Obligatory Arlen Specter-Is-A-Turncoat-Scum Post

Will Arlen Specter be as big a thorn in the Democratic flesh as he’s been for Republicans? Doubt it. His ideological home has been the left for as long as I’ve paid attention to him. I’m still irritated as hell that President Bush threw his weight behind Specter who gave him nothing but fits about judicial nominees. And I knew, even though Arlen Specter acted contrite and promised to be a good little Republican that Specter would nurse his humiliation and exact his revenge.

Peggy Noonan, Specter apologist, want to change your cluckish wisdom, saying that Specter is a good man who deserves to have a Republican home? Will you be of the John McCain and Olympia Snowe fonts of superior reasoning clinging to the notion that conservatives (you know the 60% of Americans who self-identify as conservative, that minority of people) are killing the Republican party? Probably. Here’s what Snowe says:

Snowe criticized party leadership for failing to change its tone after Republicans lost six Senate seats in the 2006 election.

“I happened to win with 74 percent of the vote in a blue-collar state, but no one asked me, ‘How did you do it?’” she said. “Seems to me that would have been the first question that would have come from the Republican Party to find out so we could avoid further losses.”

“Ultimately, we’re heading to having the smallest political tent in history, the way things are unfolding,” Snowe said.

Let’s just address this, shall we?

First, if moderation was a winning strategy nationally, we would have a President McCain. Second, define Republican. Third, define Moderate.

It’s impossible to define the last two and that’s what conservatives find maddening. If you are not fiscally responsible and for lower taxes, less government intrusion and less spending, why are you a Republican? What are you, if you’re not that? If the Republicans in the House and Senate would ONLY commit to fiscal responsibility, Republicans would be winning instead of losing. But, no. Republicans addicted to pork and spending and pet projects and big government feel “attacked”. Well, hell. Start acting, at least in one small way, like a Republican. These are the kinds of “mean” words that hurt Lindsay Graham’s feelings, from Club for Growth:

Upon learning that Arlen Specter has switched political parties, now joining the Democrats in a filibuster-proof U.S. Senate, Club for Growth President Chris Chocola issued this statement:

“Senator Specter has confirmed what we already knew – he’s a liberal devoted to more spending, more bailouts, and less economic freedom. Thanks to him, Democrats will now be able to steamroll their big government agenda through the Senate.

“This also shows how unprincipled he is. Just a few weeks ago, he stated quite clearly that he was remaining a Republican because he thought he had ‘a more important role to play there.’ And he said ‘the United States very desperately needs a two-party system.’

So what do Republicans stand for? Is there a pro-life Democrat? Is there a small government Democrat? No. Democrats believe that k
more taxes help fund more government programs which “help” (read enslave) more people which makes more Democratic voters. They are pro-union. They are pro-picky laws that frustrate an individual’s ability to self-govern. They are for silencing opposition. They are for coercion–because they believe they know what’s best for people.

You know the problem with what I just wrote? Too many Republicans fit that exact mold. John McCain hung himself on his own stupid campaign legislation and still hasn’t learned. He’s an electoral genius, alright and faces his own primary challenger. While some like Jim DeMint want party purity, I’d just like the party to stand for at least one thing and money is something most people can agree on. Americans have to be fiscally responsible or pay the consequences. Why not D.C.?

Matt Lewis sums up nicely:

Moreover, this is not the first time he has warned that the GOP is “too conservative.” In 1996, Arlen Specter ran for President and spent the entirety of his short campaign lecturing the GOP about how they were out of touch with the average American. … Keep in mind, this was just two years after we dramatically stormed to power in Congress under Newt Gingrich, and four years before we took the White House under George W. Bush.

Practically speaking, however, Specter’s move could have real consequences. In the short term, if Al Franken is, in fact, seated, Arlen Specter would give the Democrats the elusive and important 60th vote. Moreover, while Pat Toomey was the odds-on favorite to defeat Specter in a GOP primary, Specter would appear to have the advantage in a general election. As one pro-Specter friend emailed me, “Arguably, this is the most significant achievement of Obama’s first hundred days.”

Ironically, though, Specter may be giving the GOP a gift. Every GOP candidate running for office in 2010 can now argue that their seat is vital to prevent a filibuster-proof majority, which would allow the Democrats to jam through their radical liberal agenda.

In a final point of irony, I would note that Mr. Specter has been a Democrat before. In fact, he only switched his affiliation to Republican in order to win office. In 1965, at age 35, Specter lost a Democratic primary for District Attorney in Philadelphia — so he switched to the GOP ticket to win in the general election. So, it appears that Sen. Specter is finally going home after 44 long years in the wilderness — and ending his political career exactly as he began it.

So, Arlen Specter goes home and the Republicans get the opportunity to define, after too long flirting with being Democrats, just nicer, what it means to be a Republican.

Posted in Political Animals
Tags: Democrats • Politics • Republicans