Primary Arlen Specter

I take it all back.

When Senator Arlen Specter (D? – PA) announced that he was switching sides and would run for re-election next year as a Democrat, we Democrats whooped it up, claiming victory. The steamroller that won’t quit just keeps rolling along.

I take it all back.

Not only did Specter, on Sunday’s Meet the Press news program deny saying to President Obama that he would be “a loyal Democrat,” he emphatically denied it. And given moderator David Gregory's incredulity at the denial, it seems that Specter was backpedaling on statements he actually made to President Obama.

And in retrospect, what with his very candid remarks about how he had no chance to win against his rightwing opponent in the Republican primary next year, it seems a no brainer that Arlen Specter is not actually a self-declared Democrat, he is a self-declared Democrat-In-Name-Only.

Now the Democrats had lots of these types in our big tent before LBJ pushed the Voting Rights Act through in the 60’s. We called them Dixiecrats. They all fled the party once they saw the betrayal of President Johnson.

As it should be.

And what we really don’t want right now, and really don’t need, are any more “Democrats of Convenience.” We don’t need Democrats who seem to rat out their friends in order to stay in their office, when they actually don’t. Nothing has changed in Arlen Specter except a letter after his name. Arlen Specter is a Republican through and through.

Case in point. Today Arlen Specter, upon being asked to comment on whether he cared about the fact that there were no more Jewish Republican senators in office, Specter responded, categorically, this way:

“I sure do. There’s still time for the Minnesota courts to do justice and declare Norm Coleman the winner.”

Now there is no evidence anywhere that Norm Coleman is the clear choice of Minnesotan’s as their senator. Contrary-wise, there is ample evidence that Al Franken is their choice. Therefore, Specter’s comment, his high hope, is that he hopes that Norm Coleman takes the senate seat when he doesn’t deserve it.

Because he lost the election.

This is a black and white pure partisan statement.

A partisan statement that no Democrat would make.

No, that’s it. Obama's promises of support in the primary or not, Specter needs to be opposed in the Democratic primary next year. If he wins, OK. No problem. But if we can get a real Democrat in that seat, rather than this two-faced self-aggrandizing jerk, won’t we all be better off for it?

Tom Ridge as an R, or Arlen Specter as a D. What’s the difference?

Congressman Joe Sestak (D-PA) had his eye on the seat before Specter used his stature and the power of his party switching to get Obama and others to support him, evidently nudging him out of the race. Sestak remains unconvinced, as I am, that we have a reliable vote in Specter.

From CBS News:

“Specter could still face a challenge from another Democrat in the primary. Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Penn.), an outspoken Specter critic, told CNN’s John King, he is ‘not sure [Specter is] a Democrat yet.’”

Sestak needs to jump in. This is a win-win situation. Sestak will be running against a Republican in the Democratic primary. Lots of ammunition there. No problem firing shots at Specter. No party division or recriminations to fret about.

Nothing much to worry about except going up against the Obama presidency.

Hey, that didn’t hurt Hillary much, did it?

Is George Bush Playing “Good Cop/Bad Cop”?

You have to wonder.

Out of the Justice Department come email after email confirming that US Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez is a lying SOB, and George Bush, again, not only comes out and defends him, but thumbs his nose at the Senate in their attempts to get White House officials to come and tell them what happened.

It’s a win-win-win situation for Bush. He wins when he defies the Senate, saying that his assistants are protected by Executive Privilege, he wins when their attempts to subpoena them will end up in the courts, delaying the whole thing for years, and he wins when he can allow Republican Senators and Congressmen to rail on him for his intransigence and support for an Attorney General who has become his political lackey.

And then there’s Iraq. Bush promises to veto the House bill recently passed that puts limitations on who can be sent to Iraq as well as how long we will continue to stay in Iraq. Only two Republicans (Gilchrest and Jones) voted with the majority, but that’s two more than would have voted on this last year. His stubborn stance on continuing his illegal and immoral war will end up giving Republicans the excuse they need to distance themselves, and put themselves in line with mainstream America on this issue.

I think it’s true. I think George Bush is playing the Bad Cop. I think that Bush is giving his party ammunition and placing a target squarely on himself. The mid-term elections, as devastating as they were to the GOP, is mere preface to an over-the-horizon debacle in 2008 unless. . . unless Republicans are allowed to throw rocks at the man that Democrats are pelting as well.

