Limbaugh to Specter: Do me a favor and take the McCains with you
posted at 4:46 pm on April 28, 2009 by Allahpundit
The quote’s slightly ambiguous but I think we can safely assume this is Rush’s own view, as it seems to reflect grassroots sentiment on Twitter and elsewhere. With the filibuster gone, there’s nothing left to lose. Purge ‘em all!
“A lot of people say, ‘Well, Specter, take [Sen. John] McCain with you. And his daughter [Meghan]. Take McCain and his daughter with you if you’re gonna…” he told listeners, dissolving in laughter.
“…..It’s ultimately good. You’re weeding out people who aren’t really Republicans,” he said.
Limbaugh did concede the downside of Specter’s defection. “It makes the Senate essentially as big a slam dunk for Obama and the Democrats as the House of Representatives already is,” he said.
McCain, Snowe, Collins, Grahamnesty: There are easily another five or six who could be “weeded out.” Of course, the bigger the Democrats’ advantage in seats, the longer it’ll take to recover the filibuster, let alone a majority. How long are you willing to wait for a backlash to Great Society II to sweep conservatism back to power? Bear in mind that the programs they pass while not even having to make minor concessions — health-care and amnesty, to name just two — won’t be un-doable once the GOP’s back in control, so every day we’re in the minority is one day closer to a permanent European model.
Here’s Benedict Arlen’s presser while you mull. This is a “painful decision” for him, blah blah blah. Pay attention especially to his surprising candor about how heavily the polls showing Toomey beating him like a drum weighed in his decision. At around 8:20, he all but admits that he made the switch to save his own ass after his internal polling last week showed he was finish. A true man of principle.
Update: Rock bottom for the GOP:
What’s notable about the Republican collapse is not simply its depth but its velocity. It was just a few years ago, in the wake of George W. Bush’s reelection, that books were being written on whether Republicans had acquired a virtually unbreakable hold on the levers of political power. After 2004, Republicans held a ten-vote advantage in the Senate.
The last time a political party suffered such grievous losses in the Senate during a compressed period was from 1976-1980, when the Democrats went from a post-Watergate high of 61 seats after Carter’s first election, to 45 seats as Ronald Reagan came in. The numbers are almost perfectly reversed: in the last four years, the Democrats have gone from a 45-55 deficit in the Senate after Bush’s reelection to 60 seats (or 59 with an asterisk) today.
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That’s what I say; purge em all. It’d be easier to remake the republican party into what it should be rather than create a third party and continuously hand the liberalsucks victories forever. It’s bad enough the clown KKKarvil thinks the libtards will be in power for 40 years. The WOULD be if people like Specter were allowed to affiliate themselves with the republican party and get away with it.
The republican party is supposed to be the home to conservatism. Rather than bastardize itself in an attempt to get the BIG TENT votes, it should take the reverse approach. Advertise conservative ideals and those moderates that have conservative values they believe in will abandon the socialist fascist marxist libtard rejects, and their oppressive tenure will come to an end, or at least get balanced out.
McCaintards, Spectertards are the epic fail. Conservatism is what it is, either republicans own it and stick to it, or they are history and so is the USA.
Spiritk9 on April 28, 2009 at 5:29 PM
DIET, sorry.
Del Dolemonte on April 28, 2009 at 5:30 PM
I could live with that.
carbon_footprint on April 28, 2009 at 5:32 PM
McCain and Graham can stay because they’re useful on fiscal and defense votes. However, the Maine sisters can go join their bestie Arlen in the Democrat party. This is all about fiscal issues and nothing about social issues.
Illinidiva on April 28, 2009 at 5:32 PM
-
aka… I was gonna lose bad, so I became a traitor and switched sides, officially. So there.
