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
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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.”
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Yeah the conservative party never recovered in Canuckistan…oh wait…
Barry may win ‘12 on “1-900-Free_med” but by the time the system starts showing what is in store his very memory will be toxic.
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 6:30 PM
Lindy Johnson pushed through the great society and within 2 years lost the presidency to the GOP and within 12 years lost the senate to the GOP with Reagan.
Things slid downhill so fast that only watergate kept the Dems afloat.
William Amos on April 28, 2009 at 6:32 PM
When asked to comment on Spector, sarah palin replied, “Wasn’t he found guilty of murder last week, anyways?”
benny shakar on April 28, 2009 at 6:34 PM
sven:
There was deflation then. There were farmers losing their farms because they could not come up with a few dollars for property taxes, there was no money. They were burning their corn for fuel, because the corn was worthless and yet people were going hungry.
Who said government was the answer. Once again, all I am saying is that you if you promote the policy of abolishing programs like social security then you will lose. Not just because of old people, but because of the families who would have to support them if their checks stop coming in.
I do think that they need to reform it, like I said, privatize part of it. But people are living longer today and while it is a good goal to be self sufficient always, it is naive to think that everyone can save enough money to live on for years.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 6:34 PM
I bought Specter a gift, I got him a pig from Mexico I hope he likes it a lot.
lavell12 on April 28, 2009 at 6:35 PM
William:
Yes, that is true. I am just hoping that people will look at these huge sums of money and say enough! already.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 6:36 PM
lavell:
That is funny.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 6:37 PM
The unicorn is in the mail….
markets develop for people who do not save as much as they should….not everyone is “entitled” to a 4 bedroom house in their twilight, in fact many should live in efficiencies….
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 6:37 PM
We already have Medicaid and Medicare which is socialized medicine. And, which is a proven, dismal failure. In my world, you clean the sh*t up before you heap more sh*t on the sh*t that’s already made.
/Common Sense Party 2010, 2012
Key West Reader on April 28, 2009 at 6:38 PM
Binny Phil has more integrity than Arlen….
it is your mess now….”enjoy”
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 6:38 PM
Yes, Senator Graham…the problem is you. Throw em all out.
Huckabye-Romney on April 28, 2009 at 6:39 PM
When asked to comment on Spector, sarah palin replied, “Wasn’t he found guilty of murder last week, anyways?”
benny shakar
As much as I hate feeding the trolls, that was appallingly stupid, even for a troll.
SKYFOX on April 28, 2009 at 6:41 PM
sven:
The only unicorn I see here is that one is telling you that promoting the abolition of social security is anything but political suicide.
And who is talking about entitled people? I know working people who live very modestly and within their means, but there is no way they make enough money to put aside tens of thousands of dollars to live on for extended periods of time.
I don’t live in a four bedroom house. This place has 1100 square feet and I drive a 4 year old car, but if I was forced to retire right now, I would starve.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 6:41 PM
It will happen. Term limits are coming. Throw out lifetime pensions for these cronies. Throw out lifetime cronies with little or no acheivements. Audit their political funds and their contributors. Audit their books. Reduce their staff.
Clean this house. And Senate.
Enough.
Key West Reader on April 28, 2009 at 6:41 PM
Why?
Key West Reader on April 28, 2009 at 6:43 PM
KeyWest:
I don’t know if those programs are total failures, I do think they are mismanaged.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 6:43 PM
This turd represents the incompetence and outright SENILITY of the OLD FARTS IN CONGRESS. He outa be escorted to the nursing home.
Cybergeezer on April 28, 2009 at 6:44 PM
fixed
Shay on April 28, 2009 at 6:44 PM
You are a hermit or a liar, no other answer.
The nation provides food for the poor, the nation already has “universal health care” for the poor, the nation has been playing hammock for years now….
if we can’t give everyone everything they want when Barry just spent enough to cut every adult in this nation a check for 30 grand when is “enough”?
Social Security is a Ponzi scheme with the con aka Congress holding the mark hostage using geezers….
end the game and pay off the lost generations and allow partial privitization for anyone under 40.
SS is generational theft.
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 6:44 PM
Aren’t there more redstates than blue states? Then why are there more democratic senators than republican senators? what is wrong with these GOP presidential election voters, turning around and voting democrat when it comes to the senate! It doesn’t make sense, we are to blame for this!
milemarker2020 on April 28, 2009 at 6:44 PM
KeyWest:
Because everyone can’t be rich my dear.
Why do you ask?
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 6:44 PM
evidently there are no churches, food stamps, or charity in TerryE land….
“grim place”…
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 6:45 PM
You are exactly right. So, instead of heaping on more governmental healthcare, wouldn’t it be prudent to examine, audit and clean up the existing socialized health care system before throwing almost a trillion dollars toward the whole pie?
Common sense anyone?
