Arlen Specter finally tells the truth
Arlen Specter finally tells the truth:
I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans.
As nearly as I can tell, that’s been the case for a long time. And now that he has a strong primary challenger in former Representative Pat Toomey (R-PA 15), he did what some had already expected: he cut and run, knowing that Pennsylvania Republicans would have unseated him in the 2010 primary.
Maybe he thinks that this will save his sorry butt. But it wouldn’t surprise me if the Democrats mounted a primary challenge to Mr Specter in 2010, and voted him out anyway.
I’ve got to wonder, though: what did the Democrats promise him? Is some loyal Democrat with less seniority going to lose a chairmanship so that the very senior Mr Specter can have one for himself?
“I am unwilling to have my twenty-nine year Senate record judged by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate,” he said in the statement.
Odd, but he was willing to have his record judged by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate when he thought he’d win, wasn’t he? Then he came rather close to losing that primary vote in 2004, when I am proud to say I voted for Mr Toomey.
“I don’t have to say anything to them. They’ve said it to me,” Specter said, when asked in a Capitol corridor about abandoning the Republicans.
Well, not qute yet, since we haven’t actually had that primary election, but the handwriting was clearly on the wall. Now, rather than face the voters who honored him five times previously, he’s going to cut and run. Good for him!
Perhaps a good, strong Democrat will mount a primary challenge to Mr Specter next year. I might just have to change my registration, just to have another shot at voting against Arlen Specter. 
And how much respect do you think Mr Specter will get from the Democrats? From Jesse Taylor of Pandagon:
We’re now at 60 Dems in the Senate (assuming Norm Coleman gives up before the heat death of the universe).
Thank you, Arlen Specter, you politically motivated hack of a sell-out. Thank you.
They like you, Arlen, they really like you!
John Hitchcock:
According to Fox News, Specter was guaranteed to keep all his seniority upon switching the scarlet letter on his chest.
28 April 2009, 1:35 pmThomas Tallis:
I’ve got to wonder, though: what did the Democrats promise him?
Maybe “the possibility of not being remembered by history as one of the crazies”?
According to Fox News
who would NEVER report something like this with anything less that dispassionate objectivity
28 April 2009, 1:42 pmDana Pico:
I’d much rather see a real, honest Democrat in that seat than a phoney like Senator Specter.
28 April 2009, 1:46 pmYorkshire:
Arlen Specter (RINO - PA) has been acting as a Dem for years. At one point he was a Dem and switch to R(INO) to run for the Senate in 1980. He almost lost to Pat Toomey in the ‘04 Primary, but won by a point or less. Right now he is trailing Toomey badly by about 20 to 30 points. So, he’s just confirming what he has been, a RINO Liberal. So, he has switched from RINO to DINO. Watch out what you asked for Dems.
28 April 2009, 1:49 pmArt Downs:
How many pieces of silver did Soros promise to time-server Specter for hios sellout?
Specter is all too typical of the time-serving hacks who infest our legislatures. They start climbing the greasy pole early in life and fear nothing more than a stint in the real world. Some time-servers find a happy landing in the territory around 20th & K after being given the boot by the voters.
Specter has always been a master of the quaint and quirky, as witness his ‘not proven’ lurch to Scottish law in the Clinton matter. Since when did our judges wear tartans?
Were Specter a man of honor (far too few politicians are) he would have followed the lead of former Democrat Phil Gramm. When Representative Gramm was ‘punished’ by the high-taxing Democrats, he resigned his seat in Congress and then changed parties. This meant that he had to run for his seat as a Republican in a district that leaned Democrat.
Could we expect the same of a careerist hack such as Specter? More than one incumbent RINO (see Jeffords) has threatened a stab in the back if party conservatives would not circle the wagons when faced with a primary threat. Could we expect a careerist such as Specter to be any more honorable than Jeffords?
Perhaps this is what we should expect in swine flu season.
28 April 2009, 1:52 pmblubonnet:
Arlen Spector is jumping ship from something different than the Republican party. The so called Republican party is much more fascistic than Republican. Heck, I’m one that will use quotations that are from Republicans past. 911 and GWB ushered in the era of torture, invasion of unthreatening countries, illegal surveillance, suspension of habeous corpus, having more military power than the rest of the world combined, using land mines, using white phosphorous (virtual napalm), cluster bombs, stolen elections (proven on many counts), these principles aren’t Republican or Democrat, or American. All from 911, of which has an abundance of anomolies, about 50 points, that conflict with physics, and dozens of testimonies from those that were there, in contrast to the 911 Commission. Yep, tyranical principles of which you all pledge allegiance to, all from 9-11-01. Can’t say I blame Spector at all.
