That Arlen Specter, he was one loyal Republican, eh?
Oh wait, that’s right, he switched engines today:
WASHINGTON — Veteran Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania switched parties Tuesday with a suddenness that stunned the Senate, a moderate’s defection that left Democrats one seat shy of a 60-vote filibuster-resistant majority with many of President Barack Obama’s key legislative priorities on the horizon.
Yes, we lost a seat but, in essence, what has the GOP really lost, eh?
First, before we can much care as Conservatives, we have to be convinced the GOP can even manage to rally around more than a single issue — the recent Obama budget.
Sadly, I remain unconvinced.
BZ
What’s the big deal?? The MSM is nearly orgasmic. It’s the end of the world. Specter is going over to the Dems. So?? He’s been with the Dems for a long time now.
This is NO loss and is NO surprise, now if John McCain would go ahead and join his Dem buddies. McCain and Specter, RINOs at their very best. Why be Dem-Lite when you can be a full blown, socialist supporting Democrat??
Much more here!
Arlen dont let the door hit you in the ass, I’d hate to have to sue you for damages.
As I wrote, at least it’s in the open and clear. But hell, Fred, we both knew this long ago.
BZ
200,000 Rino’s to Dino’s.
Last year, Specter noted, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania switched their party registrations to Democrats.http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/politics/bal-arlen-specter-0428,0,5421423.story?page=2
OUCH! That’s got to hurt.
Ranando, Specter is a liar, and full of shit… A lot of that going around in Dem AND Republican politics…
I wonder if they counted some of the GOP defectors that went to the Libetarian party?
My husband did.
I didn’t.
I’m stubborn.
I stayed with the Democratic party for about five years after they’d left me. I’m giving the GOP one more election.
But then, what does it really matter? They all legislate in their best interests, not mine.
Wow. I’m sounding bitter these days.
I just looked up how many registered Republicans are there, 55 million. Registered Independents, 42 million.
Registered Democrats, 72 million.
You can Google and find the same numbers.
Now if I was a betting man and with Independents voting far more Liberal than Conservative. I would bet that the Republican Party is a thing of the past, at least the Republican Party as we know it today.
Ranando:
“I would bet that the Republican Party is a thing of the past, at least the Republican Party as we know it today.”
Mmmm, maybe not so fast. On the other hand I’m not willing to bet against “the Republican Party as we know it today.” THAT very well may change.
Further, what WOULD it take for Mr Obama to be a 1-termer? It wouldn’t take a huge push, that’s what. Many suggest we’re heading towards not just inflation but hyper-inflation. We KNOW that oil-per-barrel is going to run up again. We know taxes are going up. We know the government is printing money at a staggering rate. We know that production costs are rising and will rise ever more exponentially when “cap & trade” hits. We know our national debt is likewise staggering.
Each one of these items can cause inflation; taken together, it bodes poorly for the economy.
Finally, tracking down his current path Mr Obama damned near ensures we are hit by some form of terrorist act. And it won’t be by flying another series of aircraft into buildings. Terrorists learn and they’ve learned, I’ll wager, from 9/11, to hit our economy much more directly.
BZ
I’d heard that Specter had switched parties, but I was disappointed when I found out he was still a Democrat.
Specter switched parties?
I can’t say that I’m surprised that he would do so, but I hadn’t heard this news.
Ya, I’ll admit it…I caught a little of Rachel Maddow on the subject..OH, is she THRILLED!
As if this makes a difference in ANYTHING..ah, but the spin. the spin
Z,
Far be it from me to “Correct” a fellow poster but the Correct Name is Rashel Madcow. (It’s French like most of the Cheese eating surrender monkeys) And HE was thrilled……….
LOL
At least he can be open about being a Philly machine politician now… mind you it may just turn out that the only people who like Arlen Specter less than Republicans are Democrats. While there was some pleasure taken on the D side, I have noticed a severe lack of joy there.
Remember that while party registration is one thing, turn out another, and both parties have driven overall turnout down, decade upon decade. To get back voters, the Republican Party must no longer be the party of DC… but there is now a problem: the old grassroots has self organized. Where this leads is NOT to an infusion into the Republican Party or a great support for the Democrats, either. This is not the past but a different future where Americans do not look to parties to ‘solve problems’ by putting them up into DC. That is a failure. Progressivism is a failure.
As an example of the FFT at work, consider that Barack Obama started building his ‘grassroots’ and Soros helped organization over a year to get one million people to it. The Tea Parties are not centrally organized, not backed, and yet pull half that number in one quarter of the time. The movement is not to a centralized schema… Obama can’t get 10% of those people to support his programs, policies and spending by hitting the pavement for him even ONE DAY. Not only was that eclipsed on 15 APR, but the ongoing movement is going downwards into local affairs… and the Republican Party can’t do a thing to convince these people that they will keep their word on ANYTHING in the way of spending or the size of government.
It isn’t that the base is ‘conservative’ so much as ‘anti-Progressive’. We were founded on that. Blood was spilled on that. And those in charge of the Republican Party cannot be bothered to read history books, just like the Democrats. The protest is new, the fight started in 1765, and the old enemy is returning to the field in the form of our slacker fellow citizens. The protests remain civil until those in power try to force the issue with blood. Blood over spending, taxes and government control. Then things get rather pointed…Americans do not want a fight with the government, but the moment government wants it, it will get it. And both parties are behind that curve by decades.
BZ, I almost sent you a post on this, but though I would just comment.
The GOP is struggling because we let moderates take over. Look at McCain. He isn’t as left as Specter, but he LOST.. GET IT ANYONE WHO THINKS WE SHOULD GO MODERATE? WE LOST..WE WON DURING THE REAGAN YEARS RUNNING ON SOLID CONSERVATIVE PRINCIPLES. Since then we grew soft and mushy.
So, if we go left to appease the minority that are independants and moderates just to get their votes we lose a huge chunk of our party which are solid across the board conservatives.
You can’t trust most social moderates who are fiscal conservatives. Sorry, but when someone doesn’t have a core you can’t trust their stances. They will tell you one thing, EVEN FISCALLY, and do something different while in office.
Shoot, our party turns on people like Geraldo now. He wants to run as a Republican like Arnold did. Since we are the ‘big tent’ party. Geraldo wants to be a Republican yet legalize pot and support open borders. Gee… Sounds like liberal ideology to me. ;0)
Geraldo wants to be a Republican yet legalize pot and support open borders.
Actually those are the hard core LIBERTARIAN stances. I have no real problem with the legalization of pot as long as its regulated somewhat like alcohol, but the open borders thing is just WRONG.