charlabob
Member Profile
Well, as soon as Coleman develops *some* shame and admits he lost and Al Franken is the senator from Minnesota. Arlen Spector switched parties today -- he's now a Democrat -- again.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/specter-will-run-as-a-democrat-in-2010/?hp
Here's the somewhat more slanted view of "The Nation." Rockefeller Republicans -- remember them? :-)
Coleman won't admit his shame.. they will hold on harder than ever.. doing everything they can to obstruct any possible economic solutions and hope that the economy is worse by the time of the next election so they can regain seats...
let the games play on...
but.... welcome home Arlen...
Specter the Defector! I don't know if I coined that or not.
Maybe he doesn't like the GOP anymore, and he is just looking out for what he feels the best interests of Pennsylvanians are.
Then again, he *was* trailing by 14 points in his GOP-primary bid. Maybe he just played a little game himself, in order to avoid GOP-voter wrath and save his own skin.
Whatever the case, he did what he did. Time to move on from here...
vincent
Member Profile
Yay a super majority just want a balanced government needs! Too bad the dems are too impotent to do anything with it.
vincent.. i never thought i would agree with you on that... but right now i think they need to grow some cahones fast.
Specter is just another Lieberdem now. He will have a primary challenger on the Dem side as well.
He used the unions power to get elected and now is opposed to card-check.
More and BETTER Democrats is the goal now. Specter might horse trade on small stuff, but otherwise he is just another bluedog biting the ankles of those who would lead.
Ken is correct.
Thank God Specter left. You can have him. Take Snow and Graham with you too! Mr. Specter already voted mostly with the Democrats. He betrayed the Republicans with most of the votes that mattered over the last 100 days. Time to make it official.
This is a good sign for the GOP. Time to get rid of the moderates past and present like McCain, Dole, Bush I, Bush II, Ford and Nixon. Your moderation has ruined the GOP. You meant well but it didn't work.
The Constitution, the States and our Liberties have been weakened by progressives and by Republican attempts to moderate and get along.
No more moving to the middle.
No more compromising on our ideals. The seeds are planted. They will grow. The chaff is getting left behind.
Hello Founders. Hello Lincoln. Hello Goldwater. Hello Reagan. We hear you. Others will hear you too.
Do you want to be middle of the road or do you want the chance to be exceptional? You will have the opportunity in the future with the GOP. The other side will want to spread the wealth, or ration it. Not Yes We Can, but Yes You Can and Will!
Goodbye Arlen. We won't miss you. The vote differential will hurt a bit for the next year and a half, maybe longer, but better to have true Republicans and get rid of the pretenders.
Trick
Member Profile
Or HMC, the "True Republicans" are so hell bent on being dictated by Dixie-cans and Bible Belt dogma that further alienate them even more than they are.
I'm not a fan of Specter, and could even see him losing in the state of PA with his selfish clinging-on to his senate seat for narcissistic reasons.
I'm both puzzled and amused by the argument that Bush was "too moderate" and the conclusion that what America needs now is someone more extreme than that.
I am with HMC that the republicans should keep throwing the moderates overboard. 40 Senators is still way to many for the Republicans. I'd like to see that number down to around 20 or so.
Ken, watch out when you're building that better Democrat party. Take a good look at the republicans now and realize that they've been working at building a "better" republican party for at least the past eight years. A healthy party should be able to tolerate a little dissent every now and then. I see nothing in Specter's record to suggest that he'd be a worse democrat than many of the other democratic senators.
Jeffro you're right. Specter would start out a better Dem than Ben Nelson or Mary Landrieu. :)
and HMC, come up with some Lincolns or Goldwaters if you don't want your party to slide into irrelevance on the slope made by religious nuts and flat earthers.
I might even vote for them.
Keep purging the last of the sensible if you want to speed up that ride.
"Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the (Republican) party, and they are sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they cannot and will not compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them."
-— Barry Goldwater
----------------"Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose--and you allow him to make war at pleasure.
If, to-day, he should choose to say he thinks it necessary to invade Canada, to prevent the British from invading us, how could you stop him?
You may say to him, 'I see no probability of the British invading us' but he will say to you 'be silent; I see it, if you don't.'"
--Abraham Lincoln
Ken, wouldn't that be something!
Jeffro, for a time you might get what you wish for. If and when it doesn't work out, come to the dark side. Jeffro, use the Force.
HMCRich...
"The Constitution, the States and our Liberties have been weakened by progressives and by Republican attempts to moderate and get along."
really???????
Yardvark
Member Profile
What exactly changes?
Specter will still vote the way he always has.
This is not for the majority seatings.
There is still no automatic 60 vote count.
Kinda meaningless actually.
I guess nothing changes with Specter's defection, except that we as a country loose yet another reasonable voice in the Republican caucus.
This is bad for all of us, yes?
charlabob
Member Profile
Well, I posted this originally because I thought it would mean something. I lost my head. On second thought (about thirty seconds after it was too late to delete the text) I realized that all it does is benefit the democratic leadership, who will have a lock on their corner offices and other perqs.
And it will rob progressives of a chance to elect one of our own in Pennsylvania, because the Dems have already pledged to support Spector's run in the Dem primary.
If they gave a rats rear about their majority they'd do something about the disgrace that is robbing Minnesota of its second senator, Al Franken. My guess is the "leadership" would just as soon not have him show up too soon. I suspect he might be a true maverick -- with a brain. DanGerOus.
I'm an admitted geezer, but I have to think this won't impress the New Dems who organized and campaigned for Obama. You know -- the idealistic realists? The "kids" that the commentators loved to interview.
if they had the majority, they wouldn't use it. they won't even risk a republican filibuster on issues where the country is strongly behind them and the filibuster is more political suicide than a threat.
Yardvark
Member Profile
Old 2010 Pennsylvania Senate Race Projection
Hardline Conservative (Pat Toomy) v. Kinda Progressive Liberal (Gov. Ed Rendell)
Winner: Kinda Progressive Liberal (Gov. Ed Rendell)
New 2010 Pennsylvania Senate Race Projection
Hardline Conservative (Pat Toomy) v. Moderate Conservative (Arlen Specter)
Winner: Hardline Conservative (Pat Toomy)
Oh silly Democrats!
You must log in to post.
All contents copyright 2012, A Drink of Water and a Story Interactive. Here's how to contact us.
No photo reuse without permission.
Entries and comments feeds. ^Top^
westseattleblog
West Seattle Blog
West Seattle Blog