Apr 28 2009
Conservatives Bailing The Ocean Into Their Sinking Ship
 
Boy, am I glad I left the conservative fevered swamps when I did. Talk about self destructing! As I posted on earlier, in response to the political center dumping conservatives into oblivion Jim DeMint made the comment he would rather be a top fish in a tiny pond than actually lead this great nation into the future:
DeMint says he would rather have 30 Republicans in the Senate who really believe in principles of limited government, free markets, free people, than. . .that don’t have a set of beliefs.â€
Ahh, the lovely sound of tolerance and respect for fellow Americans. I don’t think DeMint and his paltry band of ‘true conservatives’ get it yet. No one would be upset if he was part of an impotent and irrelevant ban of 30 has beens in the Senate either!
And 30 seems to be a good number to shoot for. Right now it is 60-40 (assuming Franken pulls off his mystical vote counting tricks), but if the far right keep up on their witch hunt of centrist, then 7o is only 10 seats away. Rush Limbaugh has proposed another candidate to be shown the door of the failed right wing club house:
Conservative host Rush Limbaugh said Tuesday he isn’t sorry to see Arlen Specter leave the GOP — and that many Republicans wish the Pennsylvania senator would take a few others with him when he goes.
“A lot of people say, ‘Well, Specter, take [Sen. John] McCain with you. And his daughter [Meghan]. Take McCain and his daughter with you if you’re gonna…” he told listeners, dissolving in laughter.
“…..It’s ultimately good. You’re weeding out people who aren’t really Republicans,” he said.
No, they weeding out the survivors so the only ones left will be the politically doomed. Limabaugh and his ilk seem more and more like those doomed survivors on the Poseidon Adventure who head the wrong way to rescue, certain of their superior intelligence and purpose. They certainly on a rapidly sinking ship.
Anyway, then there are the two ladies from Maine, who are only slightly less despised by the conservative purists than Specter was. And the comments they are making spell more disaster for the right:
Both Republican senators from Maine said Tuesday that the GOP must change its ways following Sen. Arlen Specter’s (Pa.) decision to switch parties.
…
Collins called Specter’s decision “unfortunate for our party and our country,†and acknowledged that Democratic leaders have long been trying to persuade her to change parties.
“When you’re a moderate Republican, every year there’s someone from the other side who makes an overture,†she said. “But that’s not something I would ever consider doing.
“But I do think our party needs to make clear that centrists are welcome. Sometimes that message is not sent as clearly as it should be.â€
Well they are not wanted, as the lunatic fringe has made perfectly clear. And let’s be clear here, Specter was forced out by the Toomey challenge. If the GOP tent hadn’t shrunk to the size of a pup tent, the GOP primary would not be a threat to Specter’s desires to lead this nation and be an influential force in where it goes. He is thinking state and country first, Party is a distant 3rd were it belongs. If the far right go after Collins, she will have no choice – either she leaves the GOP or she watches a Democrat take out whoever the far right elect in the primary.
Snowe also has had some pointed words for the dying conservative movement:
“I’ve always been deeply concerned about the views of the Republican Party nationally in terms of their exclusionary policies and views towards moderate Republicans,” said Snowe, who has been approached, she said, by Democrats in the past about switching parties.
Specter’s switch to the Democratic Party “underscores the blunt reality” that the GOP is not a welcome place for moderates, she said.
Snowe goes onto point out that conservatives think they are the only ones with a hold on certain issues, but what they are doing in their purity putsche is simply losing control of these issues to more sane heads. Here is Snowe’s list of ‘principles’ or ‘beliefs’ people like DeMint don’t think exist outside their echo chambers:
“I believe in the traditional tenets of the Republican Party: strong national defense, fiscal responsibility, individual opportunity. I haven’t abandoned those principles that have been the essence of the Republican Party. I think the Republican Party has abandoned those principles.
Agreed. The far right are not the only ones who respect and back our military (take it from a proud father of a US Marine, son of a WW II Navy veteran). Lots of people want limited government, lower taxes, free markets. Many people believe DC is bloated and out of control and useless. Many people believe in the sanctity of life. Half or more are not in the GOP, are not impressed with the far right, are not supporting the GOP. They are centrists who decide which party wins elections.