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RalphyBoy on April 28, 2009 at 5:33 PM
Get rid of all these week-kneed traitorous slime balls. Because it isn’t about having votes for the GOP now. Its about the stains on their souls when the revolution comes. We the people will be far more favorable if they become a lean party of opposition and conservatism instead a big tent full of party crashers and traitors.
chicagojedi on April 28, 2009 at 5:34 PM
Purge them all. If Americans are so stupid that they will continue to vote Democrat after the disaster Obama and co. are about to put us through, then it won’t matter anyways.
WisCon on April 28, 2009 at 5:35 PM
In most other advanced democracies, conservatism is a natural minority. The United States (and to a lesser extent, the other Anglo-American child nations such as Australia, Canada, etc) was the main exception.
Most of the time, in most advanced democracies, elections are fought between a bunch of left wing parties while the conservatives are mostly frozen out. Granted, the parliamentary system that is used by most democracies leads to this problem, but conservative parties tend to only become ascendant when there are true crises.
My worry is that we are seeing the slide of the United States into one of these liberal democracies where the population has been manipulated so that it is literally impossible for left wing politicians to lose.
It’s very easy to do: Make 1/3 of the population employed directly by the government, make 1/3 of the population dependent on government services for survival, and then leech the productive 1/3 of all revenue to fund the other 2/3. This is exactly what occurs in most advanced liberal democracies in countries like Spain, France, Italy, and (to a lesser extent) Germany.
I wonder if our children will know what they’ve lost, when they get used to chronic double digit unemployment, rationed medical services, and a choice of people to vote for that range from liberal to really liberal?
Tabris on April 28, 2009 at 5:35 PM
McCain is way too tough on national security and pro life to become a Democrat, he isn’t a conservative but isn’t a far left loone either.
lavell12 on April 28, 2009 at 5:36 PM
Conservative principles only change for ambition and perversion is what has taken this country down a very ugly path.
Speakup on April 28, 2009 at 5:36 PM
Thought I saw that part of Traitor Arlen’s reason for switching was Obama promised to campaign for him next year.
Didn’t Arlen know all Obama promises come with an expiration date?
This one expires right after the next big grab gets passed.
Mew
acat on April 28, 2009 at 5:36 PM
Don’t you think border security is an important defense issue?
WisCon on April 28, 2009 at 5:36 PM
Check out the ‘tolerant’ comments on CNN, not very politically correct there Lefties.
Don’t forget Snowe and Collins, hell, give ‘em Arnold too, if he can un-seat Boxer.
sleepneat on April 28, 2009 at 5:37 PM
McCain is way too tough on national security and pro life to become a Democrat, he isn’t a conservative but isn’t a far left loone either.
lavell12 on April 28, 2009 at 5:36 PM
——-
Dems used to be strong on defense, back before Viet Nam.
McCain, Zell Miller, Joe Lieberman. All of similar mind on defense.
Mew
acat on April 28, 2009 at 5:37 PM
Tabris on April 28, 2009 at 5:35 PM
—–
Keep in mind, Tabris, that one of the reasons the Euros and Japanese have been able to thrive has been the U.S. Taxpayer covering their national defense tab.
Mew
acat on April 28, 2009 at 5:38 PM
40 seats? Make that 36. Get rid of McCain; Graham; Collins and Snowe. Clean house once and for all!
RMR on April 28, 2009 at 5:39 PM
McCain, Snowe, Collins and Graham ought to go with him.
scooterbarks on April 28, 2009 at 5:40 PM
But isn’t that the utopia they are killing everyone to achieve?
Spiritk9 on April 28, 2009 at 5:43 PM
I couldn’t get past the first 30 seconds of that crapweasel talking about how the “Republican Party has moved farther and farther right…”
He is a perfect example of a Washington pol; his biggest fear is losing his seat — everything else is negotiable. Everything else.