28 April 2009, 2:05 pmJohn Hitchcock:
Hey blu, go read that book you mentioned. My daughter and I both read it back in 2005.
28 April 2009, 2:09 pmThomas Tallis:
hey guys save some of your sour grapes for when Olympia Snowe follows suit
28 April 2009, 2:15 pmSundown:
Two points:
28 April 2009, 2:38 pm1. Toomey’s just as opportunisitic. He spent his career in the House being pro-choice, and then ran for the Senate with the opposite position.
2. Art’s comparison is wrong in so many ways. 30 pieces of silver were given to Judas for turning in Jesus. Specter changed political parties. Jesus’s crucifixion should not be trivialized in this way.
Jeff:
Also, Greenwald calls him “one of the worst, most soul-less, most belief-free individuals in politics.” Yeah, a lot of left-leaning Dems (myself included) aren’t so happy. The only ones who are happy are those who think of politics as a team sport whose purpose is “just win, baby”…
(Which reminds me, Dana - Darrius Heyward-Bey? Really?)
28 April 2009, 2:40 pmYorkshire:
Just heard Spektor say he wasn’t going to have his 29 year Senate career decided by the Pennsylvania Republican Electorate in the Primary. DUHHHHHHH, that has to be the funniest thing I heard today. He was at some point a Republican and whether you are a R, or D, the primary decides who’s running based on their record. Well, as an R, his resume is mighty thin.
28 April 2009, 2:58 pmDana Pico:
Assuming that there’s nothing important in the Republican primary to be decided, and a Democrat with a chance to defeat Mr Specter in the Democratic primary is running, I’ll do another party switch just to vote against Mr Specter.
If it’s a choice between an honestly liberal Democrat, and a slimeball liberal former RINO, now Democrat, I’ll take the honestly liberal Democrat.
28 April 2009, 3:21 pmDana Pico:
Jeff asked:
The “pundits” have graded the Raiders’ draft as a “C,” and “quirky,” but My Heyward-Bey is actually the less questionable choice. Second round choice Michael Mitchell of Ohio University was very unexpected.
28 April 2009, 3:25 pmThomas Tallis:
Dana how are you a Raiders fan, don’t you know the Raider Nation is a nation of scofflaws and degenerates?
28 April 2009, 3:30 pmPhoenician in a time of Romans:
Arlen Specter finally tells the truth:
The bit that Dana conveeeeeeniently elided:
“Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans.”
Wingnutism alienates people. Who’d have thunk?
28 April 2009, 3:31 pmDana Pico:
Mr Tallis, I was born in Oakland, and have been a Raiders fan since the days of Daryle Lamonica.
28 April 2009, 3:34 pmDana Pico:
Mr Tallis, the Republicanism of Senator Specter left the GOP as a permanent minority, go-along-to-get-along Democrats Lite party. We actually won something when we decided to stand on principles, conservative principles.
This country does not need Democratic and Democratic Lite parties; it needs real alternatives, real choices.
And as our friends on the left so nobly counsel us on moderating our views, trying to tell us that we’ll be dead, toast, finished if we don’t, I’d remind them that the same things were said about the Democrats just four short years ago.
28 April 2009, 3:37 pmThomas Tallis:
Born in Oakland! I became a Raiders fan during their doubtless-remembered-with-ire-and-venom L.A. days, but I got to see the Allen-Alzado Raiders play twice during the year they won the Super Bowl (’84 I think? the years blur together now). I wouldn’t have pegged you as a fan, that’s for sure!
You’re right; the Republicans won when they stood on conservative principles. Unfortunately, most of the hot-button issues that fill the coffers for you these days (gay marriage; abortion; “islamofascism”) aren’t actually conservative issues at all. Good luck getting your party to let go of such reliable fundraisers! If you want an actual conservative party, you’re going to have to invent one, because the Republican party hasn’t even faintly resembled a conservative party for nearly a decade.
28 April 2009, 3:43 pmRovin:
It’s too bad Bluebonnet’s rant has nothing to do with the electoral process.
