Posted on 04/29/2009 5:23:07 AM PDT by kellynla
My one rule of politics is that the future is never a straight line projection of the present. Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's unexpected decision to switch parties and run for re-election in 2010 as a Democrat proves the rule. Mr. Specter often votes for liberal Democratic initiatives and infuriates conservative Republicans. Still, his surprise defection was a crushing setback for the GOP, instantly reducing what limited power Republicans have in the Senate. The GOP's ability to stop liberal legislation is now weakened if not eliminated in some instances.
CorbisMr. Specter's jump across the aisle significantly adds to the heavy Republican burden in Senate races next year. True, the political climate then may be more favorable for Republican gains; the economy probably won't be booming and the president's popularity won't be sky-high. But there's a problem: the map.
The states with Senate races in 2010 do not favor Republicans. They must defend 19 seats, six in states won handily by Barack Obama. In three -- New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio -- Democrats also have a built-in, blue-state edge. Indeed it was the strong Democratic advantage in Pennsylvania that prompted Mr. Specter's switch. In two other states -- Florida and North Carolina -- Republican chances are no better than fair. Only in Iowa, with incumbent Chuck Grassley a shoo-in for re-election, are Republicans assured of holding on in Obamaland.
Losing one or two or three Senate seats on the heels of Mr. Specter's departure would be devastating for Republicans. Already his defection has robbed them of their most reliable weapon in blocking President Obama's liberal proposals. If the 60 Democrats (counting Mr. Specter and Al Franken) stick together, they can keep Republicans from getting the 41 votes for a successful filibuster.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
With a super majority in the Senate, and a majority in the House, if anything goes wrong, and it most certainly will, the DemonRATs will get the blame, no matter how much the press tries to cover for them.
The swooning of the Press over the DemonRATs and their messianic leader is going to wear thin on Joe Public pretty quick, if things start going bad.
This is why today's “thinkers” need to be dethroned.
If Specter was voting with the Dems, then he wasn't helping us.
As I've said all along, with the “Gang of 14” mentality that so many Republicans have, the Dems NEVER needed 60 seats to prevent filibuster. They've had that for quite some time.
Specter's “defection” is nothing more than a formality at this point. The only reason he defected was to save the unmitigated embarrassment of losing in a primary after so many years in office. Toomey was set to destroy him in the primaries, and Specter is too much of an egotist to acknowledge that he is not representing the people he claims to have supported.
Hopefully, Toomey will end his career.
This now permanent red blue mapping is bogus. “Rats should alwyas be mapped and referred to as RED.
Brite Hume was with Barnes on this that losing a few more seats is a disaster, save seats at any cost . Both were for anmesty and TARP1. Bill Crystal pointed out that this defection makes it even more difficult for democrats to blame republicans for failures, tax increases are in the future. What is democrats cant pass them ?(beyond the automatic ones.)
Was there no Democrat planning a run in PA ?
The GOP Senate was never an obstacle to any liberal agenda, as the failure to stop the bailouts revealed.
It isn’t being mentioned that Specter appears ready to defect to the next world. He visibly is dying.
Makes his defection which he admits was to save his political hyde, especially pathetic and despicable. A dying man who does not have his priorities in order and sold his soul at the end of his life.
The economy? - you are assuming that the majority of his voters are net taxpayers.
They aren't - and the more the economy tanks, the more that they get for free.
Standard Democrat game plan.
Foreign events and policy? A wash.
We are looking at a very serious problem that may very well NOT self correct. - We have reached a tipping point and a few more straws will do the trick.
Look for Health care and immigration policy “reform” to be the final nails in the coffin of traditional America.
The rest is assured.
“if” things “start” going bad?
“things” have already “gone bad”...and “things” are only going to get WORSE!
what the “geniuses” in D.C. didn't learn while they were in college is that you can't spend your way into prosperity and you can't borrow your way out of debt...but then I doubt any of this clowns in D.C. took one class in Economics.
Semper Fi,
Kelly
Already underway. We consistently get better analysis right here on FRee Republic than on the telly or in the newspapers.
hopefully...
Look for the left to pull out all of the stops and the money to pour in for Specter.
I am under no illusions at all.
There is little difference between having 41 senators, several who regularly vote with the other side, and 38 senators who are solidly in our camp.
I wouldn’t mind shedding a few more RINOs at this point (why am I thinking of Maine?). If they are truly as moderate as they claim, the RINOs will still vote Republican occasionally. In the meantime, we can start working on getting fresh, conservative blood into the leadership.
“When the going gets tough.....the tough get going.”
Let all of the squishy, self absorbed RINOs follw the lead of Benedict Specter and openly sign on with the party of RATs. Get them all out in the open so that they no longer pollute and bastardize our party and our country’s future.
This is a gauntlet that has been thrown down and as such we need to respond in a determined manner come the 2010 elections.
Let’s do it, People!
As long as the dems have ACORN we can kiss America goodbye.
Bingo! The truth is, though, the Dims have basically had a super majority since the election thanks to several RINO's like Specter, Snowe, et al.
