I just drove home from babysitting my one year old granddaughter and heard on the car radio that Republican Senator Arlen Specter has joined the Democrat Party. This does not shock me in any way.
According to this CBS report:
“I am not prepared to have my 29-year record in the United States Senate decided by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate — not prepared to have that record decided by that jury, the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate,†Specter said.
In other words, to hell with those who elected him. Staying in power is more important. He also said that his political philosophy was more in line with the Dem Party than the Repubs. Certainly no surprise there. Obviously the present power and control of the Democratic Party seems irresistible to him especially if in his meeting with Obama he got a promise that there would be no Dem opposition in 2010.
The left media is giddy with reports that this is some kind of death blow to the Republican Party. I doubt it is that serious but I really don’t care if it is. The Republican Party no longer stands for anything. They only want to oppose Democrats for the sake of gaining power.
I doubt that this will be any kind of wake up call for the R-Party either. Likely, they will conclude that they haven’t been religious enough, or anti-business enough, or compassionate enough or some other such nonsense. Look for them to try and take over the upcoming tea parties and champion the anti-tax, anti-nationalization feelings therein.
I do think now would be a good time to send lots of letters to Republicans letting them know that they are out because they will not ruthlessly champion individual rights. They routinely go along with the Democrats philosophy that the needs of some trump the rights of others. IOW, they don’t know how to advance the moral argument for capitalism and as long as they don’t they can stay out of power.
David Frum is crowing over this. He says that if the Republicans had listened to him and not fielded Pat Toomey to run against Spector, then Spector would have stayed a Republican. Now the Republicans cannot stop the almighty Democrat juggernaut. Or something. Frum’s argument seems to be “the only way to fight the Democrats is to become more like them.”
Myrhaf:
“Frum’s argument seems to be “the only way to fight the Democrats is to become more like them.—
I agree. It seems no matter how badly they are hammered, they learn nothing.
I for one am pleased they lost Specter. What ever happens now, the Dems can’t claim their disasterous policies were ‘bipartisan’! The Republicans ought to feel relieved.
Well, it gives the Dems a filibuster-proof majority. We just lost a brake on this jalopy.
As for the voters who elected him, they knew what Specter was like for a long time.
I don’t know what difference that will make long-term, but short term you’ll see some stuff picking up speed. Socialized health-care, probably — though I imagine that gun sales will continue at their feverish pace for a while.
And he’s doing this just a little more than a month after he gave an interview in which he said (on March 17, 2009) that he absolutely would NOT switch parties. You can read his bloviating during that interview about the importance of checks and balances and the two-party system here:
http://briefingroom.thehill.com/2009/04/28/specter-had-disavowed-a-switch/
TW:
More and more of our representatives are becoming two-faced hypocrites and give the lie to the claim that they care about America and her political system.
This really shouldn’t be allowed. The people that elected Specter elected a Republican. He did not run officially as a Democrat. If he wants to be a Democrat, then he should step down and run again as a Democrat.
I’m doubtful that the GOP would have been able to maintain a filibuster on anything that actually mattered. There were too many wishy-washy RINOs in the Senate caucus — not just Specter, but Collins and Snowe too.
On the plus side, this does make it easier to make the Democrats take ownership of the consequences of their policies. They now have no excuses.
Mike N:
“More and more of our representatives are becoming two-faced hypocrites and give the lie to the claim that they care about America and her political system.”
So true. You know, I didn’t think I could get any more cynical about Congress, but I really think this particular one is the worst I can remember.
I used to be opposed to term limits on the principle that, hey, if people want to elect the same people over and over again, why shouldn’t they have that right, and suffer the consequences?
I think I have come to the point of believing that term limits would be like a kind of discipline that we, the electorate, impose on ourselves. We could lift it at any time, of course, if we hypothetically wanted to.