Can you find a way to blame Specter for claiming that idiots that think 9/11 was an inside job are just that—-idiots.
Specter had one choice left to remain in power, and he took it, forsaking the few conservative principals he ever had. I hope Toomey runs on fiscal responsibility and stomps who ever comes out of the democratic party. How’s that employment thing going in Penn? Loving the wefare train will get real old real soon.
28 April 2009, 3:45 pmPhoenician in a time of Romans:
Specter had one choice left to remain in power, and he took it, forsaking the few conservative principals he ever had.
As Thomas has pointed out, wailing endlessly about gay marriage and “islamofascism” while attempting to justify torture are not conservative values. They may be Conservative-as-defined-in-America values, but “wingnut” is the better term there.
28 April 2009, 3:52 pmSundown:
Dana,
You’ve not given any actual evidence than Specter is “Democratic-lite”, as you call him. This is, as some may recall, the senator that Clarence Thomas should be thanking every day of his life for securing his confirmation to the Supreme Court.
28 April 2009, 3:57 pmJohn Hitchcock:
I sure love hearing about all the Republicans who switched parties back in the 2008 primary season. Wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with Operation Chaos, would it? That thing where Republicans were voting for Hillary and Democrat officials in several states were trying to find a way to charge these average citizens with crimes?
28 April 2009, 3:58 pmRovin:
It’s interesting that after the folks in the state of California re-affirmed (for the second time) that marriage is between one man and one woman, the only WAILING is coming from a portion of a sick and confused society yearning to be described as “normal” and “equal”.
But most liberals still don’t have a clue that the reason Republican’s lost the last two cycles is because they joined in the big government spending spree that will sink the Democrats. Social policies were not the reason for their defeat—and it’s the fiscal policies in D.C. today and the past two years that will cause the electorate to put responsible conservatives back into power.
28 April 2009, 4:13 pmSharon:
I think Arlen Specter could give Barack Obama flip-flop lessons. He was a Democrat before he decided to run as a Republican in 1965. He won election for District Attorney in Philadelphia (I think) as a Republican, back when being a Republican actually meant not quite as much government as Democrats want. In other words, I think Specter is a Republican in the Richard Nixon sense of the term.
Specter has a lifetime rating of 44.47 from the American Conservative Union, and has a 60% rating from the ACLU, so, I think that’s enough evidence that Specter isn’t a conservative, and hasn’t ever really been. He was fortunate to ride Ronald Reagan’s coattails into the Senate, but has never been a consistent vote for anything, really. He’s pro-choice, he voted for the war, for school vouchers, voted for the Porkapalooza, voted against oil and gas exploration incentives, and on and on.
I don’t know if Specter can win as a Democrat in Pennsylvania. He’s not far enough to the Left for many Democrats. His votes for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will hurt him there, and many might be quite skeptical of him. And I wouldn’t be surprised to see a far left candidate run against him. Toomey might have a good chance in the general election under current circumstances.
28 April 2009, 5:31 pmArt Downs:
I find the strong opinions of those who are mere observers of the political process (and often through a rather clouded lens)to be a bit much to take.
The GOP ran on intertia for much of its history. Presidents Hoover and Eisenhower were also courted by the Democrats.
We have developed a New Aristocracy of perpetual officeholders who are the antithesis of the citizen-legislators who were the foundation of our Republic. There have been some notable exceptions. John Quincy Adams was a true life-long public servant and a man of great integrity. Yet he was defeated by the coarse and thuggish Andrew Jackson.
We do not need careerists who are more likely to ’service’ the public rather than serve (other than serving their own selfish interests).
Specter is a pure time-serving hack who seemed to have perfected the art of staying in political office. Biden is a similar sort.
It is our new aristocracy that creates a general disdain for politics.
Socialist losers and conspiracy theorists without a clue may think otherwise.
28 April 2009, 5:57 pmPhoenicians in a time of Romans:
Specter is a pure time-serving hack who seemed to have perfected the art of staying in political office. Biden is a similar sort.
It is our new aristocracy that creates a general disdain for politics.
And?
That’s the way your system is set up to work. If Specter is nothing but a time-serving hack, it’s even worse for the modern Republican Party; it means the pragmatic political decision is to shun it.
