Breaking: Specter becoming a Democrat; Update: Won’t change on Card Check; Update: Obama “thrilled”; Update: Specter disavowed switch last month; Update: Olympia Snowe defends Specter; Update: GOP leaders stunned; Update: Graham hits Toomey
posted at 12:23 pm on April 28, 2009 by Allahpundit
Or rather, he’s finally making it official. Human Events broke the news, now WaPo confirms:
“I have decided to run for re-election in 2010 in the Democratic primary,” said Specter in a statement. “I am ready, willing and anxious to take on all comers and have my candidacy for re-election determined in a general election.”
He added: “Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans.”
That’s a weaselly lie, and therefore a perfect note for him to depart on. He’d have happily run for re-election as a Republican if not for Toomey getting into the race and quickly jumping out to a 21-point lead. Specter tried to make it an open primary so that the left might rescue him but couldn’t, and Pennsylvania’s election laws prevented him from doing what Lieberman did to Lamont three years ago: In PA, if you compete in a primary and lose, you’re done. No independent candidacy. So his choice, essentially, was either to switch to an independent now and skip the primary or go the whole nine yards by becoming a Democrat, giving the left a presumptive filibuster-proof majority (once Franken is seated), and extracting whatever concessions he could from them in return, e.g. committee chairmanships, DNC fundraising, etc. The Hill actually kinda sorta predicted this last month. It’s pure self-preservation on Specter’s part, expecting that he’ll be able to handle Toomey easily in the general when Democrats and indies can push him through.
Three quick thoughts. One: Does this mean he’s going to reverse himself on Card Check? I’m guessing yes. Two: Does this mean the Democrats will drop their threat to nuke the filibuster on health care? Hard to say since Blue Dogs like Ben Nelson could defect and deprive them of the 60th vote. Third: Will a lefty challenger jump into the Democratic primary now and challenge Specter as, irony of ironies, a DINO?
You know who I bet feels pretty stupid right now? John Cornyn.
Update: Ben Smith says Biden was “deeply involved” in the switch. Here’s Specter’s full statement. Interesting:
I deeply regret that I will be disappointing many friends and supporters. I can understand their disappointment. I am also disappointed that so many in the Party I have worked for for more than four decades do not want me to be their candidate. It is very painful on both sides. I thank specially Senators McConnell and Cornyn for their forbearance…
My change in party affiliation does not mean that I will be a party-line voter any more for the Democrats that I have been for the Republicans. Unlike Senator Jeffords’ switch which changed party control, I will not be an automatic 60th vote for cloture. For example, my position on Employees Free Choice (Card Check) will not change.
Update (Ed): I’m in the good-riddance category here. Normally I argue for a big tent and the need to woo moderates by focusing on core values. Specter betrayed those values in his Porkulus vote and cloture cave. He could have forced Obama, Pelosi, and Reid to start negotiating in good faith with his Republican colleagues, but instead allowed them to shove a bad bill down their throats.
Update: You’ll be pleased to know that Snarlin’ Arlen has The One’s “full support.” Meanwhile, here’s just how much of a weaselly liar he is. From a March 17 interview with The Hill:
I am staying a Republican because I think I have an important role, a more important role, to play there. The United States very desperately needs a two-party system. That’s the basis of politics in America. I’m afraid we are becoming a one-party system, with Republicans becoming just a regional party with so little representation of the northeast or in the middle atlantic. I think as a governmental matter, it is very important to have a check and balance. That’s a very important principle in the operation of our government. In the constitution on Separation of powers.
Update: Michael Steele lays it on the line:
Some in the Republican Party are happy about this. I am not. Let’s be honest-Senator Specter didn’t leave the GOP based on principles of any kind. He left to further his personal political interests because he knew that he was going to lose a Republican primary due to his left-wing voting record. Republicans look forward to beating Sen. Specter in 2010, assuming the Democrats don’t do it first.
Update: Politico says Specter was talking to the Dems about this for months and that the final straw was indeed the polls showing him getting crushed by Toomey. Question: Are any other Republicans thinking of switching? Hmmmm:
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) a fellow moderate, didn’t seem suprised. On the national level, she says, “you haven’t certainly heard warm encouraging words of how they [Republicans] view moderates. Either you are with us or against us.”
“Ultimately we’re heading to having the smallest political tent in history they way things are unfolding,” Snowe said. “We should have learned from the 2006 election, which I was a party of. I happened to win with 74% of the vote in a blue collar state but no one asked me how did you do it. Seems to me that would have been the first question that would have come from the Republican party to find out so we could avoid further losses.”