Key West Reader on April 28, 2009 at 6:45 PM
I ask out of concern. I am not rich either. If you live within your means and you are stricken with some sort of disaster, there are programs in place to assist you such as food stamps, medicare, medicaid, SSDI, SSI and the list goes on. Why would you be doomed if you were forced to suddenly retire, and why do you feel that only the rich could survive?
Please, explain because I do not understand your dilemma.
Key West Reader on April 28, 2009 at 6:47 PM
sven:
Oh for Chrisake. Ok. I would not literally starve, I mean I would not have enough money to support myself without some kind of help. That is why I keep working and I will work for as long as I can. I have never ask anyone for anything in my life and I don’t want to unless I simply have no choice.
And once again you are putting words in my mouth. I never said we should give everyone everything they want. I never said I support Obama’s spending, just the opposite.
You on the other hand seem to think there are two choices: all or nothing.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 6:47 PM
All I’ve got to say is super-majority. Now 47% of our country’s populous is completely un-represented in the government. Not good for the country.
JeffVader on April 28, 2009 at 6:49 PM
Key West:
What dilemma?
I was responding to a remark by sven to the effect that if people did not live in 4 bedroom houses blah blah blah..
My point was that even if you do not live in a 4 bedroom house it does not mean that you will have the kind of resources available to not need some sort of help if you suddenly could not work.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 6:50 PM
He is addicted to Mathusian thought evidently…
and buys into the Bush notion that you can somehow “maintain 25% socialism” or something…
I backed Bush but he made several strategic failures:
1) by doing an across the board taxcut he drove the working poor and lower middle to the donks after they forgot the pain democrat taxes were
2) pills for geezers(he never got credit for his “kind hearted socialism” and such never gained him any of the scavenger class
3) going limp when attacked because “I am a war President” drove the moderates away and ceded the field to the Daily Show and other blabbogenzia
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 6:51 PM
we have this thing called “unemployment benefits” of course they have(in theory) a span they cover and then you SHOULD be back to work….
I am looking forward to the democrats embracing a two state solution for America since they have no trouble telling the Israelis to settle for one.
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 6:53 PM
I read this post and the one above. But oblige me for just a moment. I was raised on welfare in NYC. We had free housing, food stamps, AFDC, medicare and the whole nine yards. My dad knew how to hose the system and he did. I grew up knowing what I did NOT want to be.
However, I also know what is available to all Americans (including illegals now). You can get help not only from the government but from private charities. You sound like a very proud and self sufficient person so we’re on the same page.
The issue I raise is that you should not be in fear of starving on the streets or living in a cardboard box unless this is your choice, ala the bums that live in Peace Park in front of the White House lawn.
There are programs available to all, that are already funded. We should not endeavor to throw money down a black hole when we cannot already control the social programs in place and the wasteful spending that has made them unsuccessful.
Does that make sense?
Key West Reader on April 28, 2009 at 6:55 PM
+6,300,000,000,000
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 6:56 PM
Preach on Brother DeMint! Make sure you explain that to Minority Leader McConnell…it might take some time so bring lunch.
Pilgrim on April 28, 2009 at 6:58 PM
Sven:
I am not a He.
And the pills or geezers thing was really tacky. You don’t even know how that program works or what it is. It keeps a lot of people off of medicaid. I tell you what, let’s just let them die if and when they run out of money and then you won’t have to trouble yourself. And someday if you don’t get hit by a truck first you too will be a geezer. And then it will be your turn.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 7:00 PM
Key West:
I am not talking about living in a card board box, when did I ever say that? I said that if I could not work and support myself that I would not have the resources to support myself indefinitely.
I do not support generational welfare, I think it robs people of initiative and hope.
I do not support open ended prgrams without limits either.
My point is that not everyone will be able to be self sufficient lives because they simply do not make enough money to put away enough to live on for years.
Back in the good old days when average life expectancy was relatively short this was not such a big deal, but now that people are living longer it is more difficult for them to survive without some kind of assistance.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 7:05 PM
we are the cause of this. Red state conservatives who vote for democratic senators! we have more red states than blue states and yet there are more democratic senators. Why does Alaska have a democratic senator? Why does North Dakota? And West Virginia has two! Nebraska has one and South Dakota has one. Why? WE ARE GOING TO LOSE OUR COUNTRY AND WE ARE TO BLAME!
milemarker2020 on April 28, 2009 at 7:06 PM
You use the line “enough” as pertains to Barry’s use of money and have no issue with a Republican launching the until this point largest entitlement since the Great Society and not even being able to gain a single point for the GOP with senior citizens for his party come election day due to his inability to wage political trench fighting?
It is “pills for geezers” in my eyes because the AARP et al stayed FIRMLY in the loving embrace of the donks….