28 April 2009, 6:10 pmDana Pico:
Naturally, I remember how President George Bush and Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) went to bat for Senator Specter, in his 2004 primary contest with Representative Pat Toomey (R-PA 15). We can’t know that Senator Specter would have lost that primary campaign absent the help of Messrs Bush and Santorum, but the vote was extremely close, and Mr Specter won by less than 2% of the vote. Mr Bush and Mr Santorum: you have been repaid.
28 April 2009, 6:16 pmDana Pico:
Sundown wrote:
Well, I was at work when I wrote that, but perhaps you’ll take the lifetime rating of 44.47% from the American Conservative Union that Sharon linked above as the evidence needed. His ACU score is lower than that of the two RINOs from Maine, Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, lower than John McCain’s, lower than any other Republican I saw in a brief examination of the list.
28 April 2009, 6:35 pmArt Downs:
Mr Bush and Mr Santorum: you have been repaid. Dana Pico
Dimbulb McCain got a dose of poetic justice for his ‘Soros Empowerment’ in the ‘campaign finance reform’ fiasco. His fair-weather friends at the NYT certainly abandoned him.
28 April 2009, 6:40 pmYorkshire:
Here’s what I think was the final nail in the coffin for Spektor, or as far as I’m concerned, for the Porkulus Bill, he was against it all, except some medical item that would benefit him personally. That was the only reason he voted for it. He may say otherwise, but for selfish reasons he has subjected us to bigger spending and higher taxes.
Now, will Toomey win? I don’t know. There is so much time, and the way things are spiraling out of control, the hope is every Dem will be blamed.
And, the other reason Spektor switched was he wouldn’t win the primary, but he believes he is senator for life in PA and no one would dare challenge him. So, conceit, selfishness, and hubris make for a very vane and ugly person.
28 April 2009, 7:26 pmJohnC.:
I feel like the fly on the wall. As I watch our republic is becoming a one party nation. No room for decent, no consideration of a different opinion, no “check and balance” on any policy. When all branches of the covernment are controled by any one party it ceases to be an administration and becomes a regime. The party in power stops caring about the people and concentrates only on staying in power. Kinda like Specter: winning the next election is more important than anything. Lieberman did it right, Specter did not.
28 April 2009, 7:35 pmYorkshire:
The party in power stops caring about the people and concentrates only on staying in power. Kinda like Specter: winning the next election is more important than anything. Lieberman did it right, Specter did not.
Well John, mark Day 99 of the BO TelePrompTer Tour as the day W is off the hook. The Dems own it all. Good, Bad, or Ugly we’re in for a very wild ride. As for BO’s promises, what is to stop him now? Watch out spending and taxing because there are no checks and balances.
28 April 2009, 7:40 pmJohnC.:
Yorkshire: I have marked this day. The Dems do own it all, for sure. My problem is I love liberty. I don’t want one party running everything, ANY party. I used to love what was called “gridlock”. To me it meant we were safe for another few years. I love it when the president is of one party and at least one house of Congress is controlled by the opposition. At least they have to talk, to compromise, to debate. Then we, the people get to hear all sides. It’s like reading CSPT. We have our Pho, TT, Blu and we have Dana Pico, Hitchcock and you. We get other views then we have the freedom to choose with whom we agree. Pho, TT and Blu can’t FORCE me to do anything, but the government can and does daily.
When I heard that someone disagreed with Obama a while back and his answer was: “I won” a shiver went up my spine. He may as well have said “screw you, I’ll do what I want.” That is not the mindset of a republic. If we can’t talk it out we end up fighting it out.
28 April 2009, 8:50 pmJeff:
Sharon - interestingly, almost nobody in the Senate inhabits the range between 30 and 65 on those ratings. (There are a few House members in the middle.) The only ones I saw were Specter and the Nelsons.
28 April 2009, 8:57 pmPhoenicians in a time of Romans:
I feel like the fly on the wall. As I watch our republic is becoming a one party nation. No room for decent, no consideration of a different opinion, no “check and balance” on any policy. When all branches of the covernment are controled by any one party it ceases to be an administration and becomes a regime. The party in power stops caring about the people and concentrates only on staying in power.
Liberals, of course, were pointing this out 9 years ago…
28 April 2009, 9:17 pmYorkshire:
Liberals, of course, were pointing this out 9 years ago…
Pho, the Republicans never had a filibuster proof congress. The Dems did exercise their power to block and stall in those 8 years. Now, there is nothing in the way of the Dems. The republicans for all intents and purposes can go home because they do not have a chance for anything. And BO promised the Republicans a say in what’s going on, Reid and Pelosi will just ignore the Republicans.
