Meneilly to switch parties

  The list of Kansas Republicans bailing out of the GOP and going Democratic is growing.

   Today, Dr. Bob Meneilly, pastor emeritus of Village Presbyterian Church and chairman emeritus of the moderate Mainstream Coalition, said he was joining their ranks.

   Meineilly said he had been contemplating a switch for several years. Last week's election of Phill Kline as Johnson County D.A. pushed him over the edge:

   "The way they did it was kind of a slap in the face to the community," he said.

   Meneilly said he has the application at home and planned to mail it this week. His wife is switching, too.

Posted by Steve Kraske

Comments

I am sorry to see Mr. Meneilly make this change. The situation will only get worse unless the traditional mainstream Republicans get organized and back in control. Politics is a system of compromises. The right and the left decline to admit or subscribe to this.

[Jim Atchison]

Instead of fighting for control of the party, the moderate Republicans like to "cut and run". Now maybe we can save our money for the general election instead of fighting two fronts.

[Corey Mohn]

Jim, Define "cut and run". It appears to me that attempts made by the moderates to work with conservatives and support them as Republicans have not been reciprocated. Case in point - good GOP members like Kenny Wilk in the KS House go to bat for conservative R's in the general election only to not receive support when the time comes to vote for a speaker. The mods don't seem to be getting much love.

Is it better to work together as a party or "fight for control"?

In the early 90's when the "moderates" had control in Kansas, they absolutely ignored and ridiculed the conservatives. Rather than cut and run, the conservatives made a concerted effort to work hard to find and get elected people who would represent their conservative viewpoints. They didn't run out and become Libertarians because they didn't get their way. As far as Meineilly is concerned, Mainstream has typically endorsed more Democrats than Repubicans (and only liberal Republicans at that), and rumor has it that some Republicans were tired of Mainstream's attempt to pressure them into voting "Mainstream's values", which are not all that mainstream. Besides that,their endorsement has very little political value....so what's the big surprise?

[jmart]

MainStream's values "are not all that mainstream"? Really?

Whose endorsed candidate for attorney general got 65 percent of the Johnson County vote? And which right-wing anti-choice superstar got the remaining 35 percent?

Get real. The conservatives are leading the Republican Party over a cliff, and any Republican with a lick of sense -- and enough brain cells to recognize that evolution is not a tool of Satan -- is becoming a Democrat. The Republican Party in Kansas and in Johnson County is becoming just like the Libertarians -- a refuge for fringe wackos who are essentially irrelevant to the process of governing.

Not that that is a bad thing . . . .

[cmarshalldavis]

who is robert menielly and why should we care what he says or does?

Robert Meneilly (Kraske misspelled the name) founded the Village Church in Prairie Village in 1949. In August 1993 he gave a sermon that became the rallying cry for the political organization, The MAINstream Coalition. http://www.mainstreamcoalition.org/. In this case "MAINstream" is closer to "far left" in meaning.

In recent years Meneilly was so "Mainstream" he served on the board of directors of Planned Parenthood; he was a member of the "Republicans" for Dennis Moore in 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006; served on the "Progressive Community" host committee for a ProKanDo fund raiser on Oct 5, 2006 to benefit Dr. Tiller in Wichita; was one of the 125 Kansas clergy signing a letter opposing the marriage amendment in April 2005 -- only 30% of Kansans agreed with him. Is it possible to be further left than Rev. Meneilly?

JMart's (see above) view of what is "Mainstream" may not be the same as everyone. JMart gave over $700 to elect Howard Dean president in 2004, and has been a "Republican" for Dennis Moore in 2002, 2004, and 2006.

What will Dennis Moore do if all his Republicans for Moore become Democrats?

[gentleben]

Say it isn't so! Not Reverend Bob! What will the Republicans do without him pretending to be one of them?

Finally he can be a part of something where he actually embraces the beliefs of what he claims to be.

And take note of the tribute to feminist independence as his lovely bride tags along.

Yes sir, Phill pushed this one over the edge. Woe is us, woe is us, clearly a major change of heartless in the Meneilly household. Is this news? And who cares?

[Jim Atchison]

Corey
The opposite of "Cut and Run" means that when conservatives lost control of the Johnson County Republican party in the late 90's after holding control for 4 years, they fought to sign up precinct committee people to get back control in the new century. They did not cut and run to the Libertarian or Reform party in mass. I always campaign hard for conservative Republicans in the primaries, but always vote Republican in the General. Moderate Republicans have somehow determined that they cannot get back control and are joining your political group, thus cutting their losses and running to the Democrats.

