Does the hypocrisy get any more transparent than this? This week, Louisiana Congressman Rodney Alexander, announced he’s switching parties. After serving with a (D) next to his name in his first term, he’s decided to run as a Republican this November.

After announcing his new affiliation Friday afternoon, Alexander said he had been struggling with his conservative votes for his entire term � backing the Bush tax cuts as well as the war in Iraq � and noted they had brought him criticism from Democrats.

Obviously Democrats don’t like this move, as they now have to win 12 seats, instead of 11 to get power back in the House. Here’s what a few of them had to say about the move:

• Democrats reacted to the news by calling the first-term congressman a turncoat and a coward.
• “Rodney Alexander has betrayed voters in Louisiana … We have no use for turncoats like Rodney Alexander in the new Democratic majority,” said Kori Bernards, spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
• Mary Landrieu issued a statement calling Alexander a “coward.”
• Sen. John Breaux, the retiring Democratic leader of the delegation, called the switch an underhanded maneuver that “effectively prevented the people of his district from a having a choice.”

But it wasn’t so long ago a man named Jim Jeffords made the switch away from the Republican party. What did Democrats say about him?

• “This is historic,” said Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat. “It gives us the opportunity to set the agenda.”
• “By becoming an Independent, Senator Jeffords is reaffirming his commitment to the people of Vermont. He is putting their interests and values above party politics,” said Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe
• “It is a powerful statement that this mild mannered statesman would leave the party he has served since he was elected to the Vermont state Senate in 1967…” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., chairwoman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
• “…there was a lot of applause. There was a lot of smiles. .” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.

The hypocrisy is amazingly transparent. And that would be bad enough if the two scenarios were equal in impact. But let’s look closer at each switch.

Jim Jeffords, who was praised, admired and applauded for switching parties, made his switch AFTER…I repeat, AFTER voters had elected him as a Republican. Jeffords didn’t change before the election and offer his constituents a choice. He didn’t do the noble thing and resign his position upon realizing his policies weren’t aligned with the GOP. He simply ran under the cover of being a Republican, then switched after he’d won. That’s deceitful and should not be tolerated in American politics.

But Democrats loved it, because it not only gave them one less Republican in the world, it eliminated the Republican majority in the Senate. The post-election switch altered the Republican Senate majority that voters had chosen. Talk about disenfranchisement. But, as long as it’s good for the Democrat Party, to hell with voters. “Voter interests and values above party politics” my butt. The DNC couldn’t have felt any better than the day Jeffords walked out of the Republican party and disenfranchised the voters who’d elected him as a Republican.

And now the Democrats are spewing a unprecedented level of vitriol at Rodney Alexander for leaving their party…. BEFORE the election. He’s actually giving his constituents the chance to vote on the issue. What a concept, huh? He’s making his announcement BEFORE the election and his voters have the chance to vote for or against him as a Republican.

And yet, the Democrats call this cowardess and an underhanded maneuver.

Are there any doubts how different their tune would be if the switch had been from an (R) to a (D)?

Hypocrites.