I guess if Bush made it totally FREE! for ALL it would be even better….of course where I come from it is immoral I get to pay for Dr. Walter Williams’ meds despite my love for his work….
if it was meant to be “supplemental medicaid” it would have been cheaper to just go ahead and put the rocket to the funding of medicare/medicaid rather than a half butted universal entitlement that will likely be viewed as the harbinger of Obambicare by history….
“change”
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 7:07 PM
Key West Reader, you are making lots of sense!
Carry on and welcome to the Conservative Club and/or the big GOP tent!
Jenfidel on April 28, 2009 at 7:07 PM
Terry, I am not trying to pick on you.
Please look up the term Sovereign Immunity. What that means, is that anytime the Federal, State or Local/Municipal Governments are sued for negligence in tort (civil wrong and includes Medical Malpractice), they have what is called Damage Caps. In my state, you’re capped at $250k.
For years and years, private insurers have lobbied to keep premiums low by enacting tort reform and limiting damages to $500k to $1m in the case of simple malpractice. Of course, this would not include cases of intentional med mal. For years and years, the plaintiff’s lobby has fought tooth and nail against said caps and they have won large jury verdicts for cases that would seem quite negligible.
The question for you is this: Should the democratic party enact socialized medicine without deliberation or serious debate, and if their agenda is enacted: Would they then rightfully invoke their rights Sovereign Immunity and be entitled to the same damage caps that have been fought for already?
Why would you want health care delivered in a DMV type setting vs. a private office where physicians are free to practice medicine with their hearts and minds and with the patient’s well being and the hippocratic oath held firmly in place?
Why would you want to expand a socialized health care plan that has failed our citizens by way of Medicare and Medicaid?
If tort reform was truly pursued, you would see prescription prices decline to levels not seen since the 1980’s.
Key West Reader on April 28, 2009 at 7:09 PM
If not un-represented, we are certainly under-represented!
An excellent point.
We must have more tea parties and a determined effort to retake Congress in 2010.
Plus, we need to press for an honest ACORN-free Census so that we can have more re-districting.
Jenfidel on April 28, 2009 at 7:10 PM
sven:
You have made it perfectly plain that you have no sympathy for bothersome old people who can not afford their meds. Fine, you see them as a burden.
However, since those people were already on Medicare that meant that if they could not afford their meds and they got sick, Medicare picked up the tab, and if it got too big, they went on Medicaid. And that is more money. If they take their meds, and they pay into the program then there is less likelihood of paying for bigger problems.
But then your solutions is simple: screw the geezers.
Fine, make it part of the party platform and see what happens.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 7:11 PM
good for Jim Demint
notagool on April 28, 2009 at 7:13 PM
Terrye, would you give it a rest and put down the crying towel for old people?
We could all tell really sad stories about the sickness and death of our parents and grandparents, but taking care of them is still NOT. THE. PROPER. ROLE. OF. GOVERNMENT.
My dad died suddenly at 44, when I was 10 years old.
And he thought LBJ and Medicare were the greatest thing since sliced bread.
But he was an FDR Democrat.
My fondest wish is that he could have lived a lot longer…and boy, would I have changed him into a Conservative Republican!
Jenfidel on April 28, 2009 at 7:15 PM
Properly crafted with diagrams of what the Ponzi scheme costs and the level of debt on the young and early middle aged are expected to bear to have your nebulous “entitled baseline living standards that are not foodstamps, charity, or churchbased” met I’ll take that bet….
Hope’n'Change will be hip for only as long as Chicago Jesus makes the youth’s brain-washed multi-cultihood hurt but post Ogabe generational theft will likely be a winning argument….
the twenty-somethings get your punchline and KNOW the feds will not being squat for them at ALL.
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 7:16 PM
And the Great Society has never been reversed so whatever satisfaction is gained by a Republican resurgence, it gained nothing.
What will matter if the Republicans, against all odds, regain power? Nothing. We will continue to expand this government. Both parties are serving the same interest, one is just a bit slower than the other in implementation of the interests push for world government.
True_King on April 28, 2009 at 7:16 PM
from Tapper:
Biden always the backstabber: congrats Arlen you are now OWNED by Biden. {collective ewwwwww}
Branch Rickey on April 28, 2009 at 7:17 PM
KeyWest:
I do not support socialized medicine. I do not support Obama’a plan. I never said I did.
I am just making the point that in this world today people are not going to tolerate just letting old people die. It will not happen.
As for health care costs, I work in the health care industry. I know what the costs from the inside out. I understand about paper work, liability costs and all sorts of things. I also understand that health care costs more for several reasons, among those reasons being advances in health care that would not have been imaginable a few decades ago.
I prefer a market approach to health care for working people. I think a lot of people who do not have insurance, probably do not want it so that even if the premiums were lower they would not pay for it.
I am talking here about elderly people who can not work anymore. I know a lot of older people who pay hundreds of dollars a month on supplementals, it is not as if they do not pay for any of their care.