Things will be a little bit different, now though. Bush is gone, can't blame him. If the Clown ultimately prevails (note I didn't say "win") in Minnesota, the Dims will have overwhelming, unstoppable majority in both houses with no one to blame but themselves. For the purposes of rebuilding and "rediscovering" their Conservative roots and principles, the 'Pubbies have just had a tremendous gift laid in their lap. The question is, will they seize the moment?
WHEN things start going bad. Not “if”.
While the Dems are busy painting Arlen Sphincter as a victim of cruel conservatives and portraying him a one of the greatest senators of all time (now that he's a Dim), they are overlooking the fact that they tried to replace him every time he was up for reelection.
If Sphincter is such a god-send and represents the people so well (as the Dims would have us believe is their motive), why did they oppose him in past elections? Why didn't they throw all the weight of their machine behind him?
Because they are lying, totalitarian bastards. Power is their motive and their goal.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. My first instinct is that Specter’s defection won’t have much impact. We couldn’t count on him anyway, and I supsect the Democrats might not be able to either.
Also, I wonder if he will be handed the Democrat nomination, or if the nutroots crowd will “Ned Lamont” him. If I were a left-wing Democrat, I’d be thinking, “It’s nice that Arlen has decided to join us, for now, but why settle for a sort-of Democrat we cannot count on, when we could elect solid, left-winger?”
Even if he does get re-elected, as a Democrat, I don’t think he will necessarily move any farther to the left than he already is. He’d be 86 before he faced another election, meaning it would very likely be his final term, so he’d probably feel free to vote his conscience (if he has one).
Since we can’t count on Snowe or Collins to fillibuster, either, the Democrats already effectively had their 60, before Specter officially abandoned the GOP.
Specter sold his soul forty years ago.....
Besides Chris Matthews? LOL! Glad to see old Snarlin' Arlen gone - hope he takes McCain, Snowe, Collins and Graham with him. All they do is suck up Republican campaign funds and provide the media with sound bites to discredit the conservative agenda. Now that Arlen is a Democrat, you'll never hear from him again - he was useful to to the media only as long as he was wearing a Republican nametag.
“This now permanent red blue mapping is bogus. “Rats should alwyas be mapped and referred to as RED.”
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Agreed 100%!
It was a deliberate MSM psy-op (which increasingly is all they do), when they all came out with the “new” color scheme one year.
What’s so disappointing is - even FNC climbed on board.
Perhaps now with their newfound prominence - Fox could be persuaded to get out front and CHANGE IT BACK.
Just to tweak the noses of their competitors if nothing else.
Their viewers would certainly appreciate the gesture. One might even use the word leadership to describe such a stand.
How about it Fox?...
Specter goes to the Dark Side.
Folks, this is nothing but good versus evil.
No pale pastels! Go your own way if you think both political parties are each good, American Freedom and Liberty loving political parties. This is GOOD VERSUS EVIL!
They might block the Democrats on some issues like Card Check.
People like secret ballots.
Even if it makes 90% of America begin baying for nothing but GOP to be elected to the Congress, how long would that take to do any good?
If the GOP’s ability to fight the Dems was reliant on a prop so unstable as Spector, or Collins, or Snowe, it was ineffective anyway.
Besides Spector would NEVER cooperate in a filibuster vote anyway.
Spector’s departure is a blessing/ It will mean that the GOP has an opportunity to put someone with guts on the Judicial Review Committee and others as well, instead of Spector who never saw a Democrat he ever disagreed with.
Barnes should go on a diet, get on an exercise program - and find another line of work.
Vote in WGN poll
Q: Do you think the President’s first 100 days in office have been successful?
No
Yes
Fox should unilaterally begin referring to republican states as blue states.
IF things go bad? Don't you mean WHEN things go bad? The dims now own it all, it is all on their heads.
Nonsense. What a defeatist thing to say. From what I've seen of ACORN, there hardly is a functioning brain amongst the lot of them. The street level ACORN activist is a useful idiot at best. You don't have to be smart to be a thief.
Conservatives need to buck up and get after ACORN. We can beat these folks with minimal effort. Watch everything they do and shine the light on them. Cockroaches always scatter when the light is turned on!
If Specter could not be counted on, and he could not, why is the flip such a problem? The Republican controlled Senate was not really meaningful or powerful because of the propensity for liberals to be liberals.
During the 8 years of Bush the Republicans tried so hard to please the left that they lost the right. Most Republicans are fake capitalists, while all Democrats are Socialists. Obama is in the process of forming the National Socialist Party, but most voters are unable to connect the dots.
It will take a major disaster, such as another 9/11 followed by an economic depression, to get people to realize that this country was build by free enterprise, and not by government. We are losing more personal freedom on a daily basis. The Constitution has already been undermined.
A book to read: The Dirty Dozen, by Robert Levy and William Mellor. It’s about 12 disgusting Supreme Court decisions which conflict with the letter, history and spirit of the Constitution. Amazon has it, but you may not find it at a politically correct local library.
I wonder if we’ll ever see a crossover who claims to be a social conservative but a fiscal liberal.