Yes, Republicans elected conservative officers in the KS House, but the KS Senate is controlled by Steve Morris and the other moderate Republican senators and only allowed Karin Brownlee to be a token assistant officer and she is socially conservative but is borderline fiscally moderate/conservative.

P.S. It is better to fight hard in the primary and rally together in the general.

[PBI]

I thought Bob Meneilly always was a Democrat.

[John Altevogt]

Isn't this sweet? This means that both Bob Meneilly and Fred Phelps will be in the same political party. Birds of a feather finally together?

[John Altevogt]

Say Jmart did you get any of that $50 grand JCCC forked out to Westbrook for PR work in the Chuck Carlsen scandal? Now there's a real reclamation project. $50 grand for PR, $377,000.00 to some lefty lawfirm for the so-called report that pretty much said nothing. Phill will make $280,000 over two years for doing a great job as DA and you "mainstream" folks spend pretty near a half million trying to rehabilitate Herr Doktor Hootergrabben.

While you're over there at the Mainstream website take a look at the ABOUT and check out the list of advisers. Chuck Carlsen is still on the list.

[aka]

"Politics is a system of compromises. The right and the left decline to admit or subscribe to this."

No. Only the far-right (aka Conservative Republicans) fail to admit to this. What passes for the "left" in the US is all too eager to compromise with the just about anyone. And I'm not against that.

The political discourse in this country has been hijacked by the far right. The so-called "Moderate Republicans" (aka the GOP from 1946-1994) has been superseded by extremists, and while I might disagree with the "Moderates" policies I at least share traditional American values of democracy with them.

For the time being they are welcome in the Democratic party as far as I'm concerned, but I hope soon they will re-take their party and we can return to the days when Dems and Repubs can have principled disagreements on policy, but still share a vision for what freedom and democracy means in the USA.

[cmarshalldavis]

oh, so robert meneilly is a holy roller?

[maroon]

"What will Dennis Moore do if all his Republicans for Moore become Democrats?"

He'll keep winning- because the far right would rather alienate and disenfranchise than get anything done. Moral stands do not create progress for an agenda, they only make people who can do something about it distance themselves from the fringes...accomplishing nothing of significance, only grandstanding.

[John Altevogt]

No, I don't think Bob has a lot to do with religion. Think Ian Paisley over in Northern Ireland and maybe Fred over in Topeka and I think you'll have a pretty good idea of where he's at.

[cmarshalldavis]

i seem to remember robert meneilly preaching this or that garbage at the village church. always some sort of religious crap.

[Christian Morgan]

Right, Meneilly was a Republican.

As anyone who has been involved in politics in JOCO the last 10 years - ask them if Meneilly was a Republican.

What a joke.

[JAMES]

I thought he was dead

I love it! Rather than recognizing that this constant stream of voters and politicians switching their party affiliation is a real problem, conservative Repubs in Kansas make fun of those switching. Keep at it boys and pretty soon your candidates will all be drawing the same 35% that Philllll did in the last election. Maybe you should change your name to the Ostrich Party.

[jack]

I get a kick out of listening to the far right in the Republican Party chirp and preen like fancy birds.

I watched the last Republican Convention. I listened to all the right wing "leaders" complaining about "RINOS" and how they should get out of the Republican Party. I read the statements from KS Republican leadership calling people like Morrison "RINOS" an saying they were glad to be rid of them.

Now I hear the same "leadership" complaining that the people they have said they don't want in their party shouldn't be allowed to be politically active at all. After all, if they change parties they can't be trusted.

Hmmmm? First you tell me that I am no longer welcome under your tent. Then you call me a turncoat for moving to another tent. Wht you are really saying is that if I am not willing to do what you say, I should not be allowed to participate in the process at all.

Sounds to me like the far right doesn't think much of Democracy.

Dr. Meneilly is a good man. I am sorry to see him change parties.

Welcome to the Democratic party, Dr. Bob. This is great news!

[John Altevogt]

Jack:

the only people who have ever tried to exclude someone from the marketplace of ideas has been meneilly and his band of anti-evangelical bigots. Your comment that conservatives don't want people who change parties to be politically active is blatantly false as is the equally silly paragraph that follows it. Find me one quote from one conservative who has said anything even approximating the nonsense you wrote.

I'm delighted that meneilly finally has at least the tiny scrap of integrity to call himself what he has been all along, but there's not a bit of difference that the change will make in terms of what he believes, or who he continues to hate.

Quoting maroon: "What will Dennis Moore do if all his Republicans for Moore become Democrats?"

Win again, as per usual.