Update: The most discouraging thing about all this may be that the GOP leadership appears to have been caught totally by surprise, even though (a) per Politico, Specter’s been talking to the Dems for months, and (b) per Toomey’s polling, we’ve been speculating about a Specter switch for weeks now. How could they have been caught flat-footed on this?
Update: Grahamnesty wants in on some of Snowe’s “viva moderates!” action.
“I don’t want to be a member of the Club for Growth,” said Graham. “I want to be a member of a vibrant national Republican party that can attract people from all corners of the country — and we can govern the country from a center-right perspective.”
“As Republicans, we got a problem,” he said.
Counters Jim DeMint, whose impending endorsement of Toomey might have pushed Specter over the edge, “I would rather have 30 Republicans in the Senate who really believe in principles of limited government, free markets, free people, than to have 60 that don’t have a set of beliefs.”
Blowback
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beatcanvas:
Who says you have to bankrupt the children? I don’t support Obama’s programs, I think they are insane in fact. But if the only alternative that conservatives can offer is to make middle class Americans think they have to choose between their parents and their children, then Obama will win and that would be a helluva loss for those children. I really believe that.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 5:13 PM
I’m from Ohio had you asked George Washington about the “wild west” he’d have told you he’d been there already surveying and mean my home.
He wanted to GO THERE had he lived longer that is the difference between the “beautiful people” who rule today and the dutiful people who made this nation….
you get more of what you pay for, subsidizing the weak will render more weaklings.
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 5:13 PM
If I were to have grandchildren, I’d pray they didn’t contract your self-serving attitude. I can imagine you phoning an ailing grandparent to say: “Sorry grandpop – can’t afford those pills you need anymore. You got your will written out? Oh good. Well we’d like to come over and say goodbye, but that costs too much so we’re calling instead. Better talk fast because we can only afford to talk long-distance for a little bit.”
I’d gladly take out a loan in order if it would extend the life of my grandfather or grandmother by any significant amount. (meaning over a month) Unfortunately, they are at such an advanced age where no amount of money will do much good.
Dark-Star on April 28, 2009 at 5:14 PM
Otis:
My point is that people do not want to return to that time.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 5:14 PM
sven:
So, your mother or my mother or someone’s mother is the weak?
Are you immortal? What if you had an accident tomorrow and were left a quad, not able to move or to work? Would that make you worthless?
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 5:15 PM
Their life and death is between them and God, medical science has reached the point where with perpetual funding they can damn near keep the body “alive” indefinitely….in this very thread that has been called “cruelty”….
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 5:16 PM
The trouble is, with the way we area headed, we’re probably gone to get back to those times whether we like it or not.
Otis B on April 28, 2009 at 5:16 PM
Dark-Star:
Well look at this way, if Grandpa died right off the bat, you could inherit more.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 5:17 PM
I do–I think Americans were better, happier and more productive then.
Now, we’re a nation of whiners.
This is an improvement?
Jenfidel on April 28, 2009 at 5:17 PM
Otis:
I don’t like the way we are headed either, but wishing death on bothersome old people is not exactly a winning strategy and without a winning strategy, Obama will get to do whatever he wants without any one to oppose him.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 5:18 PM
Not immortal, am out of the Army because my right leg failed me after a fall…that said I found another avocation to carry my own weight and did not have multiple thousands of dollars spent on my behalf trying in vain to “make my leg like new”….
$ociali$m is sold to people on healthcare like everyone will be getting a new pony under the tree and NEVER works out that way….
hope you like the rationing as much as I loved the freedom to choose….
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 5:18 PM
NOT the Federal Govt’s problem to solve.
Fed45 on April 28, 2009 at 5:18 PM
What is your point? (Big hint: you don’t have one.)
Crippling accidents are horrible, but they aren’t an excuse to become so crippled that only Big Government can help you.
Jenfidel on April 28, 2009 at 5:19 PM
I do, too. If there was an opportunity to squat on land in Oklahoma and call it my own, and work to try and make something of it and for my family and children (and children’s children), I’d jump at it right now.
Otis B on April 28, 2009 at 5:19 PM
What about the little people? The wee lads?
DarkCurrent on April 28, 2009 at 5:21 PM
sven:
So you are on VA? You know, back during the Civil War there was a debate about whether to pay soldiers or not, or if that would constitute a mercenary force, then there was a debate over whether or not to provide them with a pension.
I think the military has earned whatever it gets, I really do. But VA is still the state.
