Arlen Specter, Democratic Senator from Pennsylvania

I think this is big, not so much because now AS will be a liberal and vote for everything Obama wants, but in that it adds to the perception that the Republican Party has no room for moderates any more.

Specter can now help Obama most by voting for cloture on controversial or close bills. He doesn't have to vote for cap and trade, for example, he just has to vote for ending debate, thereby ending any chance of a filibuster, thereby allowing the D's to pass the bill with a simple majority.

I really doubt we're going to see Specter change position much; he will be a moderate-to-conservative Dem. That breed still exists. The moderate to liberal Republican is almost entirely gone.

Kos and others argue that R's are becoming a regional party that cannot win national elections because they simply are too limited in their appeal. I think it's a little early to call them a "regional" party, after all, one of their most visible idealogues, our lovable Michelle Bachmann, comes from right here in Liberal Minnesota.

But it does again raise the question of the value of "bipartisanship," when the party is so dominated by hard core conservatives that even a moderate like Specter has to out and out leave the party to survive politically. These folks aren't interested in bipartisanship, because that would involved compromise. And compromise is something they just don't do.

Maybe, in a way, that's admirable. But mostly, lately, it's just been good for Democrats.

Leave It

We probably shouldn’t take this secessionist talk of Texas Gov. Rick Perry and a few hard-right partisans too seriously. They’re just throwing red meat to the crowd, and there’s not much to indicate that they really want to secede.

But it’s interesting that the subject is even raised. I don’t recall a Democratic governor ever talking about leaving the Union, no matter how much he disagreed with a Republican President.

Now there seems to be a race among talk show hosts, Republican politicians and conservative pundits to see if they can top each other with sensational, alarmist and dishonest talking points about the Obama administration.

When I was growing up, the hard-right crowd had a favorite saying: “America – Love It or Leave It!”

Ironic that now that the majority of Americans support a liberalsocialist President, some right-wingers are now talking about the latter.

Keeping the tone civil

I've gotten some feedback from the previous post and I think perhaps it was a bit of overreaction on my part. Sure, I saw some pretty bizarre, offensive, and downright dumb stuff in the coverage of the tea bag events, but as many have pointed out, that's what the media will play up. And I might be swimming in the lefty blog echo chamber a bit too much, if I may mix my metaphors, which also plays up the nuttiness.

So, OK, conservatives are allowed to have their day to speak their minds, even if it largely a bunch of events sponsored by Fox News. And they have every right to be angry about the lousy economy and the deficit. I just think their anger is very misdirected. And I'm still not getting answers on why people who hate taxes are mad at a president who just cut theirs.

Conservatives?

Thoughts on the Tea Bag Protests

All in all, I would think this is kind of a sad day to be a conservative.

After witnessing this parade of misfits, dimwits, and out-of-the closet racists, if I were a conservative I would be deeply embarrassed by these misguided, incoherent protests.

I actually don’t understand the reasoning here at all. Obama lowered taxes for nearly everyone, including a slew of business taxes, and they are protesting higher taxes?

Obama is trying to keep the country out of another great Depression by stabilizing the banking industry, and they call him a fascist?

Were these people protesting when Bush ran up a trillion dollar deficit? Were they protesting about the expansion of Medicare, or the huge unfunded mandate of No Child Left Behind? Why the sudden outrage? Is it just because Glenn Beck cried and said some crazy stuff? I’m beginning to think so.

One guy today: “He’s a fascist!” “Why?” “He just is!”

Hard to argue with that logic. I guess "Socialist" wasn't working for them.

As many have pointed out, it’s one thing to lose an election. It’s another to use that loss as a reason to talk about fascism, totalitarianism, secession, and hanging liberals.

The election of Barack Obama said a lot about this country. Sadly, these protests do too.

You gotta feel for him

I was just reading about South Dakota's richest man, Denny Sanford.

Dude had a net worth of $2.8 billion a couple years ago.

With the drop in the stock market, he's now worth a measly $1 billion.

It does raise a question.

Which is worse for your average billionaire: "socialists" like Obama, who would raise his taxes a a couple percentage points, or unrestrained capitalism?