Specter positions Democrats to overreach
The departure of U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter from the Republican ranks means most likely that Congressional Democrats and President Barack Obama will be able to find out once and for all whether the country truly wants liberalism straight-up.
With him in the Republican Party, there was the pretense that the GOP could keep Democrats from overreaching, their natural tendency. Here and there, yes, they could. But always we knew that on the issues truly important to the left — confirmation, for example, of far-left judges to the U.S. Supreme Court and to the circuit courts — Democrats already had a filibuster-proof Senate. Specter made that clear in his opposition to Judge Robert Bork and in is decision to join with Democrats and two other Republican senators to pass the $787 billion spending bill that passed disguised as “economic stimulus.”
Comedian Al Franken appears likely to prevail in Minnesota. With Specter, there’s no pretense that the opposition party represents a check on Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi and the hard left’s agenda. If anything’s stopped, it’ll be because Reid misread his caucus or because of backlash at the grass-roots level.
Specter, as we all know, was unlikely to make it through next year’s primary. Former Congressman Pat Toomey had already declared and, after Specter’s stimulus spending vote, it’s highly unlikely Specter could have prevailed. As a Democrat, he’s more likely to save his skin.
After November’s losses, it was evident that Republicans needed to return to core principles and fashion a message that explains and sells limited government and individual responsibility to new generations of voters. The nation is approaching a tipping point where those who vote themselves benefits outnumber those who pay.
The nation’s about to get a dose of uncut liberalism and a drift toward statism with government or one of the Democrats’ core constituencies, labor unions, owning or controlling two of the three major automobile producers in this country. That’s not what most Americans want. Yet. The tipping point approaches, but we’re not there yet.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Guides
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
103 comments Add your comment
Copyleft
April 29th, 2009
8:02 am
And if you close your eyes and wish really hard, the country will turn far-right Republican! You just have to BELIEVE, people!
Oh, this is fun stuff. I was wondering yesterday which approach Mr. Wooten would take: Would he call for a purge of all sane moderates (aka RINOs) from the party, shrinking it to Reform Party numbers? Or would he simply declare that the Democrats are “bound to screw up now that we’re powerless to stop them, and that will make America love us again!”
Now we know. He went with Fantasy #2. Keep wishin’, Wooten; and hopin’, and thinkin’, and prayin’….
Call it Like it is
April 29th, 2009
8:09 am
Yea Copyleft,
We all feel so safe, warm and fuzzy now that the community organizer is in charge with the new socialist left! Let’s spend our way out of recession. We just keep printing new bills.
Unreal.
When will America wake up and go back to work and stand up and say that raising our taxes to contiune to give to most lazy, non deserving is the answer? The continued weakness on national security, ass kissing president that bows and wants to talk to dictators is absurd!
Obama, the Kiss of Death to America!
Enough Said!
Copyleft
April 29th, 2009
8:10 am
Oh, and Bedwetter? You’re still wrong. You said Fox News wasn’t carrying Obama’s speech, and it is. So is Fox Business News.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/blog/BC_Beat/12618-Obama_Speech_To_Cost_Networks.php
And as for the “poor people don’t pay taxes” line, you’ve already admitted that the poor DO pay taxes. You’re just repeating a soundbite you heard from Hannity or Limbaugh that’s–predictably–a distorted half-truth.
Churchill's MOM
April 29th, 2009
8:17 am
The liberal papers are after our next President again:
Aide says Palin will OK most stimulus funds
Published: 4/28/09, 10:46 PM EDT
By MARK THIESSEN
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will sign bills accepting most of the federal stimulus funds available to the state, her spokeswoman said Tuesday.
Palin initially said she would accept only about two-thirds of the $930 million available to Alaska.
Palin spokeswoman Sharon Leighow said the governor changed her mind after the public weighed in during legislative hearings prior to lawmakers passing bills to seek almost all of the funding.
Palin had warned about the state having to finance projects created by the stimulus funds after the federal money runs out. She earlier called the stimulus package “an unsustainable, debt-ridden package of funds.”
Alaska’s Legislature conducted more than 20 public hearings on the federal stimulus package, and legislative leaders said they couldn’t find any of the strings attached to the funds that Palin had warned about.
They passed bills accepting nearly all the funds before the April 19 adjournment.
“I thank legislators for their work on the federal economic stimulus package and the public for participating in the process,” Palin said Tuesday in a statement.
The only funds Palin will reject, Leighow said, will be nearly $29 million for a State Energy Program she says are tied to adopting a statewide energy code.
Alaska’s vast expanse and wide-ranging conditions are not conducive to such an energy code, Palin said.
Leighow anticipates the legislative bills covering the stimulus will be sent to Palin by early next week. She will have 20 business days to sign or veto them.
**************Handel 2010***PALIN MCCAIN 2012*************
RetLTC
April 29th, 2009
8:23 am
I understand that Sean Hannity popped off on his show that he would volunteer to be waterboarded for charity and that Keith Olberman has put up $1000.00 for every second that Hannity can take it and $2000.00 if Hannity admits he feared for his life after it’s over. My guess however is that Hannity’s mouth being undoubtedly much larger than his balls, make it highly unlikely that this will happen. If it does, I will be organizing a party bus. I wouldn’t miss seeing Hannity get his comeuppance for all the tea at one of his “tea parties”.
Ga Values
April 29th, 2009
8:25 am
Copyleft 8:02 am
RINOs are Big Spending Big Government Liberals like our 2 Socialist Senators. Both of our 2 COMMUNIST voted for the TARP and Saxby worked with Pelosi & Reid to over ride Bush’s Veto of the Saxby’s PORK filled farm bill. Jim likes to throw rocks but when he had a chance to support a real conservative, Allen Buckly, for senate he was all about Chambliss.