And no I do not like rationing, I do not support Obama, but like I said if you can not come with a rational alternative that people will accept then rationing is exactly what you will get.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 5:21 PM
Good gravy… you act like money is just out there to be had and we simply refuse to go get it.
Math, Terrye. It’s the math that forces the choice. Break out a calculator… with interest and future increases in the budget, each man, woman, and child will have to pay nearly $200,000 to pay back current obligations. And that’s just straight division. That doesn’t subtract the 79 million baby boomers from the taxpayer base.
Now add nationalized health care, badly managed by the government – as government does with everything it manages.
Math forces the choice. Do the math.
beatcanvas on April 28, 2009 at 5:22 PM
I was in a frothing fury when I read that until I saw your username. I’ve read enough of this thread to know you were being sarcastic, but at first I thought Jen or Otis was talking, and if they said the same thing I think they’d mean it!
Dark-Star on April 28, 2009 at 5:22 PM
Terrye, no one is wishing death on old people, at least I’m not.
The way I see it, the government has actually assisted with making costs much higher, and I don’t believe for a second that the government can make it any better.
Back when we were kids, there was a family physician in the small town where I am from – it didn’t cost a fortune to go see him. And my grandparents lived with my mother’s oldest sister until they passed away.
I think that taking care of our elderly is important, just like you do, but what I’d advocate is not for the government to take care of them, but for us to take care of them within our smaller communities.
Otis B on April 28, 2009 at 5:23 PM
The federal answer is “guess what that program that was sold to you as retiring at age 65 is gonna do for you….?
well the math says we need it to be….
*insert age between 67 and 82*
Social Security is a vacuum cleaner in the young’s pockets.
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 5:25 PM
Death from old age is unavoidable, and at some point further medical care is just pointless to that end. That is much different than being kept alive from disease or accident which has resulted in a ‘vegetative’ state.
Dark-Star on April 28, 2009 at 5:25 PM
How fitting that the moderates have been screaming for the GOP to turn left yet it is the moderates who turn traitor at the first sign of a rough road.
Enough of that crap talk about a big tent. The moderates only use it to store their crap in anyways.
William Amos on April 28, 2009 at 5:26 PM
You are making two different arguments. Property taxes are a LOCAL issue. Every state and local community is free to come up with any type of tax system they want, as long as it does not violate any federal law. But the Federal Govt has NO Constitutional authority to take MY money to pay for YOUR, or your Grandma’s, or my Grandpa’s healthcare. Now, if your state or local govt wants to devise some tax scheme to pay for your local citizens healthcare, by all means let them do it. And you can vote with your feet. Don’t like your local property tax laws? Then either move, or work to change them. But, the Federal govt has no authority to take money from citizens and give it to others, which is essentially what all these welfare programs do.
I suggest reading the 10th Amendmendment.
Fed45 on April 28, 2009 at 5:26 PM
DarkCurrent:
Ahh yes, make fun why don’t you? These people really existed.
Their name was Scoggins, they came to Oklahoma from Georgia in late 19th century. They settled a farm there like a lot of people did and then the adults got sick and died. There were no phones, the kids did not even know how to find anyone. It was years later before the rest of family found out what happened to them.
This sort of story was very common back then. Imagine all the people who came here from Europe and died and left children behind.
That was just the way it was.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 5:26 PM
Yes, of course – I meant the minimal cost of pills. Yes, that’s what I meant.
Ever pay for an MRI out of pocket? I have. Would I make my kid pay for mine? How about the surgery? The physical therapy?
Are you that selfish that you would ask your kid to do that for you? You would expect them to take out a loan for your health care? There’s no way you can be a parent…
beatcanvas on April 28, 2009 at 5:26 PM
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 5:13 PM
The fact is, the country is broke, and Social Security is the biggest ponzi scheme on record. There is no “lock box”, there are just 35 trillion of unpayable obligations. With the hyperinflation that will be caused by Obama and his fellow traitors from their new insane programs, everyone’s savings (such as they are) will be worthless.
With the magnificent economic engine of this country now being dismantled by idiot socialists, the worst is far from over..
When the Chinese start to demand “collateral”, what do you think that collateral will be?
I don’t see a good end to this. Being in the energy business, I am in a state of shock at the lies and idiocies that we Americans are accepting. It’s pure suicide for any advanced nation.
You want typhus? Poor nations have it, and wealthy nations don’t. You destroy wealth, like 1920-1930′s wealthy Uruguay did, (with a per-capita GNP that almost exceeded the USA and Europe’s) and guess what – they have typhus there now.
