How many of the comments are from Okies?
I’m not one, but I’ve crossed the Big Red more than a few times back and forth.
Oklahoma has a lot in common with Texas, politically, only MORE so.
Almost all TX Republicans used to be Democrats if they’ve been around long enough.
In OK the Democrats have held sway longer than they did in TX.
JC Watts was a Dem turned Republican. Many registered Dems voted for him or he would’ve never been elected. I’m not promoting Watts, just giving you a for instance.
The Dems in OK and TX mostly were not the same as the national Dems. This has been explained on threads where Rick Perry was vilely attacked for having once been a Democrat. Some Dems in these states were libs, but many of them voted for Reagan and some even voted for Ike and Nixon.
They continued to vote in other races for Dems for years after they didn’t like the national Dem candidates. Many of these voted for Jimmy Carter over Gerald Ford, though. Then dumped Jimmuh for the Gipper.
This is Coburn’s background. I do believe he has grown up around and known a lot of OKie Dems he thinks are good people.
I’m not excusing him, because the evidence is that gone are the days when we can afford to give an inch to ANY Democrat.
I’m explaining Coburn’s mindset. It’s old school. It’s outdated. But it’s based on a former reality that’s understandable.
What else might be wrong with Coburn is a debate for another day
The problem with Perry is many of us felt his party switch was completely and thoroughly opportunistic and he has never been an authentic Conservative (the same goes for the TX Lieutenant Governor DewCrist as well). They operate like the good ole boy Southern Democrats that held sway down here for almost 140 years, exactly the kind of folks worked so hard to run out of office.
As for Coburn, he has lived up to my adage that most Conservatives spoil in DC after 6 years. He’s been there 14 out of the last 20 years. If he’s giving campaign contributions to left-wing Democrats like Manchin (he’s not center-right, kids, his voting record is 75% liberal), we have a serious problem. Manchin is the very epitome of the good ole boy Democrat establishment in West Virginia, corrupt and statist to the core and running the show now almost uninterrupted since the 1932/Great Depression elections ended the GOP majority there (which contrasted to the rest of the South — WV was like Baja Western Pennsylvania, also heavily GOP until 1932 and only slowly returning to that preference).