Yesterday at about 10:30am, President Obama made a very important phone call. That call was to welcome Senator Arlen Specter to the Democratic Party. He told the senator, "You have my full support and we're thrilled to have you." Specter replied that he would support the president's agenda.In the statement released by Senator Specter yesterday, he said, "Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans."
This doesn't mean that Specter is all of a sudden a left-wing progressive -- he's not. He's the same moderate politician that he always was, and I'm sure there will be times when he will vote against what Democrats want. But I do believe him when he says he's more in line with Democrats than Republicans. The Democratic Party has a mix of progressives and moderates, and both are made to feel they have a place in the party.
That is not true of the Republican Party. It has been taken over by ultra-right-wingers and they are making it clear there is no place in the party for moderate voices. Sen. Specter made the mistake of voting his conscience instead of the party line on the president's stimulus plan. Since that time, he has received nothing but abuse from the Republican Party. They even promised to back an opponent in the primary when he ran for re-election.
That's why it's a bit disingenuous of all the Republicans who are expressing shock that Specter is leaving the party. Did they really think he would abandon his conscience and his principles and fall in line with their ultra-right insanity? Well, they were wrong if that's what they thought. Maybe their own lack of principles and conscience leaves them unable to understand those who do possess them.
They basically ran the senator out of the party. Now they are lashing out at him like he betrayed them. Michael Steele says they are coming after him in the next election, but I find it hard to believe he really believes that. The Republican Party lost 200,000 moderates in the last election (they are now registered Democrats). There is no way a right-wing Republican can win Pennsylvania in the next election.
But this may not be the last moderate they run out of the party. Limbaugh basically said good riddance to the senator yesterday, and then told him to take John McCain with him. He and other right-wingers have also been heaping abuse on Senators Snowe and Collins from Maine.
Republican Party leaders and right-wing pundits seem determined to purge the party of all moderates. Whether more elected officials leave or not, they have been very effective in driving out rank-and-file members. A few years ago, over 36% of voters identified themselves as Republicans. In a recent poll, that has now dropped to under 28%.
Ten years ago, Republicans were riding high and the party seemed invincible. Since then, their self-destruction has been nothing short of amazing -- and it continues.
Maybe McCain will join our party. I would welcome him actually. I like McCain, though it seems unlikely he will defect. I think he still imagines that the Republicans can be herded back onto a course of relative conservative behavior. I have a feeling he's wrong about that however. When the true leader of the Republicans (Limbaugh and I seriously think he is the Republican's leader) stands up and says let's get rid of McCain it really says something about where those guys are at.
ReplyDeleteIf I were an old school Republican I would have some serious concerns about my party.
Right now it looks like two groups make up the Republican party...the old Southern racist Dixiecrats and the Evangelicals. Maybe the rest will defect to our side. Let's hope so.
As a conservative first, Republican about 34th, my reaction to Specter's defection was not as visceral as others in the GOP. Like a 29-year marriage that had been dead for years, I viewed it more with sad resignation than anything else.
ReplyDeleteNot many people remember that Specter was a registered Democrat as late as 1965, when he ran for District Attorney of Philadelphia on the Republican ticket; it was only after he won that he switched party affiliation to the GOP. Given his bout with cancer (which, I can personally attest, puts you in touch with your own mortality), perhaps this in part explains his "deathbed conversion" back to the party of his youth.
But personally, I think it was mostly out of expediency and pragmatism. Facing an even tougher challenge from Pat Toomey than he did in 2004, Specter saw the hand writing on the wall and, not willing to run as an independent, decided that becoming a Democrat (again) was his best chance at holding on to power.
(Parenthetically, as much as I dislike Specter's politics, I'm no fan of Toomey, either. As head of the Club for Growth, he spearheaded a vicious, and I think less than honest, hit job on Mike Huckabee during the 2008 primaries.)
(cont'd)
In some ways, I'm almost glad that the Democrats are on the verge of getting a filibuster-proof Senate. Maybe now they'll stop whining about the Republicans being obstructionists. For better or worse, the Democrats will have free rein over how this country is run and will have to own how it turns out - lock, stock and barrel.
ReplyDeleteOne last thought: Jobsanger, you seem to think that Specter has been so courageous in taking a contrarian stand against his former party, and the "Big Tent" should have been big enough to include him.
That's a far cry from what you were saying about another maverick senator back on November 11, 2006. (BTW, that was before he threw his support to McCain). I personally think that Lieberman was (and still is) a lot more in step with the Democratic Party than Specter ever was with the GOP.
CT -
ReplyDeleteI still have no use for Lieberman, but the Democratic Party disagrees with me.
Quick note. Specter is only a "moderate" when you take into account how far to the right the political "center" has moved! He's a solid hawk -- a virtual clone of Joe Lieberman -- not good on labor, and by most accounts an opportunist's opportunist.
ReplyDeleteThis speaks as much to the growing irrelevance of the Republican Party as it does to the sudden enlightenment of Arlen Specter. None of which is intended to minimize the importance of Specter's jump (from the sinking ship) to the Democratic Party.
He cannot be counted on, however, to supply that magic 60th vote. We may have to wait for Al Franken (hopefully not all that long of a wait!)for that. Specter will, however, be a needed vote in general on procedural matters -- and on issues such as health care.
Thorne Dreyer
http://theragblog.blogspot.com/
... and by most accounts an opportunist's opportunist.So true.
ReplyDeleteA word of caution to the Democrats about their newest party member: Watch your back!