Bill
April 29th, 2009
8:26 am
Specter wasnever a Republican. He rode Reagans coatails to election in 80. He would kiss an infected pig to get another dozen votes. This time, he became a democrat. He would join the whig party if he thought it would get him re-elected.
deegee
April 29th, 2009
8:32 am
It’s so much fun to watch the twenty percenters foaming from the mouth and spinning around on their eyebrows. This morning I heard the Fox and Friend interviewer, Brian something or other, attempt to lead Valerie Jarrett with a loaded question designed to scare the Depends off of their viewers. Paraphrased, “do you think that the defection of Arlen Specter will eliminate the chance of any meaningful debate on health care reform thereby ramrodding a bill through congress without any opposition?” Valerie Jarrett listed the number of bipartisan congressional meetings, expert panel discussions and public town hall meetings that have taken place over the last 6 weeks on the topic of health care reform. Short answer to a stupid, leading question – “no”.
RetLTC
April 29th, 2009
8:33 am
Moderate Republicans make up the majority of the party no matter what the right wing proclaims. If the right wing persists in holding themselves up as THE Republican party there will undoubtedly be far fewer “Republicans” in the future. 06 and 08 made that perfectly clear. The right wing has alienated itself and become totally out of touch with mainstream Americans.
GLP
April 29th, 2009
8:42 am
Ga Values got that right, our 2 Senators are only in it for themselves.
Peter
April 29th, 2009
8:45 am
Ops the stuff of nightmare’s has come to pass……sorry Jim……Republican’s have messed so much up true reality has stepped in.
Now why did we go to WAR in IRAQ ?
Why did George Bush start a WAR and also cut taxes ?
Where is Bin Laden ?
Why are there no oversight in the Financial markets ?
Why is education so low on the Republican Agenda ?
All questions American’s probably wondered about….Thus the landslide in November.
Next question…….did anyone follow Bush’s first 100 days in office ?
I don’t remember that being SO IMPORTANT…… of course not…there were no big issues before he declared an Energy Emergency, and allowed the bilking of California !
Bo Chambliss LOBBYIST
April 29th, 2009
8:47 am
I like Saxby’s job program, he got me a really good paying job working as a lobbyist for the Chucago Merc. Board. Thank you, Saxby.
Davo
April 29th, 2009
8:48 am
Prosecute ‘em!
by Jack Hunter on April 28, 2009
http://www.takimag.com/article/prosecute_em/
Bo Chambliss LOBBYIST
April 29th, 2009
8:50 am
can’t even spell the company that pays me, The Chicago Merc Board. Thank You Saxby.
retiredds
April 29th, 2009
8:53 am
I read this morning that Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky stated that Sen. Spector’s switch to the Democratic Party posed a “threat to the country”. That, in a nutshell, is the Republicans’ problem, their use of extreme language to describe an event that rubs them the wrong way. So Mitch and company really believe that one person (or one party for that matter) can bring down the United States of America. Boys, and I use that term intentionally, you have very little faith our country and its democratic system. Instead of trying to make everything you disagree with a crisis, begin to work on and find solutions that work for America. It might take several years but stop your whining, complaining, and exaggerating and get to work. In the business I ran for decades we had a saying, “there are no problems, only opportunities”. I submit to you that ranting and raving focuses on the former and never leads to the latter.
Peter
April 29th, 2009
8:54 am
Hey Jim…..This is typical Stuff…… send guys to WAR then don’t take care of them. Gee I wonder who got Haliburton all those wonderful contracts that both ripped off taxpayers, and now are hurting American service folks ?
Halliburton, KBR sued for alleged ill effects of ‘burn pits’
WASHINGTON (CNN) — A series of civil lawsuits against defense contractors KBR and its former parent company Halliburton claims the companies endangered the health of U.S. troops and contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan by unsafely burning massive amounts of garbage on U.S. bases.
Burn pits produced thick black smoke and toxic fumes, according to plaintiff Richard Guilmette.
Six lawsuits were filed Tuesday and three more are scheduled to be filed Wednesday in state courts on behalf of current and former military personnel, private contractors and families of men who allegedly died because of exposure to the fumes from the burning garbage. Attorneys for the plaintiffs also are seeking to file a class-action suit.
The lawsuits are the first coordinated effort by plaintiffs to extract damages for the claimed health effects from the burn pits. The military has acknowledged the concerns but said its own test of the most notorious case, the Balad Air Force Base burn pit, found there is no prolonged health risk for those who were exposed for a year or less to the fumes.
But the military’s report on the fumes also acknowledged it cannot account for all the items burned in the Balad pit. At one point the open pit burned everything from plastics and food to medical waste, with jet fuel used as an accelerant at times.
The lawsuits, filed Tuesday in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New York and North Carolina, seek damages “in an amount sufficient to strip defendants of all of the revenue and profits” earned. KBR and Halliburton were paid millions of dollars to oversee the waste management for the military.
One plaintiff, Richard Guilmette of Enterprise, Alabama, said he lived in a tent close to a burn pit while deployed by the Army to Kandahar, Afghanistan. Guilmette’s suit describes winds blowing “the thick black smoke and toxic fumes from the burn pit” into the tent where he lived from March 2004 to March 2005. The suit claims Guilmette suffered a series of health problems, from severe chest pain and diarrhea, to asthma, sleep apnea and debilitating migraine headaches.
Did Bush or Cheney care about anything, or American’s REALLY ?
GayGrayGeek
April 29th, 2009
8:57 am
means most likely that Congressional Democrats and President Barack Obama will be able to…
…TAKE ALL MY GUNS!