What the conservative movement needs is to stop being a ridiculous spectacle of ineptitude – case in point:
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.
What a joke. How about those crazy Birthers and their claims Obama is not American? How about those crazy claims that DHS is abandoning its mission to stop threats against this nation and are instead monitoring Michelle Malkin and her fellow travellers. How about those crazy Ayrabs trying to by an interest in a company that does port operations (not security)?
Anyway, if they can push out Snowe, Collins, McCain that gets them down to 37. Many think Lindsay Graham is RINO, as well as Kay Baily Hutchison. That gets you to 35! DeMint seems to have a feasible plan in mind.
How many more dumb stunts are we going to have to suffer through?
AJ,
What, besides Arlen Speter does Arlen Specter stand for? What policy position is more dear to him than his own seat in the Senate? Did he vote more reliably with the Republicans, or with the Democrats?
Furthermore, this is Arlen’s second switch of party in his elective life.
Nor can you really claim that he was driven from the Republican Party, and the Primary has not been held. Joe Lieberman proved defeat in a party primary was not a guarantee of defeat in the general election.
This was Arlen Specter taking care of Arlen Specter from beginning to end.
The Democrats and the Left wing media would never allow the level of dissent within their party that the Republicans do. Not in a million years. They would never allow “moderates” to undermine their party and then actually go around and join forces with the opposition media to bash the base of their own party for years.
“But I do think our party needs to make clear that centrists are welcome. Sometimes that message is not sent as clearly as it should be.â€
Unfortunately the holier than thou “centrists” don’t seem to like conservatives in the party. All of these “moderates” seem to be purging themselves to join forces with the most partisan hack of a President since probably LBJ.
I used to respect Sen. Specter for the same reason I respect Lieberman- they put their country before their party. I can’t respect Specter for this, however. His move is entirely to save his own career. He is just another career politician, doing what he deems necessary to keep his seat, in this case, switching parties to prevent defeat in a primary. What is just as worse, is his apparent disregard for checks and balances… We have effective one party rule now.
On the other hand, as long as the far right keeps trying to force moderates and lesser conservatives out, they will continue to lose elections. It’s sickening at how their stupdity and self-righteousness is only scaring people away. Whenever the GOP calls me begging for money or support, I no longer tell them off- I just hang up the phone. As Groucho Marx once put it, I don’t want to belong to a club that doesn’t want me as a member. The Democrats don’t want me because I love my country, and the GOP kicked me out because I don’t adhere to extreme conservative beliefs 100% of the time.
By the way, I’m wondering if the media would be this obsessed if a Blue Dog switched parties. Probably not… it doesn’t fit the story line of “GOP in trouble, everybody kisses the ground Obama walks on.”
AJ:
I agree that there are too many people on the right who are trying to purge the party, but I also think that Specter is just out for himself. He faced a challenge and rather than lose the primary like a man, he went to the other party.
I think the calls to get rid of McCain and Graham are insane. I am tired of hearing people like Rush constantly try to blame McCain for the political views of his grown daughter, Meghan. My God, Ronald Reagan’s son was an honest to God liberal.
But in this case, I think Specter is a lot different, he really has been something of a kook.
To win, requires that you convince people to vote for you by what you offer. Kinda like capitalism, as the right embraces, in that you convince others whom have a choice to choose your product over your competitors. If I had a store and I denied entry/sales to all those that do not agree with me point by point on political issues then I am denying myself growth/revenue. As I said before, R’s need more votes than D’s to win elections and you can’t add votes by subtracting votes.
Personally, I think Charles Johnson over at LGF may be onto something.
The Republican party of today is a coalition of groups. Over the last few years, the militant social conservatives have been in the ascendancy. This has not worked well, as many of the social militants are just as eager to tax and regulate as any leftist radical.
The fix is to shift to a more libertarian policy. You can be socially conservative, are free to persuade others to your position – but the use of Government force to implement your agenda is prohibited.