What a POS.
cruadin on April 28, 2009 at 5:44 PM
Founding Fathers actualy knew about this…
The House… the Peoples House, is designed to be fairly Liberal… to do the whims of the masses, which can be swayed by Charisma and Rhetoric…
The Senate, which were direct representatives of the STATES, was designed to be a Conservative brake on the Peoples Houses Liberalism…
Problem is that in the early 1900s, the “Progresives” (who brought you such wonderful things as the Fed Res Bank, Prohibition, and the IRS) had enough power to make the Senate into another peoples house….
We pretty much screwed up a good plan by tinkering with it.
Romeo13 on April 28, 2009 at 5:45 PM
Founding Fathers actualy knew about this…
The House… the Peoples House, is designed to be fairly Liberal… to do the whims of the masses, which can be swayed by Charisma and Rhetoric…
The Senate, which were direct representatives of the STATES, was designed to be a Conservative brake on the Peoples Houses Liberalism…
Problem is that in the early 1900s, the “Progresives” (who brought you such wonderful things as the Fed Res Bank, Prohibition, and the IRS) had enough power to make the Senate into another peoples house….
We pretty much screwed up a good plan by tinkering with it.
Romeo13 on April 28, 2009 at 5:46 PM
Pres. Bush has set back conservatism for years. His reckless spending and bipartisanship have seriously damaged the party. The majority of Republican pols sat back and allowed it to happen. A conservative party will tell voters that Pres. Bush helped contribute to the problems we are in now. A conservative party will tell people that the Republican party let us and the American people down by just blindly supporting a Republican in the White House.
kongzilla on April 28, 2009 at 5:47 PM
We WILL undo the damage to this nation by the left.
We WILL undo the mentality of dependence on the government.
We WILL undo the sentiment of hatred for this nation.
And if the left doesn’t like it, they can move to Mexico, where the healthcare is free… and so is the swine flu.
madmonkphotog on April 28, 2009 at 5:47 PM
We WILL undo the damage to this nation by the left.
We WILL undo the mentality of dependence on the government.
We WILL undo the sentiment of hatred for this nation.
And if the left doesn’t like it, they can move to Mexico, where the healthcare is free… and so is the swine flu.
madmonkphotog on April 28, 2009 at 5:48 PM
Doc M, isn’t the Modern Whig Party made up of moderates? I can’t see too many fired-up conservatives signing on for more of that sort of thing.
RandyChandler on April 28, 2009 at 5:52 PM
Most of those European socialist utopias only worked as long as they have because America was there to defend them, and provide the innovations that powered their economy. Every national health care system in the world is handing out drugs researched in America. And even at that, they were already teetering on the brink of collapse. Decades of socialist stasis have produced commoners that don’t do much of anything except collect benefits and complain about everything they still have to do for themselves, elites that don’t do much of anything except give each other awards for their enlightened wisdom, and an imported underclass that doesn’t do much except threaten to blow things up… and frequently makes good on the threats.
The collapse of American socialism will come quickly, because we have no one to lean on, and a population that will not “get used” to the sorry state of affairs you described. The American socialists will get to watch their European betters collapse first, to bankruptcy or conquest. I only hope more people read descriptions like the one you provided, and decide they’d rather not collapse all the way into becoming Frenchmen before they throw their energy into supporting alternatives.
Doctor Zero on April 28, 2009 at 5:53 PM
If the United States continues down the path of stagnant, European-style socialism, everything comes crashing down. Our prosperity and (still) relatively free economy props up socialist nations. Take us out of the equation and Europe would quickly collapse under the weight of their bloated bureaucracies. There will be no more producers left, only moochers.
And to be honest, the only way I can see us returning to Constitutional government is through a financial meltdown. Government checks need to start bouncing en masse before we as a nation finally call into question the wisdom of allowing Washington to be the Guarantor of Everything.
Imagine the undertaking of extracting the federal government from industry, rolling back and phasing out government entitlements, shutting down wasteful and unnecessary departments. There is too much power and money concentrated in Washington to hope for real change from within, especially now that we have a Democratic majority already making attempts to solidify their power independent of the will of the voters.