…FORCE ALL WOMEN TO HAVE ABORTIONS!
…MANDATE MY CHURCH PERFORM GAY WEDDINGS!
…LEAVE ME WITH THAT “NOT-FRESH” FEELING!
None of which, of course, have come to pass, nor WILL come to pass.
Hmmm, I wonder what Faux Noise Talking Point that Jim will write about tomorrow…
F22 Man
April 29th, 2009
8:57 am
Why is Saxby playin golf when I am loosing my job?
Road Scholar
April 29th, 2009
8:58 am
CILIS: Your quote “…… raising our taxes to contiune to give to most lazy, non deserving is the answer?” is a hoot. No, let’s give tax breaks to the wealthy, the crooked bankers and wall street shisters, and other well off repubs so they can hoard their monies, lay off more workers, reduce workers benfits, and expect new transportation facilities w/o paying for them. Throw in a natural disater so they can get government assistance that they don’t want to pay for on their second and third homes built in flood prone areas.
Lefty
April 29th, 2009
8:59 am
Spector has always been a POS.
Now he is a democrat POS.
AmVet
April 29th, 2009
8:59 am
The sentiments expressed int he post of 8:09 perfectly illuminate why the fake conservatives in the GOP have gotten so thoroughly humiliated in the past two national elections.
To the tune of 61 – 4.
OUCH!!!
Yet the dwindling BushCo apologists and justifiers cling to the concepts that got them into their current abysmal situation in the first place – lets spend MORE on national defense! Although we already spend as much on it as the rest of the planet COMBINED!
You know, to continue the the chickenhawk’s “War First, Ask Questions Later” foreign policy. The one that got 4,275 Americans KIA’d needlessly.
Also, lets go hot and heavy after those Cadillac-driving welfare queens and turn a blind eye to gargantuan corporate welfare and the laws (or lack thereof) that allowed Wall St. criminals, with their co-conspirators in government, to implement the final siege of the corporate destruction of capitalism.
Let’s pretend that pumping 12,000,000,000 of poisons every year into the dumping ground called our atmosphere has no effects. We’ll just allow the enviro-rapers to go along with business as usual and call it the Clean Skies Act.
Limbaugh says Specter should take John & Meghan McCain with him.
You doomed fools are your own biggest problem. And 80% of this country no longer finds you amusing. Or relevant.
Get ready for some very, very dark days ahead, neo-conned…
Peanut Man
April 29th, 2009
9:00 am
How much money did Saxby take from Peanut Corporation of America? What did they get for their money?
retiredds
April 29th, 2009
9:08 am
RetLTC: I am glad that you brought up the subject of Hannity being willing to be waterboarded. I would like to offer some guidelines that he should adhere to when doing this to earn his $$$$$.
1. He should be dropped into the area of Pakistan and Afghanistan where the Taliban and Al-Queda are in control. 2. He is not allowed to inform the terrorists that he is a talk radio host. 3.He would not be allowed to practice how to survive the so-called “non-tortuous” waterboarding. 4. If he is waterboarded, and under his thinking he would be fair game (the USA did it so it legitimizes the enemy doing it), he will not be told how long he will be subjected to this technique or how many waterboardings he will be subjected to. In other words, Hannity should experience the real conditions of this “non torture” technique.
Churchill's MOM
April 29th, 2009
9:15 am
Jim, the link from the home page is screwed up AGAIN
Copyleft
April 29th, 2009
9:15 am
By the way, to all the folks who voted for Saxby despite hating him and knowing how corrupt he was: Good Job! That sure stopped the Democratic majority from happening!
Got any buyer’s remorse yet? After all, Saxby was always for sale….
Jefferson
April 29th, 2009
9:18 am
Dawgs improved without Stafford and Moreno, yeah right. Spin one your way.
GOP acts like Sunnies, they just don’t like the Shiites or the Kurds.
Jefferson
April 29th, 2009
9:19 am
McConnell came close to losing himself, maybe he should take a look around.
Jefferson
April 29th, 2009
9:21 am
I bet Hannity would not want his kids waterboarded for any amount of money. ($.05 would be the bet amount, he may be greedier that I think.)
retiredds
April 29th, 2009
9:27 am
Jim Wooten, What was your position a few years back when the Repubs took over the GA legislature and the Governorship when several, and I don’t remember how many, Democrats changed to the Republican side? It didn’t have anything to do with political opportunism I am sure because Republicans don’t do that sort of dastardly thing. I guess one of your answers would be that GA had moved away from the Democrats philosophy of governance. I believe, if I read Spector correctly that is happening in PA, only it’s Republican voters moving to the Democratic Party. So, another question is, if it’s o.k. for Democrats to become Republicans, why would the reverse move not be o.k. as well?
retiredds
April 29th, 2009
9:29 am
Jefferson, much better idea than mine above. Let’s see the pro-waterboarders stand by while their families get waterboarded. But they must do it in enemy territory, too.
findog
April 29th, 2009
9:37 am
Dear Jim,
Give the man credit at least he fairly chaired the confirmation hearings for President Bush’s two Supremes…
The last time Specter was up for reelection and Twomey challenged him I heard the same thing, that he was a RINO. With all of the republican’s that followed Rush’s advice to switch parties to vote for Hillary in the 08 primary [200k] and Specter not having the ranking in the majority party to shill he was a walking dead man. This is unfortunately expected from professional politicians. My representative switched parties in 1994 to join his personal friend Newt.
findog
April 29th, 2009
9:49 am
Call it @ 8:09
That welfare queen in the caddy stuff is not going to work again.
retiredds @ 8:53
Extreme language is the only language spoken in DC, and in only 20-second sound bites
Here’s a clue as to the genius of our local leaders. They have passed a law to allow companies to determine if the cleanup efforts at their contaminated sites [brown fields] are sufficient. Self regulation, and if it hurts someone the courts will take care of the injured; albeit after a lengthy wait while justice patiently allows the polluters to take years to prepare for the case…
Gotta love Georgia!