TexasJew on April 28, 2009 at 5:26 PM
How can you be sure she was being sarcastic?
As for me, thanks a lot.
So, I’m an uncaring b*tch, because I believe that people and families should take care of themselves, if they’re at all capable?
I never had a grandfather–they were both already gone when I was born, but if I had, I’d have been delighted and me and my family would have spent our own money to keep them well and healthy for as long as they lived.
But we wouldn’t have depended on federal programs to do so, much less lived with that expectation.
Jenfidel on April 28, 2009 at 5:27 PM
No genius I took a lump sum because it was judged EPTS-SA…oh imagine that candyland had standards….
I am not bitter I was young and got back use of the hip, the Army took care of me.
You’re barking up the wrong tree fella, I have lived on the tundra and have little use for people who need Uncle Sugar to hold their hand en perpetual…
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 5:27 PM
beatcnavas:
When my mother needed a surgery she was 65, I was no child, but I still could not come up with that kind of money.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 5:27 PM
You have two interesting points that explain why socialism, and especially socialized medicine, are disastrous: there is truly no such thing as a free lunch, and anything the *government* controls is indeed a zero sum game. Within a free, reasonably regulated market, the lunches still aren’t free, but the sums don’t have to add up to zero. Free people have a knack for finding ways to meet any demand, which came as an incomprehensible surprise to the “population bomb” doomsayers of the 70s, who are now bishops and cardinals in the Church of Global Warming, and no wiser than they used to be.
Putting the government in control of health care guarantees the supply of health care will never increase, because there is no incentive to increase either the amount of medical resources or their quality. You’ll have a few committed doctors here and there, of course, pushing themselves to the limit out of compassion for the sick, but you won’t see the coordinated effort and investment of resources the private sector musters to meet any strong demand. The demand for these limited, stale health care services, on the other hand, will never go *down*, because it’s “free.” There is no incentive whatsoever for consumers to use less health care, and no way for them to shop around for better health care – basically every problem caused by the current system of insurance companies and heavy regulation, but multiplied exponentially. The only way to address the situation is to ration the limited supply.
This should come as a surprise to no one familiar with the awful Canadian or British health services. What will surprise them is how much *worse* American socialized medicine will be. The population of net tax consumers is far higher in America, we import a tremendous number of tax consumers with a high demand for health care services from south of the border, and a gigantic population of aging Baby Boomers is rolling into the part of their lives where health care demands – both optional and mandatory – are highest. It won’t be long before a lot of the health services we consider “mandatory” today are redefined as “optional,” and the optional services will be redefined as unavailable – except for high-ranking members of the Party, of course, and those with sufficient funds to work around the system, or bribe the Party to make top-shelf care available to them. Free lunch at the zero sum counter will not be a tasty meal, and an awful lot of the people plopping down at that counter will find themselves confronted with signs telling them to come back later. Many of them won’t live long enough to come back later.
On the other hand, conservatives should remember that people in a compassionate, advanced society simply will not tolerate the poor dropping dead in the streets. They also will not tolerate elderly people dying for lack of care, or bankrupting their families while trying to obtain it. We can only defeat the Democrats and pull the country out of this nose dive into collectivist inertia by proposing free-market solutions that make emergency services available to all, while allowing the market to address the need to increase supply and reduce costs. Since the modern, high-tech health care system has never been anything like a free-market enterprise in my lifetime, or anyone else’s, it will be uncharted territory – and that’s what frightens so many people into the arms of a “caring” government that promises everything for free. An awful lot of those ridiculously expensive doctor bills gets diverted into the pockets of malpractice lawyers and expensive malpractice insurance. A lot of lifesaving drugs and medical techniques have hugely inflated development costs because of the inefficiency of the FDA. Those might be good places to start reforming the system. If economic and technological factors account for perhaps half the cost of medicine, we can knock 50% off those prices just by getting government and the legal system trimmed down to size, and the power of market competition and entrepreneurial ingenuity can take over from there.
Let me end this post in an effort to stay on the original topic by saying what a miserable old hack Arlen Specter is.
Doctor Zero on April 28, 2009 at 5:29 PM
sven:
I did not insult you. I simply pointed out that there are a lot of old people out there who also served.