But some people of advanced age and limited means need help. And there will always be people who will not earn the kind of money necessary to pay for all their care for years and years.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 7:18 PM
sven:
Whatever. But by all means in the mean time do Hope and Change a favor and openly and actively lobby for the end of social security. It can only help Obama.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 7:20 PM
Sounds like the situation my parents are in, which is sad.
My mom has a pension that’s completely underfunded. My dad has the same problem.
They’ve worked hard… and it seems to have availed them nothing. I’m scared for the future because of this: I know them well. They’re good people. But it seems that in the future I’ll have to become a ward of the state to get by.
I’m sorry, but I’ll shoot myself before I have to bend over and kiss the ring of the government kings.
But I’d shoot someone else before I shot someone else.
The younger generation is also seeing this, and quickly seeing red. There will be a future revolution simply because of this one fact: the previous generations of government has robbed us of our inheritance of a free nation. When enough of us learn what we could’ve had, a revolt is inevitable.
Chaz706 on April 28, 2009 at 7:24 PM
Yeah, you did.
By claiming that there are people in need who have to depend on the gub’mint for help, you kick open the door for any and all federal programs.
Old people have been dying every day since the beginning of human history…
Bull.
Health care costs more because of government intervention, the predatory health insurance business and lawsuits.
This is a real shame.
But should it be a national problem that we should all pay to correct, even though we’re also trying to pay for our own family’s health care, too?
NO.
Should the government pay for your mortgage? Your health care?
Your light and gas bills? Your groceries? Your clothes? Your furniture?
Where does it stop, if anywhere?
Jenfidel on April 28, 2009 at 7:25 PM
And one more thing about Social Security: It’s a PONZI SCHEME.
Last I checked, those were illegal.
I say get rid of it entirely. Phase it out. Sure, we still have to take care of the people on it, but that’s it!
Chaz706 on April 28, 2009 at 7:25 PM
Chaz:
I intend to work until someone tells me I can’t do it anymore, and even then I will fight it.
I think it is very important for future generations that Obama be stopped. I know people will say Bush was as bad, but that is not even close to true. Obama intends to double the national debt in one term. And that is beyond scary. I hope that I am wrong about that.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 7:27 PM
Chaz:
You can call social security a Ponzi scheme, but it has become a part of the economy over many years and trust me, if they suddenly shut it off, it would not just be the old folks who would feel it. Their families would feel it too.
I think that it will have to reformed radically to survive.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 7:29 PM
Well, as long as “well-meaning” folks like you keep whining about how we all have to pay to take care of sick, old people, Ogabe’s got his “mandate” and will continue the fascistic takeover of as much of the American economy as he can get away with.
Jenfidel on April 28, 2009 at 7:31 PM
Terrye
You are not wrong about that. Unfortunately for all us, which includes all the
youths who bought the impossible dream.
Dhuka on April 28, 2009 at 7:32 PM
Do we even have five of those? This party is retarded. The moderates shouldn’t have the clout but they shouldn’t be kicked out as long as they make it clear that they are moderates. The guys who complained about deficits and being the world’s policeman in the nineties and then proceeded to run deficits and be the world policeman should be booted. How about Steele us this slogan, “The Republican Party: Inhabited by people who still believe our bullsh!t slogans.” As long as it goes down this road, the term WHIG will be obsolete.
LevStrauss on April 28, 2009 at 7:34 PM
S.S. is a Ponzi scheme or worse and Ogabe has *NO* plans to reform it.
Any one who planned to retire on S.S. benefits alone is dumber than they look.
And families will really feel it if the entire economy craters.
Entitlements like S.S. are just the tip of the federal spending iceberg and the American people are on the Titanic.
Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater–it makes no sense to hang onto SS when it’s merely one more federal program that needs to be done away with.
Think of the retirement and medical care people could afford or save for if they didn’t have to give so much of their income to the IRS.
Furthermore, their 401(k) stock portfolios might become lucrative again if Ogabe would stop taking over the private sector and its companies.
Jenfidel on April 28, 2009 at 7:36 PM
Jenfidel:
That is not true. The fact that I don’t think we can just let old people does not mean I support Obama’s plan. To say that it opens a door is just bizarre.
Ror years I have been listening to conservatives talk about the evils of abortion and the sanctity of life and yet you talk about letting old people die with less thought than I would give to stepping on a bug.
And if you think that since old people die everyday, it is okay to refuse to help them..then it follows that we should never help anyone, after all people die every day.
This is exactly why Republicans are in the minority. I have been voting Republican for years and here I am being treated like a communist or socialist or something because I have a sense of common decency. Fine keep that up and the party will just get smaller and smaller.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 7:37 PM
Ogabe just stole GM from the shareholders and gifted 55% of the company to the union….
can’t wait to watch the union thugs shake themselves down for more bennies…
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 7:37 PM
“common decency” and “the war on poverty” have been fought HARD for the last 78 years or so at a cost greater than all our wars combined….