Chris Broe
April 29th, 2009
9:55 am
The democrats always reach too far. FDR reached too far when he actually made a play for six more supreme court judges. (After he toured pearl harbor in a low flying C-47 that freaked out what was left of our navy).
What would Specter do if he wasn’t a public servant? Look at him. Let him be. He’s happy; he wants to serve any American constituency. Al franken will be fun to watch. I hope he’s a regular on Cspan. He’s a one-termer, for sure, right?
The pendulum always swings back the other way. Presidents screw up.
But that doesn’t help us now about Iraq. Iraq has become what’s left of the pink elephant that appears and disappears in the delusions of our countrymen. It’s still there. We’re still stuck there, and events are unfolding like a relentless landslide into Iraq’s destiny. And we’re standing right under it.
The world awaits Obama’s pronouncements about Iraq and the rules of engagement during our occupation. There are no right answers about Iraq because nobody really knows what motivates the political pendulums in the pit that is Iraq.
Truthifier
April 29th, 2009
9:56 am
Jim, “most Americans” are saying that they approve of the job Mr. Obama is doing, just as “most Americans” have voted in a Democratic President and Congress. Perhaps you are not clear on what “most Americans” really want, but instead want to force your views on them?
Truthifier
April 29th, 2009
9:56 am
Enter your comments here
Big Bucks GOP
April 29th, 2009
10:03 am
As Washington pushes banks to mend their finances, the banks are
pushing back. Among other points of contention, Citigroup, Bank of
America and other big banks are disputing so-called stress tests being
conducted by federal examiners, The New York Times reports.
Meanwhile, The Times said Citi has been in discussions with the
Treasury about overhauling its compensation system for traders and
other employees. The Wall Street Journal said Citi wants to free an
energy-trading unit from government pay restrictions.
Big Bucks GOP
April 29th, 2009
10:03 am
At least six of the 19 largest U.S. banks require additional capital,
according to preliminary results of government stress tests, Bloomberg
News reported Wednesday, citing undisclosed sources. Bank stocks fell
Tuesday amid concerns they might need to raise more capital.
retiredds
April 29th, 2009
10:06 am
Chris Broe, You are right the pendulum swings. What the Repubs can’t understand, or better yet refuse to understand, is the pendulum has swung against them. Also, historically the pendulum swings cover years (even a decade or two) not days. If the Repubs are to become relevant again to “most Americans” they need to work at becoming relevant. Ranting and roaring won’t get it done. Also they need to broaden their platform to more than just anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-tax, anti-……., anti ….., and offer something positive. As my mother used to say to me, ” A word to the wise is sufficient.”
Big Bucks GOP
April 29th, 2009
10:07 am
Source Interlink, the publisher of Motor Trend magazine whose investors
include Yucaipa, filed for bankruptcy protection to restructure under a
“prepackaged” Chapter 11 plan.
Big Bucks GOP
April 29th, 2009
10:09 am
A Florida hedge fund manager, Arthur G. Nadel, was indicted Tuesday on
15 counts of securities, mail and wire fraud, accusing him of running a
10-year scheme to defraud investors of tens of millions of dollars.
Big Bucks GOP
April 29th, 2009
10:10 am
California-based financier Danny Pang, accused by federal regulators of
defrauding investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars, was
arrested Tuesday by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on charges he
withdrew about $360,000 from a company account through dozens of small
transactions so he wouldn’t have to report the sum to federal
regulators.
Big Bucks GOP
April 29th, 2009
10:11 am
E*Trade Financial said it is facing regulatory pressure to boost
capital as it posted its seventh straight quarterly loss, and its
shares fell 25 percent in after-hours trade.
Big Bucks GOP
April 29th, 2009
10:12 am
Michael Strauss, the former chief of American Home Mortgage Investment,
has agreed to pay nearly $2.5 million to settle federal civil charges
of accounting fraud and concealing the company’s deteriorating finances
as the subprime mortgage crisis hit in 2007.
ProgressivePeach
April 29th, 2009
10:19 am
Keep crying your tears of impotent rage, conservatives! They taste good.
Steven Daedalus
April 29th, 2009
10:21 am
Isn’t fun to watch the Repuds wallow around with their full diapers, crying and whining.
Poultry
April 29th, 2009
10:27 am
Quoth the Wooten,
“…there was the pretense that the GOP could keep Democrats from overreaching, their natural tendency.”
“Overreaching” nails the Party nicely, in one word.
Still Munchin the Carpet
April 29th, 2009
10:29 am
Yessiree, Jimbo…the continued shrinkage and marginalization of the GOP is very good news for the Republicans. Very good news, indeed.
Bo Chambliss LOBBYIST
April 29th, 2009
10:40 am
Just got off the phone with Saxby and he said he would workly very closely with the Democrats to keep all the PORK in the farm program. Guess my job is safe for now.
Copyleft
April 29th, 2009
10:41 am
““Overreaching” nails the Party nicely, in one word.”
It certainly does… the Republican Party. They had their moment, and they blew it.
Poultry
April 29th, 2009
10:57 am
@Copyleft,
I was thinking of Mr. Wooten’s word “overreaching” in the sense opposite from a conservative tendency. Indeed the GOP did blow it, because it failed to follow its conservative instincts. For its part, the Democratic Party tends to overreach in its often heady attempts at social engineering. Democratic politicians can’t resist the lure of that kind of power, so they overreach. I’m struck by the accuracy of Wooten’s word choice.
md
April 29th, 2009
10:57 am
Funny how just four short years ago, this country elected a fellow named Bush. Upon being elected, he, his party, and his constituients declared they won and a mandate had been given to them to do as they please.