But the flip side to this is if the Dems go hog wild and become onerous upon society, and everything points to that, all this will change in 2010.
28 April 2009, 9:29 pmJohnC.:
Yorkshire you have a greater faith in the desire for freedom in the contempoary American spirit than I.
28 April 2009, 10:02 pmElizabeth Miller:
Isn’t anyone around here concerned with the direction in which the Republican Party is headed?
I mean, it looks to me like it is not only shrinking but it is becoming more and more homogenized, if I may use that word when speaking of Republicans, as a party of extremes. There is no future in that, is there?
28 April 2009, 10:24 pmYorkshire:
JohnC.:
Yorkshire you have a greater faith in the desire for freedom in the contempoary American spirit than I.
With Spektor becoming a dim, Paradise is within reach. Just think, with the One, the messiah having no roadblocks, Nirvanna, Paradise on earth can finally be established. All our needs will be taken care of, free food, free housing, free cars, no money needed because Spektor has made this all possible. I can not thank him enough for establishing heaven on earth. No work, everything for free. Just like the song “I want my MTV” Money for nothing and chicks for free.
28 April 2009, 10:25 pmYorkshire:
Elizabeth Miller:
Isn’t anyone around here concerned with the direction in which the Republican Party is headed?
I mean, it looks to me like it is not only shrinking but it is becoming more and more homogenized, if I may use that word when speaking of Republicans, as a party of extremes. There is no future in that, is there?
Here’s the Script. The Dems go crazy, tax till there’s no tomorrow, spend worst than a drunken sailor, impose new and onerous taxes, destroy the health care system, institute cap and trade, the people will come to the sense and re-elect adults to straighten out the mess. It’s a cycle like recessions.
28 April 2009, 10:33 pmElizabeth Miller:
Hey, Yorkshire
You’re making an awful lot of assumptions there - I think we may be in a totally different place, these days, and I hope enough Republicans realize that before it’s too late.
By the way, have you ever checked out Chris Weigant’s take on all of this?…here’s his latest on the Specter thing…I’m sure he’d love to hear your thoughts!
P.S. I think Biden may have played no small part in all of this
sorry, I couldn’t resist
http://www.chrisweigant.com/
28 April 2009, 10:43 pmOther Dana:
Elizabeth Miller, you’re right - Biden sure did. From Politico,
In the Democratic Party’s courtship of Arlen Specter, no one may have played a bigger role than Vice President Joe Biden.
Biden has been trying to convince Specter to switch parties for at least the past five years, but those efforts were stepped up once he was sworn in as vice president, a senior White House official said.
Biden has met or spoken on the phone with Specter an average of once a week since the Inauguration. And after Specter became one of three Senate Republicans to support the administration’s stimulus package, those conversations were stepped up.
In the past 10 weeks, Biden has spoken with Specter 14 times — six in person and eight on the phone, according to the senior official.
Once we run out of paper to print the mad money and the masses realize the emperor has no clothes, common sense will prevail.
28 April 2009, 10:47 pmElizabeth Miller:
Thanks for that, Other Dana!
I won’t be clicking on your link for Politico, though - I stay as far away from that site as I possibly can…they give me a headache.
Well, common sense is what the Republican party needs right now, in spades!
28 April 2009, 10:51 pmOther Dana:
I think conservatives have the common sense, Elizabeth, however the Republicans indeed need to be reminded of it and regain focus…as for the Dems… well, they’ll come to the end of their rope soon enough. Hopefully without too much permanent damage being done.
28 April 2009, 11:41 pmSharon:
Elizabeth,
I’m actually very happy Arlen Specter defected. I’m tired of people in a party–either party–telling me that the party is the problem, not the person. I had this same problem when Pete Geren was my rep back in the 1980s. He was not a Democrat, though he had a “D” after his name. He was a Republican. Similarly, Specter has never been a Republican in the Ronald Reagan sense. He benefited from Reagan, but his views are more in line with Richard Nixon than Ronald Reagan.
I’m very happy that Democrats now cannot claim, try as they might, that somehow, everything that happens is the fault of Republicans. With a veto-proof majority, it is their baby. And there’s the part of me that says everybody who voted for HopeNChange is now gonna get exactly what they voted for.