“how’s that working out for us?”
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 7:39 PM
Jenfidel:
You are right, we don’t need to take care of anyone. We should also get rid of the public school system. Interstate highways, whatever, we can just put up toll roads.
I had not thought of myself as well meaning just because I thought it was wrong to give limited help to people who honestly need it.
I thought that was just being decent.
Now I know better.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 7:42 PM
I don’t care what would happen if we reformed and eventually phased out Social Security. None of the potentially bad things that could happen change the fact that Social Security is criminally wrong.
The Stimulus is certainly criminally wrong. The Bailouts are certainly criminal.
I’m fed up with this… I did nothing to deserve this (I voted for the other guy) and I’m slapped with the bill.
Chaz706 on April 28, 2009 at 7:43 PM
I wish to God some of you people at hotair would quit calling people like Specter,Snowe.and Collins Mod.They are Liberal to the core.I,m happy as i can be that this liberal hack is gone.
thmcbb on April 28, 2009 at 7:43 PM
where is the cutoff….”mission creep” has hit as assuredly and with all the designed fury that bracket creep took Federal Income Tax from impacting 1% of the population up to a peak of 92%….?
“Keep the change”
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 7:43 PM
Nice. I hope Pennsylvanians will see the disgrace this human being is, that instead of retiring from his political career, with head held high–power came first. Not God, not family, but thirst of power.
If that is what Dems are loaded of, because I cannot think for the life of me of a good one – a slow, back-to-basics Republican Party that advocates WHAT IS WRITTEN ON THE CONSTITUTION/DECL. OF LIBERTY, I tell ‘em I am not afraid. We were a minority anyways.
Michael Steele has his work cut out for him, talk radio can do so much, and each state has to pluck out the best of the best for ‘10, prep ‘em now like a Mr. Olympia competition.
I miss tea parties, I really do! These last couple of weeks have warranted at least four more reasons to do so. New York, take the lead…Rudy, speak out loud b/c that “excuse” of the WH was the biggest bull I have ever heard coming out of that place.
Let’s see…I have a car. I have a friend that takes it for a ride to take pics. of biggest city next to me. I have a presentation and I need these images. I cannot get a freelancer (or Jesse James) to perform graphics/Photoshop for me. Which is absurd, since I work at a fancy “firm” and there’s tons of engineers who spend hours fooling around with their own emails.
How come I don’t know where my car is, if my friend took it for something I needed done? Out of selflesness and good charity because he wanted to help? Or I told him to, paid him a fee, gas and a memory card for me?
I am sorry, Jumbo jets are kinda hard to miss esp. AF1, on the runway, with heck of a custody, ramp agents, a/t control, paperwork that could have been *faxed* straight to Bloomberg, flight weight and balance, plus all the A/F extras that go into prepping two fighter jets for custody. All in two weeks advance! And sshh, nobody else m u s t know!
The smirk on O’s face told it all. Gave him away. He knew, and it was a nasty prank. My deepest condolences to all the family and friends of those who lost their loved ones at 9/11. Relieve everything again warrants a serious revision of legal matters on this aspect.
BTW, has anybody come on TV supporting this “brilliant” idea?
ProudPalinFan on April 28, 2009 at 7:44 PM
sven:
Oh please. Who said anything about the war on poverty?
I am talking about people who worked for years and years and years and paid their taxes and fought for this country and obeyed its laws and voted like good citizens.
They do not deserve to be treated like a burden or a nuisance just because they got old and sick.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 7:44 PM
I guarantee that Frank Raines and Jamie Gorelick will not go Boorda and will NOT get anything from the donks but a quiet pardon in 4 or 8 years….
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 7:45 PM
This nonsense of running on one ticket and then switching mid term to the other is traitorous. I hope he loses to the Democrat.
Browncoatone on April 28, 2009 at 7:45 PM
Oh please yourself you act as though there is a thin gray panther line that is all that keesp the aged from Grapes of Wrath level poverty and dying in the street and the barest of existences….
the war on poverty and institutionalized socialism all draw from the same bleeding heart well…
I wonder if there is a concept or word that is supposed to define and embody the notion that a group of genetically related individuals are primarily responsible for closing ranks and making sure baseline needs are meant for their body….
some organization with a male and a female involved….
I fancy latin maybe a words descended from the root familia or some anglicized version….?
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 7:48 PM
Not really.
It does kick open the door–you’ve already conceded that it’s the State’s role to intervene if someone is helpless.
That’s the only opening they need.
That’s not what I said.
I said it’s not the government’s responsibility–it’s personal responsibility.
