

They will be relegated to being a Southern Party, and that might be just a temporary reprieve as their policies do more damage, unless they shift back to the Eisenhower/Rockefeller mode.

[Ignacio Upton]

3. If we can own the west, and take VA, NC and FL

Then we will be the majority party. The Republicans were America's majority party from 1896-1932 and did it without the help of the south.

[SharonAnn]

2. Shame on us for having to keep Wilder or vote in the GOP. Wilder is awful!

Hawking and spitting, anti-women, bizarre ramblings, he's unbelievable!

I'd rather have a Democratic leadership, but we need to get more Democrats elected to the State Senate. So far we've been doing a poor job of that.

Wilder had done some good things in the past, but he let the party dwindle and shut newcomers out of leadership positions, even after several terms. After all, compared to him (85 years old) they're all "newcomers".

It's time to be done with all that authoritarian bull sh**. If we lost the State Senate speakership, it's becasue we didn't have the majority.

'nuff said.

[MikeNearMcChord]

4. Here is an article from The Nation

The Way Down South by Bob Moser
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070212/moser
A story about how the South can be reclaimed by the Democratic Party.

[regnaD kciN]

5. BREAKING NEWS: Republicans strong in Deep South!

We now return you to our regularly scheduled program.

:boring:

[dogfacedboy]

6. People get the government they deserve.

If TN wants the kind of Republicans that have been hijacking that party for the past 25 years, so be it. They will learn the hard way. The modern Republican party will not only destroy itself, but the Democratic party is gunning for them as well.