The focus is shifting from Red vs. Blue to everyone vs. Bush. Republicans need to maintain that focus, and Democrats need to cast well-earned accusations back on the Republican Party and their elected, that they are the ones who enabled Bush. They put him in power by stealing the 2000 election, and kept him in power by (probably) stealing the 2004 election as well.

They brought all of our problems about. They are responsible. They should pay by receiving an early retirement package from American voters.

Republicans are worried as well they should be. American public opinion has shifted at this Pew Poll reveals.

- 50% of Americans identify themselves as Democrats versus a 35% Republican allegiance
- 54% express a favorable view of the Democratic Party versus a 41% favorable view of the Republican Party.

But it goes beyond politics and political beliefs; it goes toward core beliefs of Americans:

“…many of the key trends that nurtured the Republican resurgence in the mid-1990s have moderated, according to Pew's longitudinal measures of the public's basic political, social and economic values. The proportion of Americans who support traditional social values has edged downward since 1994, while the proportion of Americans expressing strong personal religious commitment also has declined modestly.”

Republicans can read the polls, too. They know that they have an uphill battle to regain American trust and that they need to start now. So as muse mentions in the muse blog, while Democrats have started early on to finish the rout in 2008, Republicans have similarly started early by distancing themselves from their former adored ones, even to the extent of casting stones at their glorious leader.

Hopefully American voters can still tell the difference between S _ _ _ and Shinola with all of this righteous posturing going on in the Republican Party.

I am characteristically not optimistic.

Rats Jump Ship. DeLay Says “Trust Me”

Everyone loves a winner and no one tolerates a loser. That’s the way it appears to this pessimistic soul.

When Tom DeLay was a Congressman from Texas CD-22, the Majority Whip who became known as “The Hammer”, the Republican Party was riding a wave. They were on the top of the world. The “K Street Project” was in full swing as lobbying firms filled their employee rolls with neo-conservative Republicans – ex staffers and elected officials. Things were good and were going to stay good forever. Republicans had a handle on getting Republicans elected and staying in power. Lie, cheat, instill the basest of fears into the very hearts of every American: the terrorists are going to kill you. And if that fails, steal the election.

All of that came to a screaming halt on November 7th 2006, but it didn’t begin there, it began one shadowy midnight in January 2006 when a Fort Bend County Republican Party official got word, via phone from DC, that maybe Tom DeLay was going to take a pass on the election.

The rest is history, but now the rats are climbing all over themselves to scamper down the ropes to the safety of the conservative center, all the while exclaiming that they were never with him, that Tom DeLay represented the basest interests that were, in actuality, anti-conservative.

In actuality, they now claim, Tom DeLay was a screaming liberal.

I recall another story that was told about another One who was worshipped from near and far. People loved what He said and the message that He carried (they say, from His own Father). But when He was arrested, those who followed Him denied that they knew Him.

Thrice.

No Tom DeLay is no Jesus, he just thought he was.

So it is fitting that his support wanes as he is thrust upon the American Conservative Union. Yes, two board members quit when Tom DeLay was named a trustee.

What? Members of the ACU quitting under protest when Our Tom is appointed to that organizations board of trustees?

We get statements like “It is one thing to call yourself a conservative, but you have to act on it”

News flash: Tom DeLay is a Republican in Name Only.

Said another quitter: “Conservatives looked to Tom DeLay to cut government not grow it. He was complicit in the largest expansion of government in recent times”.

Well, no, actually that one goes to Bush-43. Tom just got the Scotland golf trips.

What I really like about this new partnership is that DeLay apparently bought himself a seat on the ACU by promising that he’d bring in $1 M in grassroots contributions. Read the last line of the Chron article. Looks like the smiles are still on the faces, but suspicious sidelong glances are being cast about.

You want to trust Tom DeLay with a million bucks of campaign contributions? Look what he did with the DeLay Dollars he accrued between January and June of 2006.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

UPDATE:
The photo was of Tom getting spanked by Uncle Sam was from this website. A friend exactly described it to me as one that was being towed around Fort Bend County in 2004. When I saw it on Google images I knew it must be the one she was talking about. Sorry about not providing the link.