TheMightyMonarch on April 28, 2009 at 6:04 PM
John McCain is just a JFK Democrat who came out of captivity when all the JFK Democrats were extinct. Thats why he became a Republican.
Speedwagon82 on April 28, 2009 at 6:04 PM
You said it better than I did. =)
TheMightyMonarch on April 28, 2009 at 6:05 PM
“Of course, the bigger the Democrats’ advantage in seats, the longer it’ll take to recover the filibuster, let alone a majority.”
I doubt this sentence. Instead, the bigger the advantage, the quicker they will hoist themselves by their own socialist petard. Let’s purge the witches of Maine and Graham at least.
Kevin M on April 28, 2009 at 6:11 PM
McCain will not win re-election.
Knucklehead on April 28, 2009 at 6:13 PM
I wasn’t initially for McCain, but he grew on me. I was actually pretty revved up when he gave the speech at the convention and asked us to stand up and fight with him. His views on immigration are awful. The two senators from Maine allowed Obama’s supposed “stimulus” to pass. Throw them out on their a$%es and give them a bus ticket north.
TXMomof3 on April 28, 2009 at 6:21 PM
The Republicans need to stand on principles not personalities. The votes will not change that much, or at all, when and if the moderates leave the Party. Look at the votes already taken the past 45-6 months. An alternative to the Dems is needed. The Big Tent only works if the politicians elected VOTE with the Party.
Listening to Snowe and Graham reminds me that they believe the Senate is just another Club. OK.
Time to rotate the crops.
Randy
williars on April 28, 2009 at 6:22 PM
McCain & Graham can hold hands as they walk the plank back to civilian life. We know we can’t count on Snowe & Collins, but please don’t call them moderates. Spector just changed his colors much the same as pirates of old when they struck a national flag for the skull & crossbones. The sooner the fear of not being reelected is put in a lot of these so called Republicans the better.
Kissmygrits on April 28, 2009 at 6:39 PM
Doctor Zero and TheMightyMonarch: Both your comments were terrific!
Rush is always right, BTW!
I, too, wish McSpecter would take the McCains, father and daughter, with him!
Jenfidel on April 28, 2009 at 6:41 PM
AMF! Not only take McCain, but Collins, Snowe and Grahamnesty with you. I say again, AMF!
jwp1964 on April 28, 2009 at 6:41 PM
I’d rather have a party, a candidate, or an officer lose on principle than win by abandoning principle.
Take the lib republicans with you… But they’r not enough. We have a GOP chairman who doesn’t have the balls to realize this: take him too.
We need senators willing to fight, or they’ll simply be hanged along with the traitorous ones for aiding and abetting the enemy when the revolution comes. Not as perpetrators mind you, but as accomplices for simply having the neglect to do their duty.
Chaz706 on April 28, 2009 at 7:06 PM
The filibuster is NOT dead. Senate Republicans just can’t do it by themselves–they need to reach out to red-state or purple-state Democrats (especially those up for re-election in 2010) to put the brakes on leftist legislation. Nelson (D-NE), Landrieu (D-LA), Lincoln and Pryor (D-AR), Webb (D-VA), and Baucus (D-MT) might be swayed to support a filibuster on some issues.
It’s true that some of the red-state Democrats will cave to the party line without too many concessions. But Senate Republicans do need to work with them, as much as possible.
It’s also time for the NRSC to get to work on recruiting solid conservative candidates to challenge incumbent Democrats in states up for re-election. We need to talk about fiscal restraint, support for the military, judges, energy development, and social issues. Find candidates that have already been elected statewide, such as Governors, Attorneys General, and other statewide office-holders, or Majority or Minority Leaders from state legislatures, or big-city mayors who can draw urban voters. But they need to be able to EXPLAIN conservative principles to the voters, and WHY they work.
Steve Z on April 28, 2009 at 7:09 PM
Just wanted to make sure we understand the breadth of the corruption in Washington. Both parties are equally corrupt.
