Shape-shifting U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder has come up with a new origin story. The one-time Kansas Democratic Party intern now says his transformation into a conservative began when he was a student at the University of Kansas. "My ideology changed here at KU," said the former student-government president during a visit to his alma mater in February.
Yoder told a different story during the campaign, when he attributed his metamorphosis from campus progressive to Republican to the burdens of adulthood. "When I first got out of college," he told The Kansas City Star last summer, "I had never paid a mortgage, never been married, never paid a car payment."
The story about being an obligated grownup sounded nice but didn't fit the facts so well. In 2002, Yoder ran for the Kansas House as a Republican before he had acquired either a wife or a mortgage. He was a moderate back in those days, his ideology lining up neatly with those of his new neighbors in Overland Park. A Hutchinson native, Yoder moved to OP after finishing law school at KU. The ink on his lease was barely dry when he announced his candidacy.
Now Yoder is saying that he became more conservative while he was still in college, which seems equally absurd.
Imagine: It's the fall of 1998. Yoder, a fifth-year senior, is at an off-campus party. He's talking with a fetching young lass -- a Victorian lit major, say. And he thinks to himself: You know what's going to impress this gal? If I mention that I think I agree with George Will that Augusto Pinochet was, on balance, good for the people of Chile.
Yoder is coming up with stories because he doesn't want to talk about his Bob Dole moment, the day he was told or realized that Republican politicians in Kansas have more options than Democrats. Personal ambition shaped Yoder's view of the world more than anything.
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Vote Republican and get my job back? That's a laugh. It was the Republicans that got us into this mess to begin with. It was President Bush and his ilk who ran up our debt starting two wars that had no end goal. It was the GOP that reversed fundamental bank regulations that were put in place after the depression, resulting in the near melt down of the economy. It was the GOP that passed tax reductions during a time when we were at war. Taxes are at their lowest in 100 years. But I dont' see a thriving economy.
I"m an independent and I vote that way. I can tell you for sure, I will not be voting for incumbents in 2012 or any upcoming election until all these scoundrals have been thrown out of office. As for tax: I WANT to pay my way. I want our country to be great again. To do that, we need a middle of the road fiscal policy that includes reduciton in spending and the increase in taxes. We must all pay our fair share whether its the 1% or the 99%.
VOTE THE SCOUNDRALS OUT!
Congressman Yoder is a hack and a simple minion of the Republican Party. He's a fast talking empty suit who simply parrots the opinions and policy of the GOP leadership. He should be recalled because he doesn't understand the responsibility that has been entrusted upon him. That is, it is his responsibility to find a middle ground with the opposing party to move legislation forward. Instead, Mr. Yoder digs his feet into his partisan turf and doesn't budge toward a compromise.
Congressman Yoder also demonstrates an irresponsible position regarding our national debt. The budgets that Congress has enacted over the years have resulted in a tremendous debt for the United States. We have no choice but to pay for these debts regardless of artificial debt ceilings. To vote against increasing the debt ceiling to pay for expenese already approved and executed is purely irresponsible.
This evening he and his office interrupted the peace to ask me to tune into his "telephone town hall" I listened for 30 minutes and attempted to ask a question. But they would only allow me to ask a question that was pre-screened. I refused and was summarily disconnected. This guy and his handlers represent a disingeuous attempt at "representing" Kansas. His goal has nothing to do with his constituents. His goal is one of power and prestige. His voting record demonstrates that he has no clue what he is doing. I project that Mr. Yoder will be a zero accomplishment congressman and hopfully he will be ousted from Congress, along with other incumbents, at the first possible election.
I for one will vote against Congressman Yoder. This man does not deserve a second term and shouldn't have been in for a first term to start out with.
VOTE OUT THE INCUMBENTS REGARDLESS OF POLITICAL AFFILIATION. THEY ARE ALL SCUM!
So Republicans swept into office recently. Still no jobs. They seem to be to busy cutting funding to those who need it most and over reaching government into people's private lives. Liberals want everyone to have a chance at success. If that sucks then I guess we have no morals.
so how long did he practice law before running for U.S. Congress? lots of legal experience?
Wow, let's crucify a guy because he didn't just wake up one morning and decided to change his political ideology, but rather it happened over the course of a long period of time and various experiences.
I was pretty liberal when I started college, and now i'm a moderate conservative. Didn't happen overnight either. Guess i'm a sham too.
Maybe the Pitch can focus on what it does best and write stories about drugs, music and sex. Politics is not your strong suit.
Um, wasn't Yoder on the Kansas Democratic Party payroll in the summer and fall of 1998?
Democrat or Republican doesn't matter. He's a capitalist, with ambition, ego, and .. that snotty KU arrogance that seems to work for east coast liberals. As a Kansas Republican I say... "Friends, collegues, ... HE'S NO KATHLEEN SEBELIUS!!!" ( a vague, yet understated reference to Senator Lloyd Bentsen's remarks in 1988.) Liberals suck, and want to turn us into France, and twenty years out... , China. Screw 'em all. Vote Republican in '12. You'll get your job back. I promise.
As a freshman at KU, I was a oddly enough a member of the College Republicans and was in charge of membership. (1996) There were more then just a few times that Yoder equated us as Nazis and myself as Joseph Goebbels. What I thought was just a "college thing" in the Union worries me as he is in office and I'm sure there will be a slip up there
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