I think this all started when people started using the “Liberal” label. During the Reagan era, the Republicans were branding themselves as mainstream middle of the road ordinary sane people and the Democrats as liberal extremists.
Certain Republicans then decided to don the “conservative” moniker to differentiate themselves from the “liberals” and suddenly somehow the Republicans became the “conservative” party. But I don’t believe in leaving the party as much as I believe on trying to bring it back from the extreme.
Maybe the “conservatives” should form their own party instead of hijacking the Republicans.
Well, don’t forget that Specter was originally a Democrat who swtiched parties to win another election years ago. I take him at his word in his statement about the switch:
“I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans.” – Specter-
I guess that means he likes the Obama/Pelosi plans.
Michael Barone thinks he has a good chance of keeping his senate seat since he switched parties. Probably. But, I have to wonder if Dems would find him “weak” and if it may bring Dem challengers for a primary fight (especially since Spector is almost 80 years old).
“Early reaction (Daily Kos, Glenn Greenwald, The New Republic, MyDD, Open Left) suggests Senator Arlen Specter has somehow managed to join a political Party that dislikes him even more than Republicans did. ”
How about this scenario. Specter LOSES in the Democratic primary, neither Specter nor the Republicans win. Lose-Lose.
CP,
Lose-lose is highly likely (since that is all we have been getting for years now).
I thought this was interesting:
President Obama’s media cheerleaders are hailing how loved he is. But at the 100-day mark of his presidency, Mr. Obama is the second-least-popular president in 40 years.
According to Gallup’s April survey, Americans have a lower approval of Mr. Obama at this point than all but one president since Gallup began tracking this in 1969. The only new president less popular was Bill Clinton, who got off to a notoriously bad start after trying to force homosexuals on the military and a federal raid in Waco, Texas, that killed 86. Mr. Obama’s current approval rating of 56 percent is only one tick higher than the 55-percent approval Mr. Clinton had during those crises.
********
crosspatch:
You will never convince conservatives that they are not the heart and soul of the Republican party and always have been.
They are firmly convinced.
The Dem party has promised Specter they would not run anyone against him in the primary and Obama would campaign for his re-election.
But…….is a 45 favorability rating all that good? Especially when it is Independents who like you the least?
—–
Overall Pennsylvania voters have a 45 – 31 percent favorable opinion of Sen. Specter, but he gets a 47 – 29 percent unfavorable score from Republicans. The Republican gets a 60 – 16 percent thumbs up from Democrats and a 41 – 35 percent positive from independent voters, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN uh-pe-ack) University poll finds. 3-25-09 poll
http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x1284.xml?ReleaseID=1290&What=&strArea=;&strTime=0
Snowe: “I believe in the traditional tenets of the Republican Party: strong national defense, fiscal responsibility, individual opportunity. I haven’t abandoned those principles that have been the essence of the Republican Party. I think the Republican Party has abandoned those principles.”
Are you kidding me? Snowe & her Maine sister voted for the most irresponsible and reckless spending bill in our history, quickly followed by another outrageous budget bill. Yeah, she & Specter and some of the others have really toed the line fiscally.
As others have said, Specter is all about Specter – namely Specter losing power. It has absolutely nothing to do with state & country.
“Moderate” repubs acting & voting as dems does the republican party no favors, let alone the country. The breakneck speed with which O & the leftist dems are taking the country is frightening. Specter & the Maine girls are doing nothing to stop this madness, so why support them? Obviously, the repub party is badly in need of fresh faces and new leadership. But, it’s going to come from outside the beltway and from some of the House members (Cantor, Ryan, …).
There’s a huge middle that leans right that is getting more & more concerned, if not angry, at what they see happening in Washington. This frustration started at end of Bush, but is mostly un-partisan, i.e., not so much aimed at either party as at the whole lot of them. Obama’s poll numbers are not that great, especially when the issues and actions/positions are considered independently (bailouts, “stimulus”, bank nationalization, healthcare nationalization, GM/Chrysler nationalization, illegal immigration, interrogations, etc.). The middle would naturally gravitate to the repubs (and still might) but the repubs are devoid of leadership at present, so they have nowhere to go. Of course, big media doesn’t help as they routinely mis-inform the consumer and act as head cheerleader for Obama and the dems in general.
