Specter: A Conservative Railing Against Ultra-Conservatives
In a very interesting moment at his press conference today, Arlen Specter showed that he remains in many ways a small-c conservative -- it's just that he's not a complete and utter right-winger.
Specter railed against his former compatriots in the Republican Party for not supporting moderates, and being in the thrall of the Club For Growth, the right-wing group that was working to defeat him in the 2010 primary:
Republicans didn't rally to Wayne Gilchrest in Maryland -- he was beaten by the Club For Growth and the far right -- and lost the general election. Republicans didn't rally to the banner of Joe Schwarz in Michigan -- he was beaten by a conservative and the Club For Growth -- and they lost the general election. Republicans didn't rally to Heather Wilson in New Mexico last year, and she was beaten in a primary, and lost in the general election. The Club For Growth challenged Linc Chafee -- remember Linc Chafee? -- they made him spend all his money in the primary, and he lost the general. And had Linc Chafee been elected in 2006, the Republicans would have controlled the Senate in 2007 and '8, and I would have been chairman of a committee.
He later added:
And for the people who are Republicans, to sit by and allow them to continue to dominate the party after they beat Chafee, cost us Republican control of the Senate, and cost us 34 federal judges, there oughtta be a rebellion. There oughtta be an uprising.
So Specter's problem wasn't that he's not a conservative, but that he's not conservative enough for a shrinking GOP. And if he's not a complete right-winger, his only real choice is to be a Democrat.
And that's where politics seems to be right now: The right-wing nuts versus everyone else. Specter is on the more conservative end of the "everyone else" category, but being a Democrat now offers him more chance for political success (and sane, rational discourse) than the other option.
Josh
Matt
Eric
Meanwhile, over at CNN, Rick Sanchez officially announces that the realignment has arrived and that the GOP has jumped the shark.
I really can't recall ever seeing an anchor conducting an interview with a Senator "what the hell does that mean?," much less take that tone.
April 28, 2009 4:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Heh heh, completely true. But where was this "what the hell does that mean?" media for the last 8 years as the GOP spewed that kind of BS?
Still, it's kind of nice to see BS being called out. It's kind of nice when journalists are doing their jobs, in other words. I hope they keep it up!
April 28, 2009 4:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're looking at it all wrong, laddie; I figured it would take them at least another ten years to get to this point.
April 28, 2009 5:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Agreed. Many of the small-c conservatives are starting to realize they have more in common with the Democrats than they do with the big-C Conservatives ruining/running the Party. By the time the repuglicans realize their mistake, I suspect most of the small-c'ers will have either change their affiliation to Democrat or Independent by 2010 or 2012, depending on when their next election is due.
April 28, 2009 10:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Awwwww poor Arlen.
April 28, 2009 4:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
That caught my eye, too. That attitude is a symptom of the hubris that consumes way too many politicians. He doesn't care about a party or the country. He just wants to keep the power.
April 28, 2009 5:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
April 28, 2009 10:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Umm ... that quote out of context is not what you imply it is. His point in context was that he could have approved more Bush judges and gotten more of what conservatives want. They are shooting themselves in the foot is his point.
Of course I say give them all guns and let them at it!
April 28, 2009 9:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ha! Oh, they're talking rebellion and uprising alright, but not the kind Arlen's looking for.
April 28, 2009 4:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't see how this guy fits in with the Dems when he's waxing poetic about what could have been with the Republican Party.
This is making less and less sense as they day goes by. Dems should have left him out in the wilderness to lose his primary to Toomey.
April 28, 2009 4:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree. Actually, I believe he should have just retired. He's old, he's had a good thirty year run with his party in power, why not just hang it up?
April 28, 2009 5:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
What will Limpbutt say?
April 28, 2009 4:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Lush Rimjob you mean?
April 28, 2009 5:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Whatever the DNC tells him will get the most votes for Democrats. As long as the check clears, he doesn't mind being a cartoon.
April 28, 2009 6:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
When "moderates" like Specter leave the Republican party, it allows the Republicans to become a true conservative party. This is not bad; a party does not have to be a majority in order to be a potent political force, it just has to stand for something. When Specter, and possibly others, take their "moderation" to the Democrats; they provide a brake to some of the far-left Obama-type desires of that party. Most everyone kind of likes "moderates", but most everyone kind of likes mashed potatoes too.
April 28, 2009 5:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
"the far-left Obama-type desires..."
what does THAT even mean????????
obama represents the far-left desires of the democratic party?????
give me a fricking break.
April 28, 2009 5:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
It means maryalice is so far to the right she doesn't recognize Mr. Obama is the definition of a centrist in this country. Thus, compared to her, the center is "far-left."
It's something like how someone on the North Pole can call everyone "Southern."
April 28, 2009 6:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Take pity on maryalice. We've all been in the wilderness for so long that it's going to take awhile to re-orient. Remember that this is a country where the center of the Supreme Court is defined by Anthony Kennedy.
April 28, 2009 8:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Remember that this is a country where the center of the Supreme Court is defined by Anthony Kennedy."
Just so long as it isn't Nino Scalia... Who apparently has never been to a junior high school yard in the last fifty years, and thus thinks children need to be protected from the profanities of adults, and not the other way around. (per the recently decided FCC v Fox) I usually call this "parental amnesia syndrome" -- "I may have sworn like a sailor, and I may have done drugs at age 12, and I may have gotten laid at 14... but my little Johnny would never do a thing like that!"