Yorkshire is correct about what is going to happen. Frankly, I can’t wait for 2010.
28 April 2009, 11:46 pmArt Downs:
Blu’s rants certainly are amusing and may well reflect a sorry combination of fanaticism and apathy. Perhaps she should expand her sources.
era of torture, We are dealing with monsters who cut of the heads of captives and throw old men in wheelchairs off of cruise ships. They wear no uniforms and follow none of the norms of land warfare. They attack civilian targets because they are soft. Have we resorted to the rack or thumbscrews to force false confessions out of ‘detainees’ or forced them to make statements that might have propaganda statements? How far should we go to protect our citizens?
invasion of unthreatening countries, Iraq cetainly had threatened Kuwait and was subsidizing terrorism in Israel as well as hosting training of terrorists.
illegal surveillance, suspension of habeous (sic) corpus, What illegal surveillance? When an enemy with no formal command and control structure uses the public telecommunications network to pass on instructions, what are the potential victims to do? Take a ‘law enforcement’ approach that maintains the infamous ‘Gorelick Wall’. How did we treat enemies in the field who were found to be out of uniform during World War II? They were quickly hanged or shot if the time was short. Perhaps the ACLU types would like to give Goering a new trial. By their standards, his rights were certainly violated.
having more military power than the rest of the world combined, using land mines, using white phosphorous (sic)(virtual napalm), cluster bombs,
How many land mines have we deployed in the current conflict? Why would we use them? Anti-personnel mines are typically used to make it more difficult to remove anti-tank mines. They were used in a pure anti-personnel function by the East Germans to keep their subjects from escaping to freedom. I do wonder where Blu read the definition of WP as ‘virtual napalm’. The two munitions types have very different applications. Perhaps it was thrown in for shock effect. As for the aggregate military strength of the USA vis-a-vis the rest of the world, has Blu forgotten the military power of China? Her numbers may be a product of her own imagination.
..stolen elections (proven on many counts)Claims do not constitute proof and only a person utterly ignorant of election processes could believe such a lie. Only Democrats have the resources to steal elections and it is possible only in big cities where the political machines are hardly discernable from criminal organizations. Chicago would be an example.,
All from 911, of which has an abundance of anomolies (sic), about 50 points, that conflict with physics, and dozens of testimonies from those that were there, in contrast to the 911 Commission. Now we have Blue believing the silliness of the ‘911 Goofers’. What in her vast world of experience has pepared her to evaluate hokum that passes as physics? Does she know any people who were at the scene of any of the attacks?
He recent compendium of folly certainly sets a new low in partisan irrationality. But more is likely to come.
29 April 2009, 3:20 amPhoenician in a time of Romans:
We are dealing with monsters who cut of the heads of captives and throw old men in wheelchairs off of cruise ships.
…so the answer is to become monsters who beat to death taxi-drivers and bomb wedding parties.
Brilliant.
29 April 2009, 4:30 amArt Downs:
…so the answer is to become monsters who beat to death taxi-drivers and bomb wedding parties. Pseudo-Pho
As for attacking taxi drivers, was this the action of Government or some lout? I do remember a report of a Sikh (no friend of Muslims) being murdered by some yahoo.
Was the bombing of a wedding party an intentional act of terror?
It takes a real stretch of imagination by a person who appears to be an apologist for terroists to equate isolated incidents with patterns of depravity. Achille Lauro was deliberate. So was the 9-11 attack and the action against the Cole. The same is true of repeated acts against Israeli citizens.
29 April 2009, 4:47 amPhoenician in a time of Romans:
Art, if you’re ignorant, we have this thing called “the Internet” now.
29 April 2009, 6:25 amSundown:
Art,
You still haven’t answered for your analogy earlier in the thread. Care to comment on why you think that leaving the GOP is just like betraying Jesus?
29 April 2009, 9:18 ampgwarner:
Dana for some reason admitted this…
First - It would have been wise to stay in the closet on that. Second - Daryle Lamonica? You are old dude!
The Republican Party is shrinking. The reasons for it’s shrinking are not necessarily for the good.
29 April 2009, 11:29 amDana Pico:
Mr Warner: Yeah, I’m old. But the alternative to getting old is to die young.
29 April 2009, 12:25 pmYorkshire:
Dana Pico:
Mr Warner: Yeah, I’m old. But the alternative to getting old is to die young.
