Arlen Specter's New Rules; Another Rat, Same Ship.

Arlen Specter appeared on Meet the Press this morning to grease his slide to the left and to remind us that his seniority is not a bribe for his defection, but an entitlement for his time served since 1980. Seems to me that if that were true that Joementum Lieberman would be able to keep his....um...nevermind....



Complaining about stacked decks and how he was doing it for the people of Pennsylvania, he was asked by David Gregory what his core beliefs are now; um, um, um....inspiration of his father, his record as being for the little guy; but the question remains, what the fuck has he been doing as Rome burned? This guy has as much experience in the old guard of Washington as anyone, and he stood by as a Republican while his party was gutted and the economy was destroyed, talking about rules and how he had to strengthen the party. He exclaimed along the way that he stood behind his party and wanted to grow it, but like all the other rats who aren't hanging onto the edge of the fringe, he abandoned ship. Indeed, Specter is a problem for both parties because he votes in what seems to be his own interest, all over the place. You can appreciate one vote, but the rest don't always line up. This makes me wonder who Arlen Specter really is.




Here in an interesting 2001 clip from CSPAN, Specter asks for a rule to prevent party switching. Odd in how this is exactly what he would do, not so many years later:



As Jill says here there is no allegiance or pattern to Specter's beliefs; its all about his own ass and his own job security. If the tattered remains of the Republican party wanted to vote Specter out as too liberal, then so be it, but don't come running to trade your seniority and votes for your job. This is the problem with these lifers; the country loses the ability to have ever-changing ideas and representation, as intended by the founders, because guys like this have done everything in their power to prevent new voices from being heard.

As he said to David Gregory "I don't expect the American people to agree with all of my votes, I don't even agree with them at this time!" I guess it would be more understandable if he hadn't just made a move that would secure his seat along the path of least resistance as opposed to standing up within his own party and fighting for the side that he represents. Are these the kind of Democrats we want?

As I watched the long, hideous process of the fall if the house of Bush, I kept saying that after we get to a safe place as far as fixing whats been done to the country, we need to shake out the dug-in, old-school, Dems who have been sliding by on name recognition and cronyism. We may need a majority right now, but the party has to be stronger in what we give away to these defectors. Arlen Specter, who has voted time and again against what the American people finally pulled their heads out of the sand long enough to remember and confirm, does not serve our long term. He will be forever considered a conservative democrat who will eventually be voting against his new party if it serves him.

Fuck inclusive politics! The Bush administration nearly destroyed us, and the jury is still out on what the future will be like and how much Obama can really do. This is a guy who sat there while Bush and Cheney tortured and killed people. Did he not notice what was happening? Why would he pick now, when his party needs his voice so badly, to defect? He has a history of switching parties along with the direction of the power, as he began his long journey as a democrat. For the democratic party, this is grabbing the low hanging fruit...we may need any fruit we can get, but lets stop messing around about the whys of this; its a business deal and it serves all involved; cue the senate dems to jump to their feet in applause when he next takes the floor.

After twenty six years of representing what was supposedly the less extreme part of the republican party, look where he left his party. I would venture to say that he has done a pretty piss poor job of promoting the balance that he talked about, and pretty much proved all those old memes of the crony's controlling things with their guaranteed positions in the power structure. I say that if its up to the American people, let us vote on it. So, lets fund and encourage any primary challenge to this rat. Here again, is the facebook page dedicated to that movement.

c/p RIP Coco