Arlen Specter’s switch to the Democratic party is the most damaging defeat to maintaining anything resembling a close to moderate course of action for the Federal government. Consider this, there is no denying Barack Obama is a radical leftist not just a traditional liberal who attempts to project the image of a traditional liberal or will speak in centrist terms when it helps secure his political advantage. The House of Representatives functions under the tyrannical, iron-fisted irrational rule of San Francisco area congresswoman, Nancy Pelosi, who is not only far-left politically but is also an emotionally unstable vengeful power broker who has left no room for dissent or discussion even among factions within her own party. The Senate Democrats are the least extreme of the power centers the Democrats currently control, but their agenda is hard core liberal favoring massive government social engineering, expanding government programs and intervention, nationalized medicine, and a rubber stamp to organized labor’s political issues which has helped interfere with restructuring General Motors and Chrysler and has effectively made any kind of educational reform impossible as the nations’ two main teachers’ unions, the NEA and AFT routinely fight almost all meaningful efforts that will make public education more effective and responsive.
Arlen Specter’s move is a calculated move for political survival. While his politics are probably acceptable to the state of Pennsylvania at large, his constant moves against key Republican stances has put him at odds with the GOP to the extent where he could quite possibly lose in the next round of senatorial primaries. Representative Pat Toomey is already making gains toward what could have been a drive to oust Specter as the GOP candidate. Given his poor standing within his own party and the Democrats’ recent ability to raise huge sums of money would make his chances to win as an independent as Joe Lieberman accomplished against the far-left the Democrats would be a long shot for Specter in Pennsylvania.
Ronald Reagan once said, “If you vote with me 80% of the time, you’re my friend.” While Specter has dealt his party some horrible defeats when flipping to the Democrats’ side including supporting Barack Obama’s massive, pork laden, bailout bill and did his share of things that upset Bush administration policies, the Republicans are better off in these troubled times in the party with Specter nominally Republican than sitting with the Democrats. The magic number is 60. Once the Democrats secure sixty members, the Republicans lose their ability to filibuster without Democrat crossovers. Perhaps this advantage has been already lost as Specter has crossed lines quite frequently, but the numbers do matter in ways that aren’t always apparent.
Make no doubt about it, Arlen Specter is a rotten son-of-a-bitch. His rational that his position reflects the party leaving him rather than vice-versa is self-promoting nonsense. He has been a tough fellow for the GOP to depend on for years, but his assertion that the Republicans are dominated by the radical right is absurd. Of course now that the Obama administration and news media has moved the focus further to the left what would seem to be simply mainstream traditionally moderate views might be defined as far-right. The media, of course, has applauded Specter, as they once applauded John McCain before he became the GOP’s standard bearer for his independence.
The two most important positions for the Republican Party and the ones that speak directly to the American people’s political sensibilities are; strong national defense and economic restraint. Much of the current dissatisfaction with the GOP are widespread perceptions that they have abandoned their resolve on economic matters given their reckless spending and pork barrel excesses which served as hard core proof the “Contract with America” which helped many of them be elected in the first place no longer matters once they got to Washington and became drunk with power and fat with the perks of incumbency.
Perhaps where the Republicans failed most miserably was their inability to convince the public that they are the party of low taxes. They put up no fight in the media against their contention that the Republicans cut taxes for the very rich and could care less about the so-called “working people.” While Barack Obama campaigned on “middle class tax cuts,” the truth was he simply would maintain the tax cuts to wage earners below a certain figure when they are set to expire in 2010. Maintaining cuts the people already enjoy is hardly a tax cut, but meanwhile higher end wage earners including thousands of small business owners and entrepreneurs will pay more.
The so-called “kitchen table” issues have been seized by the Democrats while if the public were to get an honest appraisal of what’s truly going on, the Democrats are not helping average citizens live a better, safer, more economically secure life. The Republicans inability to communicate with the public is pure political incompetence.