Or going to pieces
29 April 2009, 12:28 pmPhoenician in a time of Romans:
The Republican Party is shrinking.
I wonder why?
29 April 2009, 3:05 pmMAS1916:
The radicals now running the government are now going to have to be fully responsible for the results. The only bright spot to all this is that it should energize the GOP and bring back that fighting spirit. It will also help raise money. Conservative contributors wouldn’t give a nickel if they thought any of it would go to this guy’s campaign.
But.. it is a long way to 2010. If you need a chuckle over all this, hit:
29 April 2009, 3:46 pmhttp://firstconservative.com/blog/top-ten/specter-bails-out-real-reasons-he-defected
John Hitchcock:
Oh, yeah, the Republican Party is going to die.
29 April 2009, 3:48 pmMainstream Republicans and Beltway Republicans don’t see eye to eye:
Phoenicians in a time of Romans:
Oh, yeah, the Republican Party is going to die.
Oh, I suspect they’ll survive as long as your aristocracy need henchmen and useful idiots. But they’ll probably be wandering in the wilderness until 2016.
29 April 2009, 5:47 pmDana Pico:
Arlen Specter telling us that his conscience tells him he must stay a Republican.
29 April 2009, 6:19 pmArt Downs:
The GOP seemed to be surviving on inertia alone. TR was exciting and both parties wanted Hoover to be their standardbearer. The same was true for Ike. Yet for all of his popularity, the Ike never had much in the way of coattails. His name is seldom invoked at any gathering of the Party faithful.
It took Goldwater to bring excitement and enthusiasm back to the GOP and the ‘moderates’ stabbed him the back. The loss to the corrupt LBJ was supposed to mark the demise of the Republican Party. Yet the Party won landslide victories with Reagan, a man who established his reputation with that pro-Goldwater speech.
Then the GOP went back to the ‘establishment’ route. Dole was dull and Bush II was better than his opponents. McCain was never a deep thinker and an ambitious opportunist. So where do we go? Become ‘Dem Lite’? Specter has been a political opportunist all of his life and this is not his first party shift.
The Obama implosion will occur as Middle America realizes how it has been conned by a polished hack who was given his political baptism in a Cook County cesspool. Does the American public really want ObamaSoc and long to worship Big Brother?
29 April 2009, 6:34 pmDana Pico:
Looks like not all of the Democrats are happy!
More at the link.
29 April 2009, 6:42 pmDana Pico:
The Phoenician wrote:
I’m sure you could have found similar statements about the GOP following the 1992 elections. Two years later, they won control of Congress.
And they did it by becoming a conservative party, by running on conservative ideals. We lost a lot of support in the 2006 elections because the Republicans in Congress, unrestrained by President Bush, spent too much money. Now the Democrats are showing the republicans to be absolute pikers when it comes to spending money, and we have a solid opportunity here.
We always get advice from our friends on the left, telling us how we have to moderate our views to win elections. But that’s advice that is self-defeating to take: when teh GOP was more moderate, when it was the Democrats Lite Party in the 1960s and 1970s, it was a permanent minority party, with no hope of governing unless the Democrats were kind enough to do something really stupid or run lame candidates — which they did in 1968 and 1972. George Wallace pegged it when he said that there wasn’t a dime’s worth of difference between the Republicans and Democrats.
It was when we created more than a dime’s worth of difference that Republicans won again.
29 April 2009, 6:50 pmSundown:
Your silence says it all, Art.
You are not ashamed of your blasphemous comments.
And Dana, why do you let a Christian-hater be a co-blogger?
29 April 2009, 7:14 pmDana Pico:
Sundown wrote:
The comment of Art’s which offended Sundown was:
Sorry, but I don’t see Art’s comment as blasphemous. Even if I had, I wouldn’t have censored it. Regulars here know that I have deleted two, and only two, non-spam comments, because they were laced with profanity and called a third party a “jew bastard,” plus I edited one other comment for content, when I redacted the name of an elected official someone was trying to use this site to “out” as a closeted homosexual. I try to maintain this site with as much freedom of speech as possible.
The reference to thirty pieces of silver is fairly common in our society as a shorthand for betrayal for lucre.
By the way, Art has on occasion played Caiaphas in his community’s passion plays.
29 April 2009, 7:42 pmDavid:
http://www.delawarepolitics.net/2009/04/29/yesterday-the-iq-average-of-both-parties-went-up/ is my take on the issue.