A lot of those old people who are in nursing homes today were in WW2.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 5:29 PM
Breaking!! Sturm-Ruger blows the doors off on earning! The gun maker reports huge profit and nearly 500,000 order backlog. Keep you eye on Smith & Weson…
SocratesShadow on April 28, 2009 at 5:29 PM
DoctorZero:
Thank you, that was very good.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 5:30 PM
+10
Jenfidel on April 28, 2009 at 5:31 PM
Lindsey Graham needs to leave as well… what a wet weasel
MNDavenotPC on April 28, 2009 at 5:31 PM
How much money shall we allow each aged person to use to hold on for “one more month”?
The thing is if our families are making the sacrifices it is a personal matter but when Uncle Sugar picks up the tab the costs get ridiculous and it is not as though my party ever gets thanks for Reagan making ERs take everyone or the increases to medicare the Congressional GOP passed for years either…
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 5:31 PM
But you don’t pay Federal property taxes. So, what’s your point? Take that issue up with your mayor/governor. There is a difference between paying LOCAL property taxes and the Federal Govt taking money from a citizen in one state and giving it to a citizen in another state. Which is what socialized healthcare would be doing.
Fed45 on April 28, 2009 at 5:31 PM
If I had a child, I would darn well take out a loan for THEIR health care. Or is that also wrong in your ghoulish line of thinking?
A factual statement for once.
Nope, I’m not a parent. I can’t even afford a dating life, much less marriage and children, and thus won’t pursue such things until I can. (if indeed I ever can)
Dark-Star on April 28, 2009 at 5:32 PM
Jenfidel:
I never said you were an uncaring b*tch. My only point is that sometimes people want to go back to the good old days without really knowing what the good old days were like.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 5:32 PM
Doctor Zero on April 28, 2009 at 5:29 PM
Well said, as usual, Doc.
Otis B on April 28, 2009 at 5:33 PM
If nobody else steps up to the plate in 2012, I will challenge Olympia in the primary in Maine.
joe_doufu on April 28, 2009 at 5:34 PM
Texas Jew:
I am not saying that we can go on like this. I am saying we need desperately to reform the system. But people are not just going to dump it.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 5:34 PM
Didn’t say you did, but the fact is that you could easily pump 250,000 dollars in care into each retiree and at the end of the day they are still on the back nine….
lost my grandpa to a system with rationed care….
like I said I hope your unicorn keeps you in green because math says one of three things is gonna happen thanks to the current prodigious spending…
1) true national bankruptcy
2) weimar currency
3) a harsh, long term bout of stagflation
“hope”
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 5:35 PM
So it’s perfectly okay then to take it from others… right?
beatcanvas on April 28, 2009 at 5:35 PM
yeah! What DoctorZero said. Just becasue conservatives are against a fed govt run healthcare system doesn’t mean they are in favor of people not getting proper healthcare. The free market can solve this problem much more effectively, efficiently, and INEXPENSIVELY than any govt funded program can.
Fed45 on April 28, 2009 at 5:36 PM
Agreed.
On the school taxes, I was responding to Terrye who said she “didn’t mind” paying taxes for schools, even though she has no children, either.
The problems my local school district has are a whole ‘nother can of worms than our federal tax issues!
Jenfidel on April 28, 2009 at 5:36 PM
Good riddance. If you’re going to vote like a Democrat, you might as well be one. I’m not worried about future elections because the Dems are already showing that they are planning to overreach so far that the snapback will be brutal. Let them hang themselves by their own petards.
What I do worry about is never being able to vote for a conservative again because the Democrats are listening to the wingnuts and the Republicans either won’t run or are listening to natterers like David Frum who are telling them they have to be RINO to make it. A true conservative- fiscally responsible, representing traditional values and small government- is a winner no matter whether there is a D or R after his name.
evergreen on April 28, 2009 at 5:37 PM
My ghoulish line of thinking: parents take care of their children, and not the other way around. If that’s offensive to you, move to Cuba.
beatcanvas on April 28, 2009 at 5:37 PM
Fed:
A tax is a tax. If they were taxing my income at a state level to pay for education, I would still be paying taxes for other’s people children’s education.
I do think that it is in all our best interest to have an educated youth. But then again, I also think it is in our best interest not to just let helpless old people suffer and die. That does not make me a socialist.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 5:37 PM
beatcanvas:
What happens when the children are 55 and the parents are 75?
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 5:38 PM
So if my parents become unable to take care of themselves as they age, I should do what? Forget about them?
I’ve resolved to show this thread to my father.
Dark-Star on April 28, 2009 at 5:40 PM
So if my parents become unable to take care of themselves as they age, I should do what? Forget about them entirely?
I’ve resolved to show this thread to my father.