Now, just four short months ago, this country elected a fellow named Obama. Upon being elected, he, his party, and his constituients declared they won and a mandate had been given to them to do as they please.
The middle/independants elect our government, and they do not like the left or right. One would be wise to remember that when gloating and setting policy. Clinton went 2 terms because he governed from the middle. Obama has stated he will govern from the middle. Pelosi and Reid have other ideas.
The middle elected Obama, not Pelosi and Reid.
Now, begin the game.
Sharecropper
April 29th, 2009
11:02 am
Ah, Copyleft. You nailed it. And Wooten continues not to understand that “whistling” and “graveyard” go together. Indeed it is fun. Yesterday’s deer-in-the-headlights reaction from the wingnuts was that, shucks, this don’t mean nothing. It ain’t even a national story. (Maybe McConnell has a future as an AJC editor). Then it was goodbye and good riddance. Today Wooten, predictable as usual, gets on board the train wreck by in effect saying this is exactly what the Nuts wanted. Today Hannity or the Fat Doper will claim one of them orchestrated the switch.
The remnants of the Republican Party are like 10-year-old school girls. When one says I don’t want to be your friend anymore, the other replies that, “I never liked you anyway.”
And Wooten is nuts if he seriously believes Americans want small, conservative, self-centered, devil-take-the-hindmost government. I think we already answered that question.
Quick. Somebody pour on more gasoline.
Pat
April 29th, 2009
11:03 am
Good point, Jim. You’ve sounded an important warning. Clearly, one-party government is an obvious danger to the Republic – except of course, during the Bush administration.
Pete
April 29th, 2009
11:08 am
You are losing your job, F-22 Man, because you cannot spell.
AmVet
April 29th, 2009
11:08 am
Actually the argument that the GOP failed to follow “its conservative instincts” is fallacious.
Let’s for a moment agree to the charade that the Republican Party favors “smaller government”, even though the evidence of the past thirty years is generally in direct opposition to this oft-recited mantra.
Even so, from what I can tell they have religiously (get it?) stuck to their guns (get it again?) on the issues they trumpet – keeping the sodomites from having economic justice, imprisoning the flag-burners, keeping abortion dangerous and illegal, getting the christo-fascists and Murders for Jesus Club into the inner sanctum of the White House and denying that rampant pollution kills people.
The ruse is over.
And an unforgiving American electorate is beyond fed up with deadly bunglers pretending to be what they are not…
Will
April 29th, 2009
11:22 am
Congressman Nathan Deal, a current republican congressman who was elected as a democrat but switched from the democrat party when he realized that it was more politically expedient to do so, will soon announce that he is going to enter the Georgia gubernatorial contest.
Do you think the republicans who are so upset about the “ethics” and/or “cowardice” of party switching will have a problem with Representative Deal?
Me neither.
CJ
April 29th, 2009
11:25 am
Jim wrote, “…it was evident that Republicans needed to return to core principles and fashion a message that explains and sells limited government and individual responsibility to new generations of voters.”
I don’t know if Jim realizes it or not, but in times of economic growth (important caveat since government deficits are necessary in times of economic contraction), we liberals also support limited government (i.e. running surpluses and paying down debt–a la Bill Clinton), and we ALWAYS support individual responsibility.
With regard to limited government, Republicans have lost credibility on that issue (and most other issues) by demonstrating that their words don’t match their deeds. It was Republicans who turned surpluses into deficits. It was Republicans who ran deficits in times of economic growth, not only to finance a misbegotten war that benefited only the well connected, but to finance Big Pharma’s Medicare Part D, welfare for millionaires in the form of expanding agricultural subsidies, and a quadrupling of earmarks. In short, nobody believes Republicans when they claim to support limited government and oppose government spending because they’ve shown that they can’t be believed.
With regard to individual responsibility, contrary to conservative ideology, advocating individual responsibility does not mean that we’re not responsible for one another, as Jesus taught us. In addition, typically there’s no conflict between looking out for your neighbor and looking out for ourselves and our loved ones–they’re one and the same.
jt
April 29th, 2009
12:38 pm
Isackson and Chambliss- Obama is ready when you are!
You’ll get to wipe Kennedy’s chair.
jt
April 29th, 2009
12:40 pm
CJ – “With regard to limited government, Republicans have lost credibility on that issue (and most other issues) by demonstrating that their words don’t match their deeds.”
As opposed to Democrats? Give me a break.
Carreer politicians= Oligarchy.
Get a clue.
I Report, You Bedwet
April 29th, 2009
12:41 pm
As expected, the DNC media is having one big massive O-gasm over Spector. What is also not surprising is that the DNC media fails to tell you everything.
Failure #1 of our agenda driven media: Just last month Specter said this about the possibility of switching parties when questioned…”I am staying a Republican because I think I have an important role, a more important role, to play there. The United States very desperately needs a two-party system. That’s the basis of politics in America. I’m afraid we are becoming a one-party system, with Republicans becoming just a regional party with so little representation of the northeast or in the middle Atlantic.”
Uh huh.
Failure #2 of the media doing its job and disclosing ALL PARTS of the story: polls had Specter trailing GOP challenger Tooney by a whopping 25 points. Supporting the “Stimulus” package sank Specter and he knows it:
“Specter’s support for the stimulus won 87 percent to 6 percent approval among Democrats; and 56 percent to 38 percent support among independents. Republican voters disapprove of that vote by a whopping 70 percent to 25 percent.”