True_King on April 28, 2009 at 7:13 PM
*banging on monitor*
GET ME THE HECK OUTTA PENNSYLVANIAAAAA!!!*
ProudPalinFan on April 28, 2009 at 7:15 PM
As long as the economy continues to suck and Americans continue to lose jobs, the House won’t be willing to touch an amnesty bill. The idea wasn’t popular when the economy was good, and it’s even less popular now. Since most economists are predicting that job losses will continue into spring of 2010 (at least), we probably have at least another year before we have to start beating back the amnesty beast again.
AZCoyote on April 28, 2009 at 7:15 PM
They would have thrived anyway. All the US’s defense subsidies do is pay for welfare states which are ultimately very damaging.
aengus on April 28, 2009 at 7:26 PM
I would like to know why their health care legislation won’t be “un-doable”. A real conservative majority would have no problem cutting out the leftist health care plan that by then will be financially unsustainable anyhow. I think that their health care plan will have to go when we can’t pay the expensive health care bill that they created.
In answer to you’re first question, I am willing to wait as long as it takes because sucking up to liberal ideas just to get a few concessions will keep us in a permanent minority status letting democrats claim bipartisanship on their socialist agenda while we share the blame as each plan morphs into unpopular failures
Dollayo on April 28, 2009 at 7:36 PM
Republicans tried the McCain “moderate” path and lost the Presidency in an electoral landslide and even more seats in Congress. If you are sick and take a certain type of medicine and you get even sicker, do you think it would be a good idea to keep taking that medicine or at least try something else, particularly if that something else had worked very well in the past? The right answer seems pretty clear to me.
MB4 on April 28, 2009 at 7:37 PM
This coming from someone who calls himself “starfleet_dude”.
Captain, Captain! I think the transporter is malfunctioning again!
- Scotty
MB4 on April 28, 2009 at 7:42 PM
The chatter about the shrinking Republican Party and how more people identify themselves as Democrats than Republicans strikes me as so much B.S. A conservative isn’t a conservative because they want to be in power, or popular, or with the “cool” set. I will die a conservative. It won’t matter to me if I am the last one on earth. It is a matter of principle, not a fad.
Star20 on April 28, 2009 at 7:48 PM
He’s slim and trim in comparison to the “Icon/Lion” of your party. Less of a lady killer though, I will grant you that, if you catch my wave.
MB4 on April 28, 2009 at 7:48 PM
You know, what’s interesting here, historically speaking, is if you look at the two most prosperous decades of the 20th century, they have something in common: low taxes, pro-business, small government. That would be the Harding-Coolidge Roaring 20s and the Reagan 80s. Both decades led by TRUE conservatives, not the Rockefeller Country Club liberal Republicans like Nixon and the Bushes. And yet, we keep getting told we must have a bigger tent, be more liberal to get votes. Stupid, stupid, stupid. We ran moderate McCain, thanks to those states with the stupid open primaries where Dems went in and voted for him to sabotage us–and still Steele is doing nothing to repair THAT problem, is he? We don’t need a bigger tent–we need real primaries so that real Republicans can pick a real conservative candidate. Reagan was the last time that happened–and I might add, the media didn’t like him, either.
Special K on April 28, 2009 at 8:04 PM
Uh…excuse me, but I haven’t seen any comments about the Dem primary in Penn. Democrats hate this asshole, too. Don’t you think someone is going to run against him from the left?
Jaibones on April 28, 2009 at 8:08 PM
He’s a piece of crap. He’s always been a piece of crap. He will die a piece of crap. These creatures that inhabit the disgusting dunghole that the U.S. Senate is think of only thing at all times; what’s my take?
mr1216 on April 28, 2009 at 8:14 PM
Limbaugh can be brilliant, but today he was stupid & reactionary. McCain is an asset to the GOP. Yes, he occasionally votes the wrong way, but he’s usually conservative.