If the government “takes care” of me the way they do people on welfare and in gub’mint housing, I think sickness, suffering and death would be preferable and certainly quicker and by my own decision.
To think that this is the responsibility of the State is Socialist, whether you want to admit it or not.
Take your common decency and put it to work in the private sector, but don’t put the onus on government and by consequence, we, the taxpayers.
For you to want your government to be the ultimate Nanny/Nurse/Doctor/Parent/Caretake is Socialist and Communist.
Face it.
The GOP will do just fine, thanks.
The values we uphold are more decent and compassionate than those of the Democrats–time and their failure to produce results with their programs have shown that.
Jenfidel on April 28, 2009 at 7:48 PM
sven:
So what are you saying? You want to punish some old lady in a nursing home because of mission creep?
There are a lot of families out there who paid into this system for years, they are not parasites, they put money back into the economy and they too pay taxes. every day.
If I thought that being a conservative meant I had to look at these and say screw em, if they die, they die. I don’t give a damn. Then I would not want to be one.
But thank heavens I don’t think that it is really the case. I think most conservatives are better people than that.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 7:49 PM
You’re my newest BFF–love the way you think!
Jenfidel on April 28, 2009 at 7:50 PM
Terrye
I feel your pain. There has always been this “I got mine, so screw everyone else” mentality I find extremely un-kind and un-Christian like in conservatives. There seems to be some sort of rampant unbelief that many hard-working people fall by the wayside or people born of circumstances that created extreme hurdles to minimal success. Or that it might be impossible for most people not to have enormous amounts of money to sit on. There is this strange hang up on money that I don’t understand coming from people that revere Christ.
I was listening to Michael Medved yesterday and he basically said ALL homeless people are crazy, are criminals and need to be institutionalized, not helped. And I was thinking about conversations I had with a friend of mine that worked at a soup kitchen and all the homeless men, women, and children that life just shat on. And some of them worked!
I was on welfare for a while after my father left my mother and didn’t provide any support. My mother got up and worked everyday. I remember we all slept in one bedroom on a mattress on the floor. Money isn’t something that is going to bring me closer to Him and I don’t worship it or the idea of it. So I don’t have this huge hang up on hording it. And I have no problem with my taxes taking care of elderly people that have worked their whole lives or people that need it. I work, its gone before I see it, and I’m still clothed, fed and housed.
Magnus on April 28, 2009 at 7:51 PM
We are, we provide for our own retirements while cheerfully having 15-50% of our income taken away with the threat of gunpoint…
The wife is a soldier and we are or rather WERE funding a Roth IRA that was making good coin back in the day as well as rolling a CD or two….
we nuked the CD because we took two years of borderline negative rates of return thanks to the FED deciding to screw private savers by artificially low insane prime rates to “ease the burden” on morons floating high five figures of debt on a 10,500-22,000 income….
Fannie and Freddie and high gas prices are the ONLY things that MAY have allowed fiscal reason to intervene had the American people not bought into “The Unicorns of Common Decency Hill”….
plan on buying land in Canuckistan and Brazil this year as a hedge.
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 7:54 PM
it can’t be said enough:
So Long Senator Asswhipe Spectre. Don’t let the door hit you in your RINO on your way out!
P.S.
Take Mehgan McTwinkie with you you useless Crapsandwichstimulus voting without reading Mother F*cker.
BillaryMcBush on April 28, 2009 at 7:55 PM
Collins and and Snowe fail to realize that the only reason they won in my state is due to the fact that it’s a choice between liberal Republican or Liberal Democrat. Hell, if we had a conservative Democrat run against them here I’d vote for him/her.
scrubbiedude on April 28, 2009 at 7:55 PM
Of course we’re better people than that! And that’s not what we think.
What we don’t think is “Gee, is there a Big Government solution to this problem? or “Gosh, I’m glad we have Medicare and Medicaid to take care of these people!”
Is everything political to you?
When I’ve had sick and dying relatives, my first thought wasn’t of which government program I could use to help pay for their care.
As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure that it was a Medicare-funded procedure that killed my mother.
She had an operation she probably didn’t need but got because the doctors could get reimbursed by Medicare for doing it.
The stress on her heart from the surgery was the last straw.
Jenfidel on April 28, 2009 at 7:55 PM
Jenfidel:
You are incredibly naive.
No, it does not open up the door. The idea that if you help some old lady buy her insulin then you are a socialist is ridiculous. It is extreme, it is untrue.
I do work in the private sector and public sector as well. I do both. I spend most of my time taking care of cripples, geezers and all manner of people that most of you probably would not want to be in the same room with. I have spent holidays with shut ins. I have held the hands of dying. I don’t talk of this kind of thing as some political argument, I am talking about things I deal with and see every day.
And if you just cut off these programs, people, real people, will suffer and die and you are fooling yourselves if you think they won’t.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 7:55 PM
The GOP Congress with old Slicky willy did roll back its advancement.