As the economy continues to lag, and as the reality of these radical changes become more apparent, there will be a groundswell of folks ready to switch from O & the dems. (The Tea Parties was the start.) Hopefully, by that time some repubs who can articulate the message will lead the party back. They better, otherwise the decline of America will be certain.
What I’m afraid of is that it may take another terrorist attack or some other oversees crisis (many to choose from: Israel-Iran, Russia bullying another neighbor, Pakistan govt falling, Afghanistan instability, etc.) due to Obama’s naivete and botched foreign policy, to wake up the country.
Republicans lead Democrats for the second time in 5 years in generic congressional ballot. By three points this time, too.
Aj.. and your juvenile name calling of the conservatives unites and brings the Republican party together exactly how?
Let’s be real here…old Arlen switched parties again for political and not ideological reasons. He thought he had a better chance to win as a Democrat with Obama campaigning for him. We will see if it works next year.
Alan from Fla.
All politicians have the right to express their idea’s. They were elected by the people to represent them.
We the people may not agree on their idea’s but in the case of the 2 ladies from Me. or Specter from Pa. and the rest of the Dem. party, to vote on a bill that no one ever read is a disservice to the American people. We the people also have the right to express our outrage.
As far as the so called conservative talking heads and some of the consevative idiots in congress they have their own agenda, but so does the 2 ladies from Me. and Mr. Specter. Now all of a sudden you hear the crap coming from the three bitiching and complaining about the Republican Party. Yet while the Reps. were in power and they were chairpersons of their committes you never heard a peep from them.
AJ,
I’ve enjoyed your website for quite some time; however, I have to say your rants about “conservative purity” have really begun to turn me off to your site.
Are there “purists” who would like to weed out the moderates of the party? Yes. You’d have to be blind and deaf not to be able to hear or see that.
At the same time, there are many moderates, and unfortunately you seem to be among them now, who want to throw out the conservatives. So in a sense, the moderates are “purists” as well. “Limbaugh and his ilk…” Yeah, sounds real inclusive doesn’t it?
Everyone (“Moderates” and “Conservatives”) need to take a deep breath and not sit out a blame each other for the floundering of the party. Each has played a major role in the current Republican party predicament.
– Conservatives have demanded that only “true conservatives” should be running in political races. That’s great for the middle of the country and the South; however, as it stands now unfortunately, it’s probably not going to work in the Northeast or Left coast. Clearly, we need to field candidates in those areas of the country that more represent the area. People need to remember that politics, even at the Congressional level, is all local.
That does not mean we sacrifice our core values in order to achieve power.
– Moderates blame conservatives for the current downturn in Republican fortunes. As noted above, some of this criticism id absolutely valid, but to solely blame conservatives, especially this groups favorite scapegoat “social conservatives” is utter nonsense.
I’m truly sick and tired of the “holier than thou” attitude of these moderates who say we’ve got to be more inclusive in order to succeed as a party. Yes, we do, but not the way you are suggesting. Their idea is that we need to redefine conservatism. They say that we’ve got to accept gay marriage (even though the people vote it down time and time again…even in California!). They claim that the era of Ronald Reagan is dead and that we’ve just got to accept that people want more government in their lives.
Poll after poll continue to show that the American people want less government, not more. They want more control over their own life, not someone telling them what they can and can not do. They say that federal spending is out of control. They don’t want “Truth Commissions” or prosecutions of agents/lawyers who helped protect this country. Sure sounds like small government traditional conservatism to me.
What I’m getting at is that everyone needs to look in the mirror before they sit there and blame someone else. Every group in the Republican party (moderate to conservative) played a role in where we ended up today.
Now, we can sit here and keep pointing fingers and playing the blame the other game or we can set aside our differences, because let’s face it, in the grand scheme of things they are minor compared to what we have in common.
We can work out differences once we’ve formed the Reagan winning coalition again that brought us a 49 state landslide and a huge 1994 landslide in Congress.