So, Specter switched parties to keep his political career alive. Imagine that. Doing what is in YOUR best interest for power. Therefore, he BELONGS to the Democrats. Pitching overboard dead weight – or in this case allowing excess weight to jump overboard to join a band of pirates – has been needed for some time now in the GOP.
But enough of that. Once again the DNC main stream media in this nation proves its worthlessness in objective reporting. It was about as expected as the libtards on this blog spending hours upon hours upon HOURS on this blog drooling over comments such as ‘Republicans are now irrelevant.’ Yeah okay, so what are you toad turds still DOING here then? Ever notice how these mouth breathers can NEVER seem to answer that question? Who cares anyway what they think. I have higher regards for a border collie – its probably smarter anyway.
I Report, You Bedwet
April 29th, 2009
12:44 pm
Our Founding Fathers knew that absolute power in the hands of a few would be the death of a nation, including this one. It’s why Washington was against the two party system. But, don’t look for these current crop of power hungry clowns on the modern left to care. It’s going to be fun watching them implode. But, not fun for us as Americans.
Algonquin J. Calhoun
April 29th, 2009
12:55 pm
The Republinazi party is shrinking. Too bad! it’s all over for you Bush loving, lying fascists. More losses headed your way when the war crime trials start!
Chris Salzmann
April 29th, 2009
1:07 pm
Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota is at it again! Any wonder that any sane politician left in the Rush….uhhh Republican Party is leaving? This is from politico.com
DEMS IN POWER DURING FLU, BACMANN NOTES
It was only a matter of time before the CDC discovered an outbreak of Michele Bachmann quotes.
Bachmann, speaking on Pajamas TV, noted: “I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat president Jimmy Carter. And I’m not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it’s an interesting coincidence.”
The 1976 swine flu scare happened on Gerald Ford’s watch. We checked Wikipedia.
Ford was a Republican.
Here’s the link if you want to watch her making a fool of herself again:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/28/michele-bachmann-links-sw_n_192493.html
Jackie
April 29th, 2009
1:13 pm
The Dems are starting from the hole the Repubs dug; how does one overreach when the economy is in worse shape that actually thought?
Three straight quarters of economic decline is a classic definition of a Recession. One should note the last 16 months of economic development has declined. Wonder what the classic definition of a Depression happens to be?
The American voter has decided the Repubs are not speaking clearly and has not exhibited fiscal management that is in the best interest of ALL!!!!
Peter
April 29th, 2009
1:27 pm
Jim.Just Maybe Specter was just EMBARRASSED to be part of the party that started a “MADE UP WAR”, bankrupted the United States, and allowed all the cost plus contracts.
Today we know the contracts from Cheney’s office are full of WASTE to the 9th degree…..
Servicemen getting killed when taking a shower, just about all the electrical work a SHAM, not up to ANY CODES, and dangerous. Shower water the soldiers bath in not clean. $100.00 to wash a single soldiers clothes. Building projects that cost 100’s of Millions in Iraq stopped, and on top of all that Millions not accounted for.
Yes maybe he is tired of being a guy associated with WASTE, and the Bilking of America !
Jackie
April 29th, 2009
1:34 pm
Ed Rollins, a Republican insider, published the following:
” Sixty-plus percent approve of the job he is doing. Most recent presidents get those high marks early on, and his favorable numbers are based on first impressions. And after “President Bush fatigue,” he has made the country confident that things will get better.
Obama certainly inherited a mess: a disastrous economy.
Unemployment the highest in decades.
Manufacturing plants closing and the jobs moving overseas daily.
General Motors and Chrysler on the verge of bankruptcy.
Our banking system teetering on the brink of collapse.
America at war on two fronts.
A military worn out by fighting nonstop for seven years.
The quality of education dropping in most cities throughout the country.
And now a potential swine flu crisis.”
deegee
April 29th, 2009
1:56 pm
Can you imagine the republican party accepting an independent lawmaker after he or she campaigned with Barack Obama? Democrats talked about expelling Joe Lieberman from the Democratic caucus and stripping him of the Homeland Security chair after campaigning with John McCain. (But they didn’t!) Lieberman is a registered Independent, but works with Democrats in the Senate. He was a Democratic lawmaker for two decades, and was the party’s vice presidential nominee eight years ago. He switched his affiliation in 2006 after losing the Democratic primary in Connecticut, largely because of his strong support for the war in Iraq.
TW
April 29th, 2009
2:17 pm
No, Mr. Wooten. YOU and those who share your feathers are the ones who positioned the Dems to overreach. When you and the other keepers of the right knelt in front of the child ‘w,’ YOU effectively kicked conservatism in the balls. In a way, you were/are more valuable to the left than any advertising left wing money could buy.
Poultry
April 29th, 2009
2:30 pm
If the dog is as low down as y’all claim, then why kick it? Do you want a loyal opposition, or do you want no opposition at all? The minority party will regain its footing. It always does. Our two-party system really does work and, yes, there are important differences between the parties. To say otherwise is just plain lazy.
Copyleft
April 29th, 2009
2:46 pm
It would be nice to have an INTELLIGENT opposition… after all, America does best when all reasonable voices are heard.
Will the GOP recognize this latest wake-up call and finally kick the rabid right and the Religious Reich to curb, in order to become the principled, less-spending, smaller-government party they always CLAIM to be, but can never seem to actually become?
Time will tell.
Chris Broe
April 29th, 2009
2:48 pm
The pendulum takes only an unzippering to start swinging the other way. History will look at Monica Lewinski with the same mystique that Helen of Troy enjoys.
