“Last time I spoke at a convention turned out I was in the wrong place,” former Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.) told the Republican National Convention tonight. “Thank you for welcoming me where I belong.”
The former supporter of President Obama, who left the House last year and switched to the Republican Party this year, delivered one of the sharpest and most highly anticipated speeches of the night, endorsing Mitt Romney as “the most experienced executive to seek presidency in 60 years.”
“He doesn’t confuse the presidency with celebrity … what a difference four years makes,” Davis said, adding that the Democrats’ negative ads “do convince that Gov. Romney can’t sing, but his record convinces me he does know how to lead.”
“Maybe we should have known that night in Denver that things that begin with Styrofoam columns and artificial smoke don’t end well,” he quipped of the 2008 Democratic convention. “You thought it was the glare; some of us thought it was a halo.”
“No candidate had ever spoken so beautifully but dreams meet daybreak,” Davis said. “…Let’s put the poetry aside, let’s suspend the hype, let’s come down to Earth and start creating jobs again.”
Welcome back home, Mr. Davis, you’ve always been part of the family.
Loved the speech. He was way to funny to stay with the D’s, and I’m glad he’s on our side now.
My only regret is that it took you so long Artur. Well, better late than never. Welcome. And invite your friends to come on over as well.
It was a great speech, in both content and delivery. And with a great back story.
Too bad Allen West didn’t speak
So, we are to believe that a leopard can change its spots? While I applaud Congressman Davis for having the good sense to abandon the sinking Democrat ship, I cannot forget that he spent a LOT of his time aboard it, happily helping to plot its course. Just because the freak show which the current administration has revealed the party to be no longer suits Davis, it doesn’t mean that he suits the GOP, either, or anyone else who turns coat on the Dems. His values shaped his previous allegiance, and would, at best, make him a RINO, should he return to elected office with a big, red “R” next to his name.
Opportunism =/= Conservatism. =’[.]‘=
If Mr. Davis was a cheetah then I could understand your argument. But he is human and not a cheetah. There for your argument falls apart.
Examples abound on this website alone that, indeed a human can and will change their minds. Your argument smacks of Democrat retribution.
No less than Ronald Reagan was once a Democrat. He said, “I didn’t leave the Democrats, they left me.” Was he a RINO?
People can change for a variety of reasons. Roger Simon was a Hollywood liberal until 9/11. Others may change when they see that the Democrats today no longer represent their views, as Reagan did.
As a fiscal conservative I’ve watched the Republicans sail away from me.
Mr Davis may well not be moving to the right. He could just be standing still and jumping on the party moving left.
Fiscal conservatism and the Repubican party have only a loose relationship. There are a lot of big spenders in the GOP – most of them just want to spend the money on different things than the Democrats. I remember back around 2005 when the Republican leadership in Congress talked about their highest priority was getting a new highway bill passed. Those bills are among the worst examples of pork anywhere. I knew then they were going to lose big in 2006.
There are isolated examples of fiscal conservatives in the Republican party. The question is what are we going to do about it? Are we just going to grumble and stay home on election day, or are we going to try to elect someone who has the real chance of being vastly better than Obama and company? The federal government is running 3-4 billion dollars in the hole every single day. What are we going to do about it? The perfect is the enemy of the good and perfect isn’t on any ballot this or any other year.
Reagan also said, “Trust, but verify.” =’[.]‘=
Welcome back, Mr. Davis! Styrofoam columns, glare, smoke, teleprompter…sounds like a show that needs to be canceled!
I like the “dreams meet daybreak” motif. There should be more we can do with it, especially given Obama’s massive failure to fulfill the expectations he generated.