Dark-Star on April 28, 2009 at 5:40 PM
That’s much more effective and much less selfish than expecting YOU to pay for it involuntarily. Which is what would be happening in a socialized healthcare system. You would be asked to pay for my child’s care without have a choice. You’re fine with the govt taking a much of YOUR money as they see fit to pay for some random person’s healthcare?
Fed45 on April 28, 2009 at 5:40 PM
difference being that (in theory) a senior citizen should have been responsible enough to plan for their post work years no?
oh wait there is that darn “self-sufficiency” thing kicking in….
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 5:40 PM
So if my parents become unable to take care of themselves as they age, I should do what? Forget about them?
I’ve resolved to show this thread to my father.
Dark-Star on April 28, 2009 at 5:40 PM
FAA Memo: Feds knew flyover would panic NYC
carbon_footprint on April 28, 2009 at 5:44 PM
Since Social Security is actually just a welfare program, then it should be means tested and people should be able to opt out of it if they are able to.
As far as the WWII vets thread goes, both of my late parents were WWII vets – my mother was a combat nurse – a Captain – in the South Pacific and my father was a combat soldier in Europe. They bought private health insurance and my father never took a single penny in Social Security, even though he had been paying into the system since the late 1930′s.
I wish that people would stop using that generation to grovel for more crappy social programs. That’s disgusting.
TexasJew on April 28, 2009 at 5:45 PM
Go ahead it won’t shame me….spending the nation into oblivion so everyone can get their pony and unicorn is folly…
we couldn’t do the things the Won wanted back when the top marginal rate was 90% so what makes you think we can accomplish it with anything less than 100% confiscation….?
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 5:46 PM
Well…it comes close to making you a Socialist.
It all depends on what you want your government to do.
This government, established in 1776, was not set up to either provide public education or health care for old people.
And yes, times have changed, but they haven’t changed so much that the wisdom of the Founding Fathers doesn’t shine down through the years.
The government programs that have been set up due to men with Socialist bent getting into power like FDR and LBJ have been nothing but failures.
A good deal of the children put through public schools cannot read.
And the ones who can are full of rotten Leftist ideas.
As for the old who are suffering and dying, their primary care still comes from their families and loved ones and not the tender mercies of Medicare and Medicaid.
Medicare and Medicaid are fast going bankrupt–and Obama hasn’t even begun to address this problem.
As for Education, it doesn’t matter how many billions we throw at this–the schools just get worse.
The State cannot begin to accomplish what good families, friends and communities like churches and synagogues can and the Founders knew this, even back in the late 18th Century.
Jenfidel on April 28, 2009 at 5:47 PM
So if my parents become unable to take care of themselves as they age, I should do what? Forget about them?
Dark-Star on April 28, 2009 at 5:40 PM
I think that the answer is: “help take care of them.”
Or do you think that Obama is going to come over with milk and cookies and a mysterious check from the sky?
TexasJew on April 28, 2009 at 5:52 PM
So you even belive in Scoggins?
DarkCurrent on April 28, 2009 at 5:54 PM
If the Republican Party winning leads to the same result as the Dem’s winning what is the point? I’d rather lose with principles than have a hollow victory. This nation will either wake up or perish. If the only alternative is a watered down version of the Democratic Party, then we will all but guarantee the later.
Stickeehands on April 28, 2009 at 5:55 PM
a magic check that does not drain the treasury or cost anyone anything…
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 5:55 PM
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 5:55 PM
Sort of like Unicorns, but less real..
TexasJew on April 28, 2009 at 5:56 PM
Hee hee hee. I’m a registered PA Democrat, and haven’t been able to make any kind of switch since November, not even to that of being Independent. Now I know why I held out. Can’t wait to vote against Specter in the Dem Primary. Woohoo!
misslizzi on April 28, 2009 at 5:59 PM
sven:
Self sufficient? My grandmother was 93 years old when she died. She spent her whole life taking care of other people, her mother, my mother, grandkids, her husband and when she died she did have some savings..but that was just because of social security. She took care of so many people that she did not horde enough for herself.
Right now there all kinds of people out there who thought a year ago that they could retire and now they can’t. Yes, people should save as much as they can and be as self sufficient as they can, but when people outlive their savings you can not just let them die.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 6:01 PM
Dark Current:
Yes, I believe. Why I even believe that there was no running water or TV back then. Shocking. There was no emergency room, no internet and if you were Custer at the Little Big Horn there was no rescue..
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 6:03 PM
Now if we could get Snowe and Collins to leave the party we can start to rebuild.