Bush and the GOP should have killed it slowly but didnt however.
William Amos on April 28, 2009 at 7:59 PM
Jinfidel:
A big government solution?
I am talking about tens of millions of people, many of whom do not even have families. Some people outlive their families, and if they don’t that does not mean their families will have the resources to pay for all their care. The idea that long term care will get cheap if government gets out is a fantasy.
One reason I don’t have a lot of money, is that I have spent years of my life taking care of people like this and it does not pay that well. No, believe it or not you won’t get rich taking care of people. But someone has to do it, unless we are complete barbarians.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 7:59 PM
Who’s donating to Toomey?
therightwinger on April 28, 2009 at 8:00 PM
My stepfather is 84 yrs old and still works. Not everyday, but most days. If my Mom could find work, she would work too. They are enjoying their money and their life right now, as they should. They worry all the time about whether their (50 yr old, I’m the oldest) children will will be able to survive once they are gone, so they want to keep making money and sending it to us. My brother was out of a job for several months. My Mom helped him and his family. I went thru a divorce recently and my Mom wants to send me money. I won’t let her.
It is their money. My brothers and sisters are doing fine. Our kids are doing fine. Certainly better than my Mom and Dad, and my Stepfather and his wife were doing when they were my age.
These are old people who have been brainwashed by liberals to think that everyone has a hard luck story that deserves sympathy. Everyone deserves a handout. They think it is so terrible that people have to struggle thru wars, hurricanes, medical problems, etc…. when their parents and grandparents had far less Life and Liberty and sure as Hell had a harder time finding Happiness than they did, or than my generation and my children’s generation does. My parents have forgotten how tough it was to grow up in the Great Depression, fight World War II, and win a lasting peace for so many years. They have forgotten why they were put here in the first place. To struggle and overcome adversity. And to keep your complaints about it to yourself. Because the alternative to Life is a helluva lot less desirable.
Can’t afford health care in their old age? Perhaps it is because their body is worn out and failing and NOTHING, except dramatically huge expenses and medical technology, used at the expense of someone younger who might need it, will fix what ails them. So let’s destroy embryos so that old people can have a chance to live five years longer. Lets spend ten times what we need to spend so we, as old people, can live ten yrs longer to make sure our children have the privilege of worrying and suffering to make us comfortable that next ten years.
Life is a struggle. You came into it alone and naked. Your parents raised you for 18 or 21 yrs and then you were on your own. You will go out of it old, alone and naked. Happiness is not assured, not guaranteed, and is not a normal part of the human condition unless you LEARN to accept Life as it is found. If you wake up breathing ANY DAY of the week, you are lucky to be alive. If you don’t, then you need to understand that was what Life was all about, and quit harping on your quality of Life at the expense of your kids or their kids. Each generation MUST take care of itself.
When your time is up, go gracefully, as every one of my ancestors has done. When the End is near, accept it, embrace it, and go out in a blaze of glory, with nary a whimper, and with a smile on your face because all your troubles will soon be over. The Lord has a better place for me anyway.
Terrye, I admire your desire to help others. But they don’t have a right to a long life. No one does. It is a struggle till the last breath. When that time is here, Go Gracefully.
Subsunk
Subsunk on April 28, 2009 at 8:00 PM
You are the naive one, and yes, for the last time, it kicks open the Socialist door.
I thought you used to tell people in blog comment sections that you worked on some kind of farm….
Well, more people will suffer and die under the Ogabe economy, especially if he gets Socialized medicine and nationalizes 1/6 or more of the private sector.
What you’re talking about should be the responsibility of a person’s family or their church or synagogue or another charity like Visiting Nurses or Meals on Wheels.
It’s not the Government’s responsibility.
How much simpler can I put it?
Jenfidel on April 28, 2009 at 8:02 PM
Gerontology actually pays well last I heard from my cousin…
there is NOTHING barbaric in saying “hey let’s use the programs we’ve got and try not to spend an extra 3 years of budgets in a 100 days”….
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 8:03 PM
VIVA, DEMINT!
Specter: Bye, bye!
That’s one down and…. (how many to go?)
Let’s make a list.
I would much rather find the base of real conservatism, and start from there. Let’s just weed out the phonies and rebuild as a conservative party.
All this pandering to the so-called “moderates” in the GOP. Who needs more RINOs who are Dems in GOP clothing.
Also: Any GOP leadership that was truly “surprised” by Specter’s move – They need to go too.
seanrobins on April 28, 2009 at 8:05 PM
+1,000!