I suppose in Scalia's case it must be "grandfatherly amnesia syndrome." Then again, this is a man who believes enforcing the original intent of the Founders is best served by ignoring the Ninth Amendment. And isn't it amazing how every time he hauls out the Original Intent Ouija Board, the Founders never disagree with him?
April 29, 2009 3:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
This is a medium term net loss for the Dems. Arlen does give the Dems a slightly more reliable 60th vote until 2010, but after that we would have had a much more reliable Democrat in the Senate than him (after defeating Toomey).
It's probably not a long term issue but only because of Specter's age (79) and health (2 bouts with cancer).
April 28, 2009 5:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Heather Wilson comment is nuts. Wilson lost in the *Senate* primary when moving up to try to fill her Domenici's empty seat. Turnout was horrendous: less than 112K. Wilson wasn't going to be Udal in the fall anyway. Wilson was only a "moderate" relative to the wingnut base of the party.
I think this is a bit of what's frightening about the "serious" and "moderate" members of the GOP: how long and often the could march in lockstep with the Bush Admin on extremist things. Now that those people are drifting over to the Dems, it's hard to feel very comfortable about them.
John
April 28, 2009 5:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Read you history books. There have been three major party reformations in our nation. The last was following the Civil Rights movement and Nixon where Southern Dixiecrats bolted to the Republican Party, (Jesse Helms, Thurmond, Governor Connelly in the 1960's) and eventually reformed the South into a Republican stronghold.
Before the Civil War the Whigs were eventually proved moot where the rise of the Free Soilers, Hear No Evils joined the abolitionist Whigs to form the Republican Party.
And then the Federalists eventually died and became reborn into the Whigs with the rise of the Jeffersonian Democratic Party.
Right now those affiliating with Republicans are 21% while 38% identify with Independents and 35% with Democrats. The party is being reduced to a regional party of the Bible Belt South and Midwest (Plains) while Democrats are rising in the Mountain and Upper Midwest and Coasts.
I predict that Maine's Senators will eventually move to being Independents and caucus with the Democrats as negotiations overs Healthcare and EFCA come forward and the Republicans are left out screaming.
April 28, 2009 6:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Snarlin Arlen surprised himself with that Rant-from-the-heart!
April 28, 2009 6:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now if only TX would secede I could die with a smile on my face
April 28, 2009 6:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
"If somebody wants to change parties, they can do that," Specter said at the time. "But that kind of instability is not good for governance of the country and the Senate."
--Arlen Specter in 2001 speaking about Jim Jeffords' switch from Republican to an independent.
Link: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-specter-jeffords29-2009apr29,0,2430682.story
Specter may not be much of an asset to the Democratic Party, but it's still interesting to see how this is playing out.
April 28, 2009 6:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
he is not a Dem, but now he is not a GOP either.
The other thing will be when the investigations begin, he will be a non partisan proprietorial.
April 28, 2009 10:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
I certainly hope he loses the primary.
April 28, 2009 9:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
wow. All the right-wing-nuts are popping out of the woodwork. I want to be gracious, but then again, a lot of these people really are hopeless.
April 28, 2009 9:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ok, I didn't come up with it, but my favorite comment about this whole thing: Maybe soon the GOP will be small enough that we can drown it in the bathtub.
/snicker
April 28, 2009 9:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Club for Growth is a code word for Pat Toomey.
Toomey -- an out of nowhere Congressman from northeast Pa. -- lost to Specter in 2004 by less than 2 percent of the vote.
Needing a job, Toomey became the president of Club for Growth.
Two weeks ago, he resigned as president of C4G .... But I bet he is still a customer.
What I found interesting, listening to the pundits today, is that the PA GOP think that Toomey is too Xtreme for Pennsylvania, where the Dems have a 1 million voter advantage.
Those same pundits are making everything old become new again, because they say Tom Ridge, the former Gov. of PA and Homeland Security director, is being talked about as the Rep. Sen. candidate.
If you like chess, that's a pretty good move because both Specter and Ridge are social moderates.......
April 28, 2009 11:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Umm... wasn't Specter one of the Republicans who tried to convict Bill Clinton of High Crimes and Misdemeanors in the Senate?
I mean, he'll probably do a little less damage to the country as a Democrat (because he'll no longer be caucusing with the Greedy Oligarchs of Plutocracy). But really, when the time comes in 2010 to elect someone who isn't power-hungry good old Senator, I hope the people of Pennsylvania boot him out on his ass.
April 29, 2009 12:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
Specter didn't defect, he was granted political asylum.
April 29, 2009 9:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
The walking zombies who are the remaining GOP House and Senate members, are from the most conservative districts and are totally divorced from what regular America is dealing with. The carefully crafted, gerrymandered districts they hail from are populated with narrow, white, ultra conservative "Real Americans" who steadfastly march in unison toward radical purity. If they are so upset with Specter's party affiliation, they should take their marbles and go home to Rushland where reality doesn't matter. Obama should just go on about the business of undoing the Bush damage to America with an increasing super majority . Now is the time to seat Franken, so Minnesota has its two rightfully elected Democratic senators.
April 29, 2009 9:18 AM | Reply | Permalink