The decline of the party has nothing to do with moderates, right wingers, Christians etc but everything to do with excess spending and corruption by the repubs during the Bush era. They were warned by the elections of 04 and then most convincingly in 06 and 08. The independents who elect all winners fled the repub party.
If they are going to be lied to, spent into the grave and ride on bridges to nowhere they prefer Dems.
Specter, Snowe and Collins are simply making excuses for being big government spenders. They want first and foremost to spend your money and have you be subservient to the government for everything. They crave being important no matter the price that is why they voted against the entire party to empower Obama and themselves.
F’k em…..
patrick neid on April 28, 2009 at 6:03 PM
Specter on Senator’s switching parties (2001):
Loxodonta on April 28, 2009 at 6:05 PM
93 years old and no kids, grand-kids, or great grandkids to provide her with a living or food?
Man that bites, sincerely I hope your siblings enjoyed their pools, cars and such because in my family we had a 98 year old and my grandmother was 74 years old at passing and *somehow* my uncles, my fellow grandchildren and their husbands’ savings managed to allow a standard of living….
yeah we sure have progressed since Roe v Wade and the boomers have in essence made the old and young both “not our problem”….
my mom died at 58 from liver cancer, my dad is still kicking at 67 but the fact is I would not rob a bank or my neighbors to have fought for more chemo for my mom and my dad has taken care of himself….
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 6:06 PM
I just spoke with my Repub mom on the phone to see if she heard. She says she always thought Specter was a Dem until someone told her “No. He’s a Republican.” Is this the first time Specter has made a switch?
misslizzi on April 28, 2009 at 6:07 PM
My comment was silly, stupid and uncalled for.
I will restrict myself for posting 1 day. If I do not, let me be done like getalife.
DarkCurrent on April 28, 2009 at 6:08 PM
Damn, Loxo. Nice find.
misslizzi on April 28, 2009 at 6:08 PM
Texas Jew:
I think people should help take care of their parents too. But then again, if you have to have 24 hour care then you have to quit a job or pay someone else and if that someone else costs more than you make, then what?
The truth is social security has made it possible for older people to live independently in a way they never could before. And that means that their grown children have not been forced to bankrupt themselves to care for their parents. That is just a fact.
They need to raise the retirement age considerably if there is any hope of salvaging this system and they need to get people who are not elderly off of it, they also need to privatize at least part of it.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 6:09 PM
Thank Ramesh Ponnuru at the Corner
Loxodonta on April 28, 2009 at 6:09 PM
Spectron has always been pegged as Pepsi in the Pepsi v Coke donk v republican taste test….
In 1965, Specter ran for District Attorney, on the Republican ticket as a registered Democrat. He handily beat incumbent Jim Crumlish, and subsequently changed his registration to Republican. Although a death penalty supporter, as prosecutor he questioned the fairness of the Pennsylvania death penalty statute in 1972.
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 6:09 PM
DarkCurrent:
I would not call anyone a getalife. You do just fine.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 6:10 PM
Mark Levin on now…tearing into Specter:
http://www.marklevinshow.com/audio/#
AUINSC on April 28, 2009 at 6:10 PM
Is there something in PA’s water that screws up its politicians ?
William Amos on April 28, 2009 at 6:12 PM
Specter’s decision represents what he truly stands for: himself surrounded by layer upon layer of misrepresentation and hypocrisy. Congratulations, Democrats.
Loxodonta on April 28, 2009 at 6:12 PM
sven:
I did not say it bites. In fact I did take care of my dying grandmother and I was with her when she passed.
I don’t know if you are just young or what. I am saying that no matter how self sufficient a person tries to be, you can not always control what happens in your life, or how long you will live or what will happen to your income.
And the costs of living is so high today that to live decades off of savings would require a greater income than most people will ever make.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 6:12 PM
the compund M1OO2N3B1A5T7
believe it
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 6:13 PM
Woo-hoo! Great find!
Specter’s such a tool.
I’m so glad he’s not one of ours anymore!
It may hurt us in the short run, but in the long run, we’ll be a Grander Old Party now that this horrible RINO has officially become a Donk.
Jenfidel on April 28, 2009 at 6:15 PM
Thanks sven. That would make sense regarding that “registered Democrat” being stuck in my mom’s head for 44 years. Subconsciously she must have known that a leopard never changes its spots, I guess.
misslizzi on April 28, 2009 at 6:15 PM
sven:
By the way my Dad died at 54 of rectal cancer. I can not have children, so I don’t have a lot of family left. My mother was 70 when she died. She was also blind and broke. In fact my mother and my grandmother died within 3 years of each other.