My general thoughts on Rush:
http://jgapinoy.blogspot.com/2009/03/rush-is-rightrush-is-wrong.html
jgapinoy on April 28, 2009 at 8:22 PM
You don’t build a party by kicking out everyone who isn’t perfect.
jgapinoy on April 28, 2009 at 8:23 PM
I had to laugh when I heard this old meek man describe himself as full of vigor, and vitality. What was even funnier was his attempt to explain his vote on the stimulus vote. The idea that the stimulus bill saved America from a 1929 depression is a complete fantasy. In truth, if Specter had held out for some republican concessions the stimulus bill would have been more effective than it ended up being. His vote with the democrats actually elevated partisanship by shutting republicans out of any influence on the largest spending bill in our country’s history. I don’t care what this old man runs as, I think we can beat him. Give to Toomey and lets put a real republican in office instead of this phony one. —> http://www.toomeyforsenate.com/
Dollayo on April 28, 2009 at 8:26 PM
Yeah, cause we can’t find enough war-hero who are pro-Amnesty and run so lukewarm on the issues they end up throwing away the Presidency…
E L Frederick (Sniper One) on April 28, 2009 at 8:31 PM
Let’s kick everybody out of the party! That will make our eventual victory (sometime in 2900) even more glorious!
Brainster on April 28, 2009 at 8:43 PM
And just think: the SAME PEOPLE who helped bring this collapse about keep insisting the problem is the Republican Party is STILL TOO CONSERVATIVE. We have to get the CONSERVATIVES OUT OF THIS PARTY.
We are not falling for this BS any longer, sorry.
manofaiki on April 28, 2009 at 8:47 PM
I few things on Rush. Rush has only one cause and that is his show. He is not trying to get people elected or even advance a conservative cause. He tells you what he thinks and tries to convince listeners that his analysis is correct but it doesn’t really go beyond that. If politicians want to attach themselves to him and his audience that is up to them but they shouldn’t expect Rush to do anything to get them elected because that is not his business. His business is to make his show successful, period. He makes fun of liberals and their ideas to be provocative and to promote himself and his show. Also, I personally don’t think that addiction is a personal failure but rather a right to all in the name of liberty.
Dollayo on April 28, 2009 at 9:10 PM
Got to disagree with this.
Rush is out to advance the cause of Conservatism and says so frequently on his show.
I should know: I’ve listened to him every day for 16 years.
Jenfidel on April 28, 2009 at 9:46 PM
Funny how the GOP is at rock-bottom, and yet they’re still responsible for everything.
Jim Treacher on April 28, 2009 at 10:07 PM
I am not that bothered by Specter going, except for the whole filibuster issue. But I am getting tired of this constant blood letting. I think it is ridiculous to constantly tie McCain to everything his grown daughter does, it is perverse and something that would not be done to the likes of Reagan or Buckley. Just a cheap shot.
And I also think the purge needs to end. If they keep it up, the GOP won’t come back. They will have alienated so many people and made it so hard for such large sectors of the population to support them that Democrats will just run right over them.
This needs to stop.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 10:13 PM
Jinfidel:
Rush is out to make money, get ratings, and increase his profile and influence.
I agree with Rush more often than not, but this is no time to give people ulimatums, not unless you are prepared for them to take them. If you tell people my way or the highway, do not be surprised if they take the highway.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 10:15 PM
Sniper one:
McCain has served his country for many years, you don’t have to like him, but he deserves better than ridicule.
If you get rid of him, then in all probability it will just be another loss and another Democrat pick up.
What are we shooting for here? 90/10?
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 10:18 PM
Of course what the pundits are ignoring (including the resident moron here) is that “events” will dictate the future course of the nation.
It is clear that big government is unsustainable financially. It won’t matter who supports it or not, the era of big government will end because we have run out of other people’s money. The coming financial collapse of Europe will make that obvious.