How the GOP can win: Conservative Chauvinism. A return to the martial ethic of yore. It just might play. It’s been a couple of generations, so not enough people will recognize it. Pretty solid grift, with lots of successes……
Somebody Twitter Newt: The title of your next book should be, “Conservative Chauvinism”.
Anyone notice that the Goth Dara doll appeared just when Nostradomus said it would?
I hope you know how to twitter, people.
In a related matter, Newt’s twitters are poignant these days. He’s converted to Catholicism. The Catholic Conservative. Conservative Catholicism. Newt is creating the “Five Principles of a Successful Life”. I wonder which two of the seven deadly sins he left out.
Tea Party Reflection: I keep seeing Newt steeping in that bedpan, as his wife gives her legal consent for divorce. This image is The Conservative Pieta.
My twitter to Newt today: Little Newt, with your peccadillo pressed up against the pearly gates, there is no heaven for you today. Only Hannity. (snaps for newt). Christ said, “A man who divorces his wife forces her to commit adultery”. I guess Christ was wrong about Newt’s wife, eh? Read the Gospels again, Newt. Then write about them. We’re listening.
Newt twitters really nice thoughts. Yesterday’s drift: “Perfect day. Perfect night. Perfect dinner Enjoying the birds. The breeze. The grilled steaks. Perfect.”
Newt: The Perfect Prefect.
retiredds
April 29th, 2009
2:52 pm
Poultry, I believe it is most healthy for there to be a loyal opposition. But, I want that loyal opposition to have integrity and maintain its values. The current crop of Republicans, with a few exceptions (Olympia Snow for one), are not conservative in the traditional sense, spout limited government while expanding it endlessly, for fiscal restraint while spending like banshees in an expanding economy (2002-2006), saying your for family values while selectively using Scripture for one’s own agenda. I could go on but you get the point. There may be a few Repubs that fit the bill but I don’t see them standing out yet. I guess Rush and Hannity are too powerful to stand up against.
Ray Pugh
April 29th, 2009
3:09 pm
Can’t you read the writing on the wall Wooten? All your syncophants are GONE . . .
Poultry
April 29th, 2009
3:24 pm
@retiredds,
I concur with your characteristically lucid and reasonable assessment.
@deegee,
Am I suffering from some sort of mnemonic mirage, or do I remember correctly that during the Transition period the newly Indepependent Sen. Lieberman said that he would sit with the Democratic Caucus until and unless the Democrats pulled a fast one getting to 60? I’m pretty sure that he did make a statement to that effect, in reponse to the Republican Caucus’ courtship of him. I’ll be very interested to see what his next move, if any, will be. Personally, I dislike this kind of partisan hardball, as I prefer policy to politics, but at some point it goes with the territory. I can’t actually begrudge Specter’s acting on his survival instincts, I simply dislike his Machiavellianism. It seems to me that were Lieberman to bolt his caucus, he’d be on more principled ground than Specter now is, as Specter is acting so blatantly out of self-preservation.
Poultry
April 29th, 2009
3:53 pm
@Chris Salzmann,
This Bachmann person from Minnesota sounds like a real piece of work. What kind of knave would politicize a flu outbreak, as Barack Obama did this morning–squinting at his text even more than usual–when he interwove the epidemic with the red carpet he laid out today for Arlen Specter?
Dusty
April 29th, 2009
4:17 pm
Dear Jim Wooten,
Always good to read your sensible remarks. Funny how they stir liberals into a frenzy. You are obviously saying good and sensible words and nothing upsets liberal Dems more than THAT. Now they create a spectacle over Specter. Whoopee!! Some people don’t have much of a life to get excited over!
As to Specter, I don’t believe Republicans need a man as wishy-washy as he has become. He can’t decide whether he’s a Republican or a Democrat. Maybe he can pull off this obvious election effort. Not many people have respect for a person who vacillates because the going gets tough.
Democrats may love to have Specter for his vote in Congress but I suspect they have little respect for him. He has shown the political form of cut’n'run and there’s no “valor” in that in any form.
Algonquin J. Calhoun
April 29th, 2009
4:38 pm
Krusty the klown, we have more respect for Sen. Specter than we did before. He is a welcome addition to the Democratic Party. Loser!
Poultry
April 29th, 2009
4:47 pm
@Roundtable,
That’ just disgusting.
@Copyleft,
Yes, it would be nice to have an opposition that’s “INTELLIGENT”, but I wonder where your assessment comes from. You lament the GOP’s domination by the Far Right, and yet the Party has spurned its conservatives for years. The losers just finished losing again with an exSpecterated moderate who did about all he could do to distance himself from his party’s conservatives. Wooten seems to fall somewhere between his party’s moderates and its supposed conservatives, and a lot of us are wondering what would happen were his party to ground itself once again on conservative principles. Wooten himself says as much, today.
STUPID EVIL REPUBLICANS TIME IS UP
April 29th, 2009
4:57 pm
HIP HIP HOORAY! YOU SPEAK IT AND IT WILL COME TO PASS.
STUPID EVIL REPUBLICANS TIME IS UP!
CAN YOU SAY KARMA SWIFT AND SMOOTH RETURNING TO HAUNT THE GOP.
SO YOU CAN HAVE YOUR RUSH LIMBAUGH HANNITY AND NEAL BOORTZ,THESE ARE THE ONES THAT DOOMED THE GOP,YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW.
Peter
April 29th, 2009
5:09 pm
Hey Dusty…..Who has Respect for respect for Lieberman…he was a Democrat at a Republican Convention….Talk about the original Benedict Arnold.
So wishy washy goes both ways…..
Forget that one ?