But look at this way, they aren’t here to be a burden anymore.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 6:15 PM
Elephant to Donkey……that is one helluva operation there Spectre. What do we call it, transparty or transbullpie….whatever you call it I hope it hurts like hell.
Limerick on April 28, 2009 at 6:17 PM
No I said it bites….
The longest lived people on this planet are oddly not from the most developed part of the world and do not have hundreds of thousands of dollars stolen from their neighbors to lengthen their life. I am sorry at the loss of your grandparent, my grandfathers’ loss bother me 22 years later.
again it is a ideally a family matter or shall we just grant everyone who faces adversity a blank checkbook….”just to keep things sporting”?
The cost of living today is a reflection of government interference and wildly insane expectations with regards to instant gratification versus fiscal sense….
lower middle class people enjoy things that a generation ago bank managers would envy.
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 6:18 PM
I don’t know about PA’s water, but strong winds cause sick livestock to fly from their farms.
We just saw how a Pennsylvanian Swine Flu.
Loxodonta on April 28, 2009 at 6:20 PM
So, the democrats now have a filibuster proof majority and complete control of the government to make permanent moves toward socializing the economy and keeping themselves in power. They are in complete control to do things that can not be undone.
And we still have morons, complete morons yapping about purging “RINO’s”.
Boxy_Brown on April 28, 2009 at 6:21 PM
AWESOME
William Amos on April 28, 2009 at 6:23 PM
oh things can and will be undone….
the bitcher’s bill is not here yet, the majority of the “Great Society” was dying BEFORE Reagan…..
universal health care is THE fight and when the rationing meme gets out the Blue Dogs will either stop it or get ran off by the south who was Jedi Mind-Tricked into believing “these are not the donks your were looking for”….
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 6:23 PM
A glimpse at socialized medicine:
I had a breast cancer scare in late 2008 and was on COBRA. Had to go for blood tests at some local lab that was basically medicare/medicaid type facility. I arrived at 6:55am because they opened at 7am and I had a case to handle north of me at 8am. The line to the lab was at least 50 souls long.
They line you up outside, give you a paper with a number and then you get to go sit in a chair and be called. The people that take your blood do not speak to you. They put a rubber band on your arm and take the blood and tell you “go”.
Socialized medicine is like having a gyno exam at a Dept of Motor Vehicles.
No thanks.
Key West Reader on April 28, 2009 at 6:24 PM
sven:
No, the cost of living today is not just a reflection of government.
I mentioned that I was from Oklahoma, and that dead Grandmother of mine used to talk about the Dust bowl and the Great Depression. They actually went to California for a little while to live in the camps. But back then a quarter was a big deal, a dime meant something. But people were starving for the lack of a quarter.
Today we have things in this world that those people could not have imagined. It is not just about government, it is about technology and consumerism and all sorts of things that were just not that prevalent then.
In other words, a lot of those people did not have to worry about a light bill because in some parts of the country that was no electricity.
I am not a socialist. I am not advocating cradle to grave care. I am not saying that I support Obama. I am saying that people will not tolerate going back 100 years.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 6:25 PM
It’ll only get better Famous….
think about it NO politician would jump to the minority party….a lot of Daily Show addicts are about to grasp that:
1)the donks HAVE been running a large part of the show the last two years
2)they have margins that mean they can and SHOULD in moonbat eyes deliver EVERYTHING promised….
buyer’s remorse 2010/2012 baby
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 6:26 PM
If Obama gets socialized medicine through, it is over. That will bury us.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 6:27 PM
this good for nothing republican party need to get their sh*t together quick. This is outrageous! We are losing our country! We need a conservative revolution, otherwise we are done as surely as I have type this post!
milemarker2020 on April 28, 2009 at 6:29 PM
During the dustbowl era money meant something because it was not devalued…
google BPP and cross index 1919 to today for s**ts and giggles…
again if government were the answer minimum wage would have already worked, there’d never be any monetary based inflation, and the unicorns would bring doctors who were thrilled to work for free….
sadly we ain’t there yet….
“free healthcare” ain’t…
I’ll send you my checkbook and you take just enough to give you the things you are entitled to as an American m’kay?
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 6:29 PM
Also keep in mind its harder to defend a majority than it is to defend a minority. The GOP can focus its money on targeted candidates.
William Amos on April 28, 2009 at 6:30 PM
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