Specter would have been very vulnerable. If you are going to be at risk, you may as well put up a candidate that you believe in. Don’t ride an old horse that is no longer viable out of emotion. That is the call primary voters made.
Now let me explain why primary voters where correct. As the Lord Jesus said, until a seed falls to the ground and dies it cannot bring forth fruit. The GOP can not become the true majority party representing the people until it lets go of the dead weight. The GOP is going through a natural and healthy pruning process. The dead weight is self purging. The GOP has been growing for nearly 40 years. Since 1966 (minus the Watergate aftermath 1974-1978), the GOP has on the ascendancy. This has attracted many people who have no allegiance to the vision but see it as a way to gain power for themselves. When you have hard times those people leave like a Paris Hilton BFF when the cameras are off and the beer is gone. Benedict Arlen is one of those people along with Jeffords and Chaffee. These guys weren’t even half a loaf.
What have those people brought to the party? They are out of step with not only the rank and file of the party, but according to polls the majority of the people themselves. You cannot build a party based upon big government when the people favor smaller government if there is already a big government party. Every poll shows that the GOP is poised for gains if it can tap into the
What is that these so called moderates bring to the table that we should beg them to lead us. They vote to bankrupt future generations. They supported every big government program that I can think of. Prescription drugs, a poorly designed stimulus which will help but with half the results at twice the cost (CBO comparison to the GOP alternative), blank check bailouts, making the tax cuts temporary, and insane environmental regulation keeping us energy dependent. They don’t do very well on protecting the culture either. Banning Human Cloning, Regulating abortions for minors who cross state lines, the Marriage Protection Amendment, and other important initiatives don’t find their support either, but support for comprehensive immigration deform did. The only areas Specter really seemed to help is in national security and with a few judges (even that seemed more geared to avoiding a repeat of 1990 where he almost lost a primary over Judge Bork). Maybe in those areas and keeping the tax code from going Conrad crazy, Specter will actually pull the Democrats to the center if he joins Lieberman, Nelson, and Lincoln to keep a little common sense in play.
29 April 2009, 7:45 pmPhoenicians in a time of Romans:
We always get advice from our friends on the left, telling us how we have to moderate our views to win elections.
Dude, we want you to cater to your base. Go for it. You keep on doing just as you’ve been doing.
Jon Stewart needs new material constantly.
29 April 2009, 9:17 pmSundown:
Very well. PErhaps I went too far with the labeling of it as blasphemy. I just happened to be very, very, offended by the trivialization, even if it is common on our culture. I always think it’s good to not always go with the flow.
29 April 2009, 10:40 pmArt Downs:
Some countries have very disciplined political parties in which membership is a rather formal affair and dues are even paid. In the USSR, only a fraction of the population belonged to the Communist Party. Parties might actually expel members.
American politics is far more tolerant. The only partisan expulsion of note was that of sitting President Tyler (Too). Congressional Democrats have ‘disciplined’ members by taking away committee assignments for failure to follow the ‘party line’. Republicans have been far more tolerant.
Republicans have been too tolerant of incumbents at time. Money collected from all over the country is doled out to incumbents just on a basis of party labels. Senators who regularly voted with the other side could be assured of support from conservative members when they faced a primary challenge. One example was Senator Jeffords. He resorted to political blackmail when faced with a primary challenge. His fellow Republicans rallied around the incumbent. He repaid this critical support with a party switch.
This is a ‘Lucy and Charlie Brown and the football’ scenario that was repeated every election cycle. A lot of people who made modest but regular contributions to various GOP fundraising arms began to complain. Specter’s primary opponent was not strong-armed out of the race and the self-serving incumbent threw the political equivalent of a temper tantrum.
I suppose that those with only a superficial experience base in real world politics and history would not understand how things really work.
30 April 2009, 5:38 amArt Downs:
For those with a modicum of familiarity with the New Testament, there is a passage in the Gospel of St. Mark that warns against gaining the whole world at the expense of losing one’s soul.
This is true in the world of politics. One can abandon all principles to gain and hold office. Does society benefit from this? Those ‘moderates’ who believe that playing ‘Dem Lite’ is the path to generic victories seem to be self-serving louts who offer nothing in the way of preserving Liberty and a respect for the Constitution. Perhaps they just need the job.
1 May 2009, 6:15 am