EVIL REPUBLICANS TIME IS UP
April 29th, 2009
5:20 pm
KARMA FOR YOU HANNITY LIMBAUGH AND NEAL BOORTZ WORSHIPERS,IT WAS THEM THAT CAUSED THE GOP DOWN FALL
Poultry
April 29th, 2009
5:28 pm
@Peter,
Lieberman behaves as a man whose party has left him. Specter acts as a man whose electorate has left him. Very different things, and potentially a very important distinction. Should Lieberman become the ingratious turncoat that Specter now is, maybe we can draw a closer comparison between the two.
Poultry
April 29th, 2009
5:41 pm
Lincoln was right about Washington: the telling question is, who’s more likely to relinquish Power to the People? So far, the Obamacrats seek first and foremost to accumulate power unto themselves. As for the promise of Power to the People, I’ll look to the Republicans.
deegee
April 29th, 2009
5:42 pm
“Lieberman behaves as a man whose party has left him. Specter acts as a man whose electorate has left him. ” HUH? Lieberman couldn’t get reelected as a democrat in Connecticut because of his support for the war in Iraq. In other words, his electorate left him. Specter thought he couldn’t get elected as a republican in his district because of his support for the budget and bailout. Same difference. Now, can you imagine a republican caucus that would have anything to do with an independent senator that campaigned for a democratic presidential candidate?
Poultry
April 29th, 2009
5:53 pm
But deegee,
Lieberman rebadged as an Independent and won handilly, such was his popularity in the state among an electorate that understood him. Specter can’t pull that off, and you know he can’t.
Chris Broe
April 29th, 2009
6:06 pm
The spineless Rushannities were a symptom of the stupor epidemic of 911. Bush’s 100 days after 911 were the best 100 days of this century. Bush was the right president in the right place at the right time. I’ll never forget how I needed him and how tall he stood when he addressed our still-wet-with-blood nation as I fell apart in complete disorientation and shock. Grief. Those poor people on those planes. My God. I don’t know what the exact number of people were in those buildings, I only know it was a city’s worth. A whole american city gone in an instant.
There’s an evil genius stalking us. But we can still honor Bush’s first 100 days after 911.
GOP is gone
April 29th, 2009
6:11 pm
Jim,
You need to start referring to Senator Al Fraken as Senator, not Comedian.
Poultry
April 29th, 2009
6:19 pm
Let me share something positive with all you cynical straglers who might receive this.
Today I went over to the local library branch, to investigate the efficacy of my doing some research through there toward a history I’m considering publishing in book form. When I enquired as to the branch’s access to interlibrary loan and specifically as to academic libraries, I got the most succinct and delightful answer.
The librarian, at her workstation, asked me to name the subject. I spelled for her the name of a relatively obscure character from early-19th Century Mexican politics. Within two seconds the response came up on her screen: 2,008 titles, from more than 800 libraries worldwide. When I asked her what the borrower’s cost would be, she said, “That
would be free”. I asked how long the requisitions would take. She said to give her “an additional three days, more or less, for a three-week, renewable loan.”
My goodness, I responded, these are things we dreamt of 15 years ago, and here they’ve come true! Yes, she replied, “isn’t it wonderful?”
Today the President further specified, somewhat, his education policy. Having visited my branch library I’m very hopeful of success on that front (though probably in spite of, rather than because of, the new federal agenda). At this point I’m thinking that we can do just about anything.
Poultry
April 29th, 2009
6:28 pm
GOP is gone
April 29th, 2009
6:11 pm
“Jim,
You need to…”
Leave it to liberals to tell us all what we “need”.
l
April 29th, 2009
6:42 pm
type here
@@
April 29th, 2009
6:55 pm
Liberalism never leaves ‘em “straight-up”, Jim.
Flat-out’s more like it.
@@
April 29th, 2009
7:00 pm
I type here
Me too when I have time.
Poultry
April 29th, 2009
7:02 pm
@@,
type more then.
@@
April 29th, 2009
7:32 pm
Poultry:
What exactly do you mean?
more then?
Or then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then?
(IS&WH)
Poultry
April 29th, 2009
8:00 pm
Both, would be nice.
GOP is gone
April 29th, 2009
8:47 pm
Chicken Little, I meant need. Let us know when you are published other than on this blog oh brilliant one.
@@
April 29th, 2009
9:11 pm
Poultry:
Both, would be nice.
…but redundant, don’tcha think?
Maybe once school’s out, I’ll have more time.
Was just reading how Putin cut in on our “dance” with Iran.
A row between Ashgabat and Moscow has resulted in Russia having an even firmer grip on Turkmenistan’s energy supplies. This is not good news for the Iranians.
How so? you might ask…..or not ask if you’re gone.
Natural gas. He continues to gain leverage because of natural resources and Russia’s geographic location. Russia’s works to their advantage in, oh-so-many ways and against in others. Ours? The same.
It really does, like you said, boil down to the resolve of a nation’s people and their fixity of purpose, doesn’t it, Poultry?
When was the last time I told you yours was admired?
Poultry
April 29th, 2009
9:45 pm
Never did do, as far as I recall. But I admire your “fixity of purpose” no end.
jon
April 29th, 2009
10:23 pm
In the midst of this liberal euphoria of life under the chosen one, we have seen numerous references to a poll where only 21% of voters said they were Republicans.
Two points:
49% voted for Bush in the last election.
In the same poll, _only_ 35% said they were Democrats. When being a Democrat is so fashionable and only 35% want to be on the winning team, I’d say they predictions of the demise of the GOP is premature.
Shorter Wooten
April 30th, 2009
7:49 am
Wooten is late again, so allow me to summarize today’s column…
“Obama’s presser last night proved that he is not ready to lead our great nation, and that he is a dangerous socialist who is out of step with real America. Whatever he said, because I fell asleep during the 7 p.m. Matlock re-run.”