Let’s look at a few issues. How can anyone feel the Democrats are on the right side of educational reform? America’s schools are not meeting their challenges adequately, but as long as parents don’t see any direct problems with their kids, they look the other way. If “Johnny” is getting decent grades and isn’t getting beat up in school, it’s too much effort to see how “Johnny” has been sold short. While suburban and rural school districts are able to keep mediocre schools going, urban and impoverished districts are failing miserably where “No Child Left Behind” has yet to provide meaningful substantial change. Concepts like school choice, improvements in math and science, more rigorous and challenging standards and curriculum are concepts almost all citizens who don’t have a vested interest in maintaining the unions’ control of public schools will embraced enthusiastically if presented to them in a clear, understandable manner. More often, the Republicans are seen are being obsessed with attempting to mandate school prayer, an absolutely insane notion in an open society, and chest pounding in their opposition to sex education. In some areas, Republicans are seen as actively attempting to mandate teaching creationism or “intelligent design” and pushing evolution out of the classroom. Hello, this is the 21st century. While evolution is just a theory and there is more to reality than that which pure science can explain, this is the right and rational course of education. Fighting it helps fuel the perception the Republican Party is out of touch.
After being clobbered in the last two elections, two things are clear about the Republicans: 1- they desperately need new leadership, 2- they need to redefine themselves making their core believes connect with the American people. The Republican brand needs to clearly stand for something, but if it’s a lot of the same old same old, they’re doomed.
Arlen Specter’s move makes the game tougher for Republicans. Forget the bravado and spin. They are better off having an unpredictable member who keeps them in filibuster range than giving the Democrats their magic number.
Arlen Spector is nothing more than a groveling opportunist. The writing was on the wall. He’d not survive the Republican primary in Pennsylvania and he knew it. How arrogant his assertion that he was not about to have his years in service be decided by Pennsylvania Republican primary voters as if they are some kind of low life scum. At least he didn’t call them the kinds of things his new fellow party member from western PA, John Murtha would have called them.
Surely, the Liberal press will call him a man who stood for principleabove politics that his ideals could no longer be satisfied by his former party. Baloney! Examining Arlen Specter’s career as a whole, there is no rhyme or reason or great causes for which he stood. He stood for himself and the interests he served. For him, they were not the Pennsylvania Republicans who have financed his stay in Washington since his first election to the Senate in 1980.
The honorable thing for Arlen Specter to do would be at 79 years old would be to retire and pass the torch to the next generation, but his huge ego and holier-than-thou persona would not allow for that. Here’s a person who condemned Vermont Senator, Jim Jeffers, move to the Democrats in 2001 even suggesting the Senate rules should be changed to prevent such moves. As recently as last week he openly trumpeted his value to the GOP despite turning the tables being one of the switcheroo votes that facilitated passage of the Obama “Stimilus” as in stimulate huge government and debts bill.
Here’s hoping the Pennsylvania voters will give him the retirement he was too selfish and cowardly to accept on his own terms. His story is that of a self-serving bastard who puts himself above his constituents, his party, and his country. It’s all about the immediate rewards of power. The Republicans are a cleaner, purer party without him despite the difficult spot his move puts their ability to influence the course of action in the Senate.
Arlen Specter’s move is a calculated move for political survival. While his politics are probably acceptable to the state of Pennsylvania at large, his constant moves against key Republican stances has put him at odds with the GOP to the extent where he could quite possibly lose in the next round of senatorial primaries. Representative Pat Toomey is already making gains toward what could have been a drive to oust Specter as the GOP candidate. Given his poor standing within his own party and the Democrats’ recent ability to raise huge sums of money would make his chances to win as an independent as Joe Lieberman accomplished against the far-left the Democrats would be a long shot for Specter in Pennsylvania.
Ronald Reagan once said, “If you vote with me 80% of the time, you’re my friend.” While Specter has dealt his party some horrible defeats when flipping to the Democrats’ side including supporting Barack Obama’s massive, pork laden, bailout bill and did his share of things that upset Bush administration policies, the Republicans are better off in these troubled times in the party with Specter nominally Republican than sitting with the Democrats. The magic number is 60. Once the Democrats secure sixty members, the Republicans lose their ability to filibuster without Democrat crossovers. Perhaps this advantage has been already lost as Specter has crossed lines quite frequently, but the numbers do matter in ways that aren’t always apparent.
Make no doubt about it, Arlen Specter is a rotten son-of-a-bitch. His rational that his position reflects the party leaving him rather than vice-versa is self-promoting nonsense. He has been a tough fellow for the GOP to depend on for years, but his assertion that the Republicans are dominated by the radical right is absurd. Of course now that the Obama administration and news media has moved the focus further to the left what would seem to be simply mainstream traditionally moderate views might be defined as far-right. The media, of course, has applauded Specter, as they once applauded John McCain before he became the GOP’s standard bearer for his independence.
