On Arlen Specter
Apr. 29th, 2009 07:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hkellickSo, I'm as shocked as the next man (though, maybe not so much in retrospect, the polling looked really bad) that Arlen Specter defected to the Democratic Party. And honestly, I'm not certain what to think about it..
Arlen Specter, as far as I know, leans center right. At the very least, he's an independent. He's a hawk and voted for the Iraq War. He's still saying he won't vote for the EFCA.
There are all sorts of Democrats jumping up and down going "Woohoo! We got 60 Senators, more than enough to block filibusters." Except.. well, I don't think so. We have 60 Democratic Senators, it's true, but on what issues do they agree upon? Any?
This is, of course, assuming Norm Coleman finally loses (and that whole thing is.. it's a bad joke. I hope that not every hotly divided vote will end up spiraling into the madness this one Senate Seat has. I, for one, think Norm Coleman looks like a bad loser, one who won't admit he's lost.) and Senator Franken gets the seat.
I'm not sure anyone's "Won" this at all. I'm not even sure Specter really won this. He's just jumped ship on his party. Now, he'll need to convince people he hasn't jumped ship on his ideals or I'd say his chance to be reelected are next to nil.
Though, there is a clear loser here: The GOP.
What Arlen Specter's leaving has symbolized is that there's no place in the GOP for Moderates. So long as people believe that (and I think people DO believe that, that's how Obama won, because he seemed much more moderate than McCain), than the GOP will continue to be politically marginalized.
I'm not sure what it will take the GOP to get out of the wilderness. They need an image rework of some sort. They need to stop appearing to be the party of Old, White, Racist, Religious Right Nuts and come back as a party with a valid viewpoint that accounts for the fact that the world's CHANGED somewhat.
For the record, I'm not stating that the GOP itself truly stands for Racism, or Religious Fanaticism, but a number of the more vocal members of their party DO. So long as the GOP remains the party of Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin and Fixed News, they've got a serious Public Relations Problem.
Arlen Specter, as far as I know, leans center right. At the very least, he's an independent. He's a hawk and voted for the Iraq War. He's still saying he won't vote for the EFCA.
There are all sorts of Democrats jumping up and down going "Woohoo! We got 60 Senators, more than enough to block filibusters." Except.. well, I don't think so. We have 60 Democratic Senators, it's true, but on what issues do they agree upon? Any?
This is, of course, assuming Norm Coleman finally loses (and that whole thing is.. it's a bad joke. I hope that not every hotly divided vote will end up spiraling into the madness this one Senate Seat has. I, for one, think Norm Coleman looks like a bad loser, one who won't admit he's lost.) and Senator Franken gets the seat.
I'm not sure anyone's "Won" this at all. I'm not even sure Specter really won this. He's just jumped ship on his party. Now, he'll need to convince people he hasn't jumped ship on his ideals or I'd say his chance to be reelected are next to nil.
Though, there is a clear loser here: The GOP.
What Arlen Specter's leaving has symbolized is that there's no place in the GOP for Moderates. So long as people believe that (and I think people DO believe that, that's how Obama won, because he seemed much more moderate than McCain), than the GOP will continue to be politically marginalized.
I'm not sure what it will take the GOP to get out of the wilderness. They need an image rework of some sort. They need to stop appearing to be the party of Old, White, Racist, Religious Right Nuts and come back as a party with a valid viewpoint that accounts for the fact that the world's CHANGED somewhat.
For the record, I'm not stating that the GOP itself truly stands for Racism, or Religious Fanaticism, but a number of the more vocal members of their party DO. So long as the GOP remains the party of Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin and Fixed News, they've got a serious Public Relations Problem.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-29 01:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-29 01:44 pm (UTC)