Round Mound of Rebound Turns Dem

From Political Diary:

Basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley, the "mouth of the South," has declared he wants to run for governor of Alabama in 2010. That's not big news, since he has previously expressed such interest. What is new is that he is abandoning the Republican Party and will run as a Democrat.

Mr. Barkley first talked about a political career in 1995 BA (Before Arnold), when the then-star of the Phoenix Suns said he intended running as a Republican. He continued to identify with the GOP until this month. "I was a Republican until they lost their minds," he says.

He may have switched political jerseys, but Mr. Barkley is still an unconventional political candidate. At a recent convention of public school board members in Florida, he heaped abuse on Alabama's current political leadership: "If it wasn't for Arkansas and Mississippi, we'd be dead last in everything. I think we can do better."

The glimmerings of his political platform could be seen in his comments on education. After noting that poor children don't have a level playing field because they often grow up with drugs and crime, Mr. Barkley said kids and their parents bore some of the responsibility for failure. "There are too many black kids and their parents who do not value a good education," he said. "There are places where a black kid who is a good student and tries to speak correctly, you hear stuff like, 'He's trying to be white.' Well, I say, if that's true, we need more kids trying to be white."

The man who was known as "Sir Charles" and the "Round Mound of Rebound" on the basketball court also lashed out at rap music's negative impact on culture. "I used to think it was just music. I was wrong," he told the school board members. "I think it's having a negative effect on black kids, especially young black men, who grow up believing things that hurt them and hurt people."

He concluded his talk by urging the educators to keep trying to help poor students. "I will never give up on helping those kinds of kids, because I used to be one of those kinds of kids. Don't you give up, either."

Unfortunately, the story doesn't describe how the GOP "lost their minds". I'd like to see his explanation for the change of parties since it's rather rare for Republicans to become Democrats. That usually takes years of hard drinking (hmm, maybe I'm on to something here...).