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Parker Griffith, R-Ala.

Tuesday, Dec 22, 2009 5:15 PM UTC2009-12-22T17:15:00Zl, M j, Y g:i A T

NRCC scrubs ads attacking party switcher

Republicans move quickly to rid YouTube of vicious ads run against Parker Griffith, who's joining their party

When Democrat Parker Griffith ran for Congress last year, it was in a district that the GOP wanted badly to win. So the Natioanl Republican Congressional Committee really went to town on him, putting out an attack ad filled with dark images of terror attacks, including 9/11, that ended by quoting Griffith as saying, “We have nothing to fear from radical Islam.”

Griffith won anyway. But on Tuesday, news broke that he plans to switch parties, and will officially announce his decision to become a Republican Tuesday afternoon. Problem was, that ad was apparently still on YouTube.

The NRCC seems to have moved quickly, though. Their official copy of the spot has been removed from the video-sharing site. One other user’s copy still remained as of this post, however. You can view it below.

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Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.  More Alex Koppelman

Wednesday, Jun 2, 2010 2:01 PM UTC2010-06-02T14:01:00Zl, M j, Y g:i A T

2010: Not the year for party-switchers

Parker Griffith and Arlen Specter both learned that establishment support won't help you avoid voters' fury

Rep. Parker Griffith (R-Ala.) and Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.)

Rep. Parker Griffith (R-Ala.) and Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.)

It should have been obvious all along that party-switching Rep. Parker Griffith was heading to defeat in Tuesday’s Alabama GOP primary. (And actually, to many Democrats hoping for Griffith to fall, it was.) Politicians have been getting away with jumping from one side of the aisle to the other for a long time — but 2010 is clearly not the year for it.

Griffith quit the Democratic Party in December, citing healthcare reform — and a generalized dislike for, oh, pretty much everything the party stands for — as his reason. The Republican establishment welcomed him with open arms, trumpeting the leap as another good omen for the GOP’s November 2010. (Mostly open arms, that is, except when they accidentally attacked him in party-funded mailings.) At the time, Griffith seemed to be making the right move — Democrats had stalled in their push for the healthcare bill, President Obama (never particularly popular in Griffith’s district) was watching his approval ratings plunge and elections the month before had mostly gone well for the GOP. But on the ground back home, activists weren’t so quick to get on board. In Madison County, Alabama, the local party endorsed anyone but Griffith in a three-way race. The Tea Party blasted Griffith, calling him a Republican in name only — which was hard to refute, since he’d only been a Republican for a few months.

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Mike Madden is Salon's Washington correspondent. A complete listing of his articles is here. Follow him on Twitter hereMore Mike Madden

Tuesday, Jun 1, 2010 3:45 PM UTC2010-06-01T15:45:00Zl, M j, Y g:i A T

Alabama’s YouTube primaries

From Tim "We Speak English" James to Les "They're Not Going to Call Me a Racist" Phillip

Alabama’s primary elections are today! The candidates running for various offices include a man who hates foreign languages and sex offenders, a black Democrat who hates Obamacare, a white Democrat who became a Republican, a black Republican who hates Obama, and the guy who installed a giant, granite copy of the Ten Commandments in the state courthouse for attention a couple years ago. All of them have produced or been the subjects of crazy YouTube ads. It is everything wonderful and terrible about this nation in 2010 in one convenient place.

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Alex Pareene

Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon. Email him at apareene@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @pareene  More Alex Pareene

Monday, Apr 12, 2010 5:53 PM UTC2010-04-12T17:53:00Zl, M j, Y g:i A T

Ex-Dem Parker Griffith mistakenly bills DCCC

The Alabama congressman switched parties back in December. Apparently, someone in his office hasn't heard the news

Rep. Parker Griffith, R-Ala.

Rep. Parker Griffith, R-Ala.

Apparently it’s taking a little while for the realization that Rep. Parker Griffith is now a Republican to sink in — with his own staff.

Aides at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee got a FedEx packet Monday morning, from Griffith’s Huntsville, Ala., district office and addressed to one of Griffith’s schedulers, Leigh Pettis — but at 430 South Capitol Street SE, the Democratic National Committee headquarters, instead of at Griffith’s Capitol Hill office. Inside were a bunch of receipts for more than $1,000 of office expenditures. Which almost made it look like Griffith was trying to bill his former party for keeping his office running. (The DCCC and its Republican counterpart don’t reimburse lawmakers for their official business, so it was pretty obviously just a case of writing the wrong address on the package before sending it.)

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Mike Madden is Salon's Washington correspondent. A complete listing of his articles is here. Follow him on Twitter hereMore Mike Madden

Friday, Mar 5, 2010 11:14 PM UTC2010-03-05T23:14:00Zl, M j, Y g:i A T

“What kind of man is Parker Griffith?”

Democrat-turned Republican Rep. Parker Griffith wasn't always one of the GOP's favorite doctors

Republicans are turning to one of their newest colleagues to give a response on Saturday to President Obama’s weekly radio address. Rep. Parker Griffith of Alabama — who switched parties late last year, but still has had trouble convincing tea party activists in his district to trust him — will take up the GOP cause on healthcare reform.

Griffith, a doctor, might seem like a natural to speak on the subject. But Republicans haven’t always been so impressed by his medical credentials. A Democratic source reminded Salon that a nasty 2008 attack ad by the National Republican Congressional Committee, during Griffith’s first campaign, went after his career as a physician. “What kind of man is Parker Griffith?” the ad asked. Apparently, the answer is that he’s the kind of man who doesn’t hold a grudge for long against the national GOP.

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Mike Madden is Salon's Washington correspondent. A complete listing of his articles is here. Follow him on Twitter hereMore Mike Madden

Monday, Jan 4, 2010 2:10 PM UTC2010-01-04T14:10:00Zl, M j, Y g:i A T

Party switcher Griffith’s staff resigns

Alabama congressman who recently became a Republican gets hit with a mass defection

Alabama Rep. Parker Griffith is crossing the aisle and becoming a Republican. His staff — or at least the bulk of it — won’t be following along.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee just blasted out a release announcing that “nearly every” one of Griffith’s staffers tendered their resignation Monday morning. According to the DCCC, Griffith’s chief of staff was one of those who quit, “along with the entire legislative and communications team.”

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Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.  More Alex Koppelman

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