The two most important positions for the Republican Party and the ones that speak directly to the American people’s political sensibilities are; strong national defense and economic restraint. Much of the current dissatisfaction with the GOP are widespread perceptions that they have abandoned their resolve on economic matters given their reckless spending and pork barrel excesses which served as hard core proof the “Contract with America” which helped many of them be elected in the first place no longer matters once they got to Washington and became drunk with power and fat with the perks of incumbency.
Perhaps where the Republicans failed most miserably was their inability to convince the public that they are the party of low taxes. They put up no fight in the media against their contention that the Republicans cut taxes for the very rich and could care less about the so-called “working people.” While Barack Obama campaigned on “middle class tax cuts,” the truth was he simply would maintain the tax cuts to wage earners below a certain figure when they are set to expire in 2010. Maintaining cuts the people already enjoy is hardly a tax cut, but meanwhile higher end wage earners including thousands of small business owners and entrepreneurs will pay more.
The so-called “kitchen table” issues have been seized by the Democrats while if the public were to get an honest appraisal of what’s truly going on, the Democrats are not helping average citizens live a better, safer, more economically secure life. The Republicans inability to communicate with the public is pure political incompetence.
Let’s look at a few issues. How can anyone feel the Democrats are on the right side of educational reform? America’s schools are not meeting their challenges adequately, but as long as parents don’t see any direct problems with their kids, they look the other way. If “Johnny” is getting decent grades and isn’t getting beat up in school, it’s too much effort to see how “Johnny” has been sold short. While suburban and rural school districts are able to keep mediocre schools going, urban and impoverished districts are failing miserably where “No Child Left Behind” has yet to provide meaningful substantial change. Concepts like school choice, improvements in math and science, more rigorous and challenging standards and curriculum are concepts almost all citizens who don’t have a vested interest in maintaining the unions’ control of public schools will embraced enthusiastically if presented to them in a clear, understandable manner. More often, the Republicans are seen are being obsessed with attempting to mandate school prayer, an absolutely insane notion in an open society, and chest pounding in their opposition to sex education. In some areas, Republicans are seen as actively attempting to mandate teaching creationism or “intelligent design” and pushing evolution out of the classroom. Hello, this is the 21st century. While evolution is just a theory and there is more to reality than that which pure science can explain, this is the right and rational course of education. Fighting it helps fuel the perception the Republican Party is out of touch.
After being clobbered in the last two elections, two things are clear about the Republicans: 1- they desperately need new leadership, 2- they need to redefine themselves making their core believes connect with the American people. The Republican brand needs to clearly stand for something, but if it’s a lot of the same old same old, they’re doomed.
Arlen Specter’s move makes the game tougher for Republicans. Forget the bravado and spin. They are better off having an unpredictable member who keeps them in filibuster range than giving the Democrats their magic number.
Arlen Spector is nothing more than a groveling opportunist. The writing was on the wall. He’d not survive the Republican primary in Pennsylvania and he knew it. How arrogant his assertion that he was not about to have his years in service be decided by Pennsylvania Republican primary voters as if they are some kind of low life scum. At least he didn’t call them the kinds of things his new fellow party member from western PA, John Murtha would have called them.
Surely, the Liberal press will call him a man who stood for principleabove politics that his ideals could no longer be satisfied by his former party. Baloney! Examining Arlen Specter’s career as a whole, there is no rhyme or reason or great causes for which he stood. He stood for himself and the interests he served. For him, they were not the Pennsylvania Republicans who have financed his stay in Washington since his first election to the Senate in 1980.
The honorable thing for Arlen Specter to do would be at 79 years old would be to retire and pass the torch to the next generation, but his huge ego and holier-than-thou persona would not allow for that. Here’s a person who condemned Vermont Senator, Jim Jeffers, move to the Democrats in 2001 even suggesting the Senate rules should be changed to prevent such moves. As recently as last week he openly trumpeted his value to the GOP despite turning the tables being one of the switcheroo votes that facilitated passage of the Obama “Stimilus” as in stimulate huge government and debts bill.
Here’s hoping the Pennsylvania voters will give him the retirement he was too selfish and cowardly to accept on his own terms. His story is that of a self-serving bastard who puts himself above his constituents, his party, and his country. It’s all about the immediate rewards of power. The Republicans are a cleaner, purer party without him despite the difficult spot his move puts their ability to influence the course of action in the Senate.
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