In terms of national defense, it is becoming obvious that rogue nations and even major powers like China will not change their ways based on soaring rhetoric.
As for social issues, people tend to turn to faith during trying times, and people are seeing the horrible consequences of immoral behavior. They will support a return to traditional values.
3 legged stool restored. Call me nuts, but I see the current trend as the last gasp of the 1960′s radicals. Their last pages are being written as Obama recycles old, failed ideas from the past. Even the MSM will not be able to ignore his failures.
echosyst on April 28, 2009 at 10:20 PM
And that is precisely why weeding these people out is important. We don’t get their votes anyway. With them out, we can work on replacing them in the Senate with real conservatives and conservative principles.
seanrobins on April 28, 2009 at 10:27 PM
seanrobins:
I don’t like Specter and will not mourn his leaving, but if you run off all the moderates and make sure that moderate voters out there and people who consider themselves center right rather than right do not have a place in the party, you will turn the GOP into a permanent minority. That will not be a good thing.
I think there is some common ground with a lot of moderates. In fact I think that some blue dogs might even be tempted to vote with Republicans if you make fiscal responsibility a central issue.
Terrye on April 28, 2009 at 10:35 PM
I heartily agree. Frequently I hear and read of others saying how some things will go too far and there will be no return.
This IS our country.
We WILL take it back.
NEVER AGAIN!
Blacksmith8 on April 28, 2009 at 10:37 PM
Some folks seem to think a person can get kicked out of the party, ain’t so. If you get enough republicans to sign your ballot petition, and get elected, there’s nothing the RNC can do about it. Or anyone who goes to the town clerk and asks to be registered as a republican, Ted Kennedy can register tomorrow as a R, boom he’s an R, and there’s nothing that can be done about it.
I’d love nothing more than to kick the RINOs out (and I include Ron Paul in that category) but currently there’s no way to do so. I’ll add it’s HIGHLY unfair to blame the party for the RINOs, since they cannot be forced out.
Rebar on April 28, 2009 at 11:28 PM
But you can build a party by kicking out all those for whom perfection is a daydream similar to AP getting a date with Miss California.
platypus on April 28, 2009 at 11:41 PM
Pretty soon we’re going to get reports of the corruption this douche has been involved in. He is a democrat don’t cha know.
csdeven on April 28, 2009 at 11:47 PM
We aren’t building a party. We’re purging one. And if it doesn’t work, we’ll start a new one and the RINO’s will cease to exist anyway.
csdeven on April 28, 2009 at 11:49 PM
Fair enough, but my point is that he does not seek out a political party to bring about conservative change within our government. In fact, it is conservative politicians, or those who want to be identified as conservatives, who contact him. They want to identify with him and not the other way around. Rush cares about building his audience, his influence, and his profitability. I believe him when he says he doesn’t care about his unfavorable ratings because he is not running for anything. His profitability doesn’t depend on those people who strongly disagree with him, in fact, it might even be helped by them. All Rush does is give his opinion and advice on what he thinks, but make no mistake, Rush does only what he thinks will build his show and make it more profitable.
Dollayo on April 28, 2009 at 11:52 PM
I truly have no idea what you’re talking about.
No one gave Specter an ultimatum and no one is giving you one, either.
It’s still a relatively free country and you’re at liberty to choose whichever party you want or no party, if that be the case.
Specter’s leaving was voluntary and not the result of any “purge.”
Jenfidel on April 29, 2009 at 1:52 AM
Republicans have always stood for fiscal responsibility–lower taxes and smaller government–but I can’t believe that’s what you have in mind when you’ve argued for 10 pages on another thread that we should all want to pay taxes to pay for every old person’s care and medicine who can’t afford their own.
You can never have fiscal responsibility if you expect the federal government to have an open checkbook ready to pay for all the nation’s elderly and their end-of-life needs.
And no-one has run off McSpecter; he took his leave by choice.