” “things” have already “gone bad”...and “things” are only going to get WORSE!
what the “geniuses” in D.C. didn’t learn while they were in college is that you can’t spend your way into prosperity and you can’t borrow your way out of debt...but then I doubt any of this clowns in D.C. took one class in Economics.”
And the Democrat party will have to accept the blame for everything they do.
Do you understand that by registering thousands of fraudulent ‘voters’ the dems use that number to add to their vote totals.
It’s not who casts the votes, it’s who counts the votes who decides the winner.
Inner cities have long reported 110% voter turnout.
Get in the real world of voter fraud. Millions of dollars are spent to garner ‘votes’.
Last year, armed Nation of Islam thugs turned away legitimate challengers at the polls in PA.
Perhaps he can more readily follow ancient Scottish Law in that Party. In fact, I’m sure he can! No Loss in fact, he has always been a traitor to the Party.
A team player he isn't. I wonder who he is encouraging to run who can take back the seat?
Did you see O’Reilly last night on Fox? Giving Ofluma a B+ for domestic policy and “C” otherwise on the report card? I am so sick of O’Reilly I could just spit. His whole purpose in life is trashing MSNBC. Not that they don’t deserve to be trashed, but he is very disingenous and dishonest about it. O’Reilly is a two-faced POS himself.
We, on the other hand, need to start getting organized for our July 4th protests. We now know that our numbers are huge. The MSM “press” know it and are having to work hard to cover it all up.
We have an uphill battle but we can do it. YES WE CAN!
And Joe caved instantly.
Both these guys see the end coming (as does Senator Johnson, another Democrat, as well). They want to "prepare" and get their consciences clear before they meet their "true god".
Philly’s Murphy was and probably is. He carried a pencil during his tour in Iraq and that makes him a military expert and the next “Sergeant York” of the senate.
“Fox should unilaterally begin referring to republican states as blue states.”
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So should FReepers. :)
Remember it was FNC which actually uses the term “homicide bombers” - in contrast to the rest of the media.
I think we could turn FNC on this, if enough of us speak up. They have to know, FR strongly represents their viewer base.
— posted from RED STATE California.
I hope this is the beginning, not the end of Toomey's career.
Bill's not exactly drifting leftward but he's not overtly insulting that segment of the audience.
BTW, FOX now has MORE viewers than MSNBC and CNN combined ~ they want to keep them. And I'd like for them to keep them too ~ that way they can hear the other side ~ the Conservative side.
Didn't lenin say the same thing?
Yes, I fully understand that. What is it precisely that is stopping Conservatives from filming polling locations and posting the info on Youtube for all to see? What is stopping Conservatives from doing similar (legal) activities to counter ACORN's efforts? I can answer in one word: APATHY.
Apathy and a defeatist attitude are what got us to where we are now. I, for one, refuse to be ruled by idiots. It's long past time for Conservatives to quit cowering in the corner and stand up for what is right!
Are you familiar with what happened in 1980 and 1994?
I believe that one has to develop a set of principles to guide one’s life and adhere to them as closely as possible. One then seeks and supports elected officials who espouse (and hopefully adhere to) the same general ideals. In my experience, Conservatives generally do a better job of that than do political-wind/poll driven Liberals.
When they no longer do that, it’s time to put someone in who does. Again, the right has done a better job of offloading those who violate our trust and our principles than the left does (ergo, Gingrich, Hastert, Lott, et al. vs. Clinton [both of ‘em], Obama, Nagin, Jefferson, et al.). It’s an “firm vs. elastic principles” thing. The left adheres to Lenin’s “ends justify the means” more than the right does.
I’ve been concerned about Sen. Specter for a long time. I’ve always thought he was arrogant and self promoting. After listening to him on the Michael Smerconish show today, one gets the impression that he actually believes that without his “vim and vigor” the entire Senate would have long ago collapsed if not for his esteemed presence.
But the simple reality is that Senator Specter was not elected to represent his own ideas, philosophies, and political agendas. Nor was he elected to pursue the goals of a national party. He was elected to represent the people of his district - the voters who put him where he is. He’s a public servant, nothing more. It’s simple, he either represents his constituents, or he represents himself. If he represents himself, he’s become part of the problem in Washington, and needs to go. I believe he has been just that for a long time. This latest stunt is just proof positive that he’s not interested in serving anyone but himself. He as much as admitted it on the Michael Smerconish show today, with his comments on what he “wanted to be remembered for”. His concern is his legacy, not his electorate.
BTW, he did begin his career as a Democrat, and conveniently switched when the political winds favored him being in the Republican Party. There’s an old saying: “if she (or he) will screw around with you, she (or he) will screw around on you”. In other words, never trust the faith of a demonstrably unfaithful person. If his former friends (i.e. his actual constituents) can’t trust him, then his new “friends” certainly can’t.
Obama and the Democrats know this, and they will treat him accordingly. He’ll be their new “trophy wife” for a while, and they will use him accordingly, but they will keep a very short leash on him. He'll never be of any real importance to them, and they will use him as a stick to beat the republicans over the head with, but they'll drop him like a hot rock as soon as they have expended his utility towards their ends.
Mr. Specter’s real legacy? Ira Einhorn.
What is the number of (D) seats coming up for re-election?
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