For the last 8 years the GOP has claimed to be the protectors of the Constitution, fiscally responsible, strong on defense, strong on immigration reform, and the party with a big tent, and yet they lost another US Senator, Arlen Specter. Who can blame him for leaving?
His party has about as much sense of fiscal responsibility as Ken Lay. They protect the Constitution as long as it is the 2nd Amendment and nothing else. Illegal searches, torture, freedom of the press, rights to the courts, all are meaningless to them. Their claims of being strong on defense date back as far as 9/12/2001. They have talked a great game on immigration, yet has done nothing even with control of the House, Senate, and the Presidency. They claim a big tent, and yet their leadership of Limbaugh, Hannity, and Beck, all white males, attack non-whites every chance they get.And to top it off the gop is orchestrating a challenge to him in the primary with the radical, white, right wing, nuts of the party (ie all remaining republicans)Specter saw the writing on the wall for his reelection bid, and the direction his party was taking. Both were going south.
So he headed North. Arlen didn't leave the GOP. They left him. No one should expect a jack booted, lock step, vote from Specter in favor of the Democrats. That is the trademark of the republican party and he has turned in his boots.
23 comments:
Well stated! GOP does not mean "Conservative". The deficit went from about $5 Trillion to over $11 Trillion in 8 years. I won't bother to comment on the other "non" conservative actions of the 01/2001-01/2009 period. The GOP had total control for 6 of those 8 years. 'nuff said...
They claim a big tent, and yet their leadership of Limbaugh, Hannity, and Beck, all white males, attack non-whites every chance they get.The chairman of the party is black.
As pleasant as the short term gain of watching all the FOX News talking heads look like they've sucked a lemon is, I am annoyed at one element of this: the PA state Democratic party basically declaring they will not support any primary candidates against Specter. Who do they think they are, telling the party members of their state that they basically get no input on who the nominee is? If I were registered in PA, I'd want the chance to vote for a real progressive who would have supported us on FISA telecom immunity, the Patriot Act, the EFCA, etc. I am sorta hoping the netroots will support a Dem primary challenger in 2010 in PA.
Sorry, but this cynical, self-serving move had absolutely nothing to do with values, policy, or any high-minded thinking of any kind- though President Obama surely would like for you to think that.
Everybody knows he did it because he was down 21% in the polls leading-up to the GOP primary for his seat, he already admitted as such- Joey Pluggs made a deal with him. The sad truth is that this mediocre hack has spent three decades in the Senate, while accomplishing very little.
And Barack and him have a lot in common- as unprincipled political opportunists, I’m sure they’ll get along just great- Just a little over a month ago, the Specter said in an interview that he wouldn’t switch parties due to the importance of checks and balances. And back in 2001, Sen. Arlen Specter, then a Republican, proposed a rule forbidding party switches… he was upset when Vt Sen. Jim Jeffords’ left the GOP to become an independent.
Who knows what the truth is with this guy, you’ll never get it from him.
With all due respect, Senator- don’t let the door hit your butt on the way out. Nobody on our side’s going to miss you.
http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com
the republican party sucks. They have no focus. No values. No common sense. And now no Specter.
More is going to follow.
You can only get so far being the party of the far white.
More is going to follow.What a prediction.
"The far white"....that is good!
The real conservatives should run from the republican party.
They have nothing for them.
And through Reaganite Republican Resistance we see two points of conservatives:
1) NEVER change; be steadfastly stubborn and refuse to budge on any point, despite mounting evidence to the contrary, or public opinion shifts; remain dogged in your views.
2) Above all loyalty to party must be paramount.
You nailed it.
NEVER change; be steadfastly stubborn and refuse to budge on any pointShould it be legal to refuse to hire homosexuals?
What kind of stupid question is that?
That question just shows how out of touch the republican party members are.
anon@ 5:26
Yes. In the event that one is seeking to hire an exclusively heterosexual prostitute, it is perfectly fine to reject applications from anyone else. In that instance, the prospective employee's sexual orientation actually has something to do with their ability to perform the job.
Now a question for you. Should it be legal to refuse to hire a black person, or for Hooter's to refuse to hire women with small breasts?
"Fifteen states and the District of Columbia have laws that currently prohibit sexual orientation discrimination in both public and private jobs: California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin. Illinois has also passed such a law that will go into effect on January 1, 2006. And in Oregon, while no state law has been passed to prohibit sexual orientation discrimination in private employment, at least one court case found that sexual orientation discrimination is prohibited under the state's constitution (Tanner v. Oregon Health Sciences University, 157 Ore. App. 502, 971 P.2d 435 (1998))"(From an article at findlaw.com)
Thanks Bob for responding to that idiot.
And they wonder why they have become the far white party.
Bob, my point is that Kent described Republicans thus:
"NEVER change; be steadfastly stubborn and refuse to budge on any point"
And yet, neither he nor John would "never change" their position on gay rights, nor would they "refuse to budge" on that point.
dont bring the left into this conversation. The point is that the Republican party and it's members have a major stick up their back end.
They are the party of the far white and nothing else. Seriously. They can't bend. they are not flexible. They are stick in the muds.
They claim a big tent, and yet their leadership of Limbaugh, Hannity, and Beck. Live it. Love it. Embrace it.
Joe Liberman, Arlen Specter, "Blue Dog" Democrats....our side seems to have conservative Democrats. Where are the Liberal Republicans?
Oh wait, I know that only two left are in Maine.
Ken,
You are assuming the republican party is conservative. They are not.
there are more conservatives in the Democratic party than the Republican party at this time.
Kent and John,
Do you consider conservatism (not Republicans, but the conservative philosophy) to be a good or bad thing?
What about liberalism? Which do you prefer?
Both.
John -- when will we be permitted to address your anti-white racism, as exhibited in this post?
Never.
Go get your own blog
Well, I think it would be obvious that I prefer Liberal views over Conservative ones. I would disagree that one view is superior to the other.
Kent
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