By Dennis Brent Melby
Who you support tells a lot about you. Why you support them tells even more.
WHO YOU SUPPORT MATTERS
If you don't remember David Duke let me refresh your memory. Duke fancied himself a leader of the Ku Klux Klan - a white southern group founded by the Democrats after the Civil War and more recently funded clandestinely by the SPLC (The Southern Poverty Law Center) as a way to increase donations to the SPLC coffers. He ran in Louisiana as a Republican for Governor and the US Senate - but even though he was a registered Republican, he was an extremist and a racist.
He had also been a Democrat and a Nazi. The Republican Party, headed by George Bush, unequivocally disavowed him and told people not to vote for him. And it worked, he lost. That is what you should do - disavow extremists.
Fast forward to 2026, Graham Platner is running for US Senator from Maine - setting up a race between an extremist left wing Democrat and a very liberal Republican incumbent, Susan Collins. To say she doesn't want President Trump to campaign for her is un understatement! She represents her state passionately, and votes her conscience 100%. Yet because of the R behind her name, she's vulnerable. Democrats are falling all over themselves to endorse and campaign for Platner, a candidate with a Nazi SS death squad tattoo, numerous allegations of womanizing and abusive relationships, demeaning comments about folks in the military, and too many questionable statements to catalog. He's ahead in the polls.
Yes, I'm comfortable being with the party that disavowed Duke. I'm amazed that Democrats backing Platner is even an option...but it is. Democrat Party leaders say, "We just need someone to oppose the President on everything all the time." Surely the Democrats can do better. The Party of Believe All Women has a real problem putting words into action.
Our party knows better. Our history includes great leaders who represented their constituents with honor, and frankly moderation. Folks like Connie Morella, Newton Steers, Gilbert Gude, Mac Mathias and J. Glen Beall. They were stalwarts of propriety, indeed political moderates who served their constituents with dignity and honesty. At times they supported the President, and at other times they didn't. I miss having legislators who don't curry favor with the extremists to get the national spotlight - and I look forward to the next election to return to problem solving and get away from name calling and histrionics.
Instead of supporting them, the one party state here in Maryland gerrymandered many of their districts and voted them out because of their registration - not because of their policies. To this day the super-majority Democrats in Annapolis are still trying to eliminate the single Republican in Congress from Maryland - just so they can impeach and remove the President and replace the Speaker of the House. Yep, lots of moderate Democrats read our newsletter - I implore you, tell your state delegates to do the right thing and return to normalcy.
Yes, who you support matters, and why you support them is even more important.
What are your thoughts? What does "believe all women" mean? Is party affiliation blinding in both parties? Do you support folks just so your party will win? Let me know at [email protected]