Jenfidel on April 28, 2009 at 8:05 PM
Sure, but in the meantime beaches have life guards and it is human nature to help those in need. More should be done privately and fostering strong families that support each other across generations is a key to cultural success.
dedalus on April 28, 2009 at 8:08 PM
I’ve lifeguarded…the problem is Donk Beach has a director that kills babies who could otherwise support the aged and has sold the notion that the magic banking unicorns can take care of all your family duties for free….so take that extra cruise to Cancun Gramps and Nan are your neighbors’ look out not you their first born sons’….
1890s America>2000s America on morals and freedom
sven10077 on April 28, 2009 at 8:10 PM
Sure it does. It opens the door. Opening the door is not the problem. The roblem is where does it end… and so long as the answer is: It never ends…. then that’s a problem.
And you need to be able to answer the $50trillion question: SHOW ME WHERE IN THE CONSTITUTION THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAS THE AUTHORITY TO ENGAGE IN ANY OF THIS???
It does not have the authority.
If people want to engage in charity, then it should be done personally, and through State Government, not federal government. At the state level, states can do as much as their own constitutions will bear, and then the cost is borne by the people of that state…. not all of us.
This way, states and people will spend only what’s really necessary, for only what they really want, and only as much as can be afforded. When the feds are involved in deciding how to spend all our money, we get fiscally raped day in and day out.
So what’s wrong with the people of the little old lady’s own state helping her out with her meds… rather then the entire freakin’ country?
Don’t be a thief! Spend your own money. (Speaking state-wise, that is…..)
seanrobins on April 28, 2009 at 8:11 PM
I think every has a right to life and the right to a long healthy life. And I feel those that have are obligated to provide for those that don’t. And I believe those that received from those that had and gain themselves are then obligated to do the same. Probably why I don’t mind welfare and social security. It fed and housed me as a child.
I have a problem with irresponsible people, but I’m also not that naive that I don’t realize that there are people who are actually disadvantage don’t exist.
This conversation reminds me about the uproar over the charitable tax write-off reduction. I mean if someone is giving to Charity and pissing about a tax write-off and threatens to give less because they can’t right it off theyare only doing it for selfish gain.
Magnus on April 28, 2009 at 8:13 PM
me for one………
as a philadelphian, I am soooo glad to see that POS arlen specter go!
seanrobins on April 28, 2009 at 8:13 PM
Good point dedalus
Magnus on April 28, 2009 at 8:14 PM
Everyone in PENN, and even those outside need to donate to Toomey. Seems like a guy ALL conservatives and Republicans should be able to get behind.
therightwinger on April 28, 2009 at 8:14 PM
Bahahahahaha…yesssssssssssss!!!!! Man I was waiting for this . 60! Its all over folks, we are in full control now.
Terry Silver on April 28, 2009 at 8:15 PM
…”to further his own personal political interests…”
…and folks are giving Mike Steele a hard time for having a bit of a tin ear…good on ya, Mike…you got it in one. If you’d've ramped it up by using the words “shamelessly” before “left-wing voting record”, and have brought the whole “maverick” thing into play, you’d've been even closer to the mark…you can’t have a team of “mavericks”…no teamwork…no results….
…in your left eye, Mr. John “I-fall-on-my-face-while-standing-on-prinicple” McCain!
Specter’s not a Judas. He’s self-serving, self-fascinated, apparently devoid of priciples…but isn’t a Judas. Judas betrayed the Christ and the greater good resulted. To call him a Judas is an insult to Iscariots everywhere.
…the ship must be sinking…a mammoth-sized rat just squeezed his porky butt through a port-hole…swim, Mr. Specter, swim….
Puritan1648 on April 28, 2009 at 8:15 PM
Switch hitter.
Jerricho68 on April 28, 2009 at 8:15 PM
Man, the commentary here is amazing. The GOP is gone, they sold their souls to the government devil and now the nation is in serious peril because of them.
There is no turning back, the die is cast, the judgement has been passed and we as a nation must suffer the consequences.
There won’t be a turnaround until there is a collapse. Once everyone here wakes up to the real threat economic slavery we can move forward, nothing until then.
The GOP has conceded every liberal point, the proof is in how they governed when in power. They betrayed everyone on this board, yet everyone is going back to them for another knife in the back. Not sure what’s it’s going to take for those that fish out of the right side of the ship to wake up.
True_King on April 28, 2009 at 8:16 PM
How Arlen Specter helped a murderer skip bail.NRO
http://www.nationalreview.com/miller/miller200404080822.asp
Jerricho68 on April 28, 2009 at 8:18 PM
Nope.
They’re doing it because the write-off makes it more affordable.
When you’re paying less in taxes, you can give a lot more to charity.
Before 1913, when the Income Tax was instituted, Americans gave a whole lot more to charity and there was no need for federal programs like Social Security and Medicare.
(BTW, Social Security was never set up to be funded beyond the duration of the Great Depression and FDR’s 4 terms in the first place and the average life span wasn’t much beyond 65, either.)
Jenfidel on April 28, 2009 at 8:19 PM
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