The GOP has a big tent, but we don’t want folks like Meghan McCain forcing same sex marriage down our throats as the price of her membership.
As for her father, who knows what party he belongs to, except the McCain Party.
Jenfidel on April 29, 2009 at 2:30 AM
Rush likes the good ratings and enjoys the money, but he’s already made more money than he can spend in his lifetime.
(He signed a $400 million contract last year, with $100 million up front.)
His goal, as he states it from time to time, is to change every Liberal in this country into a Conservative that agrees with him.
Jenfidel on April 29, 2009 at 2:33 AM
Seriously, Specter had no reason to remain in the GOP. Quite literally, there were several Democrats with more support for GOP policies that him.
And lay off McCain. He wants to win the war on terror, despises earmarks/pork, and is pro-life. Shouldn’t that be enough to get in the big tent? The democrats hate him for daring to oppose their God in an election.
If you want to reshuffle things further, call me when the democratic party isn’t more interested in protecting a terrorist than a fetus, and democrats actually view Al Qaeda as the enemy, instead of the GOP. Then a purge might make sense.
OmegaPaladin on April 29, 2009 at 3:14 AM
I lost all respect for McCain when he refused to call sock puppets past into question in the national spotlight well enough to make damn sure everyone knew exactly what he is and what made the man. (and I use the term ‘man’ loosely)
McCain was well aware of what sock puppet is. It’s not ‘dirty campaigning’ to use the truth against someone if the truth is as rotten as obama is.
So, aside from the policies McCain has that I don’t agree with, AND his “urgent rush back to Washington to pass porkulus”, I have zero respect for him.
Ok, he was a P.O.W.. That isn’t an automatic pass to the presidency, it’s an “oh, sorry to hear that, thanks for serving” and nothing more, at least in political terms.
Screw McCain…and not his daughter, let Obama screw HER.
Spiritk9 on April 29, 2009 at 5:04 AM
There simply aren’t words to express my utter repugnance at this post and its comments. I’ve voted R all my life, specifically for economic issues. In light of Rove, GWB, et al, that’s gone now; the party has chosen to betray any semblance of the Reagan economic success and dive further into fanaticism and the lunatic fringe. Now I’m left with no choice at all; its either Marxists on the Left or Savonarola on the Right. I weep for the future of our country.
Congratulations on your permanent minority and irrelevance. You’ve earned it.
DaveL on April 29, 2009 at 8:32 AM
This is why we need @#^%^*&(*)() term limits on Senators and Representatives. That way they won’t have to worry about keeping their precious seats after a certain amount of time.
Why these politicians think it’s so important to spend all of their lives in Washington is beyond me, but if that’s the way they feel, we need some mechanism to enforce turnover. We need term limits! And they need to be made retroactive, so that all of these senescent libs who will never retire on their own like Byrd, Kennedy et al. can be gotten rid of immediately.
bulgaroctonus on April 29, 2009 at 8:36 AM
I am sure that the swine flu will be as devastating as the avian flu scare of 2005, or maybe as bad as the Y2K bug (that was the flu wasn’t it).
It is the job of the media, CDC, and WHO to scare people. I am mostly scared of politicians.
Dasher on April 29, 2009 at 8:40 AM
Rush is an unswerving voice for conservatism and has a very large following. If the Democrats can run a clown for U.S. senator, and win, then why shouldn’t a talk show host run for political office in 2010?
rplat on April 29, 2009 at 8:41 AM
As a proud member of the lunatic fringe, I say that the Republicans in Congress need more fanaticism than they have displayed heretofore.
At least fanatics have principles. And they don’t care about being popular. And since we are trying to fight back myriad leftist fanaticisms, we need to counter them with conservative fanaticism, emulating the left’s own “take no prisoners” approach. If we can find someone who can do it with a smile, like Reagan did, then so much the better. But I’ll take ruthlessness against the left over a smile any day.
All this “big tent” talk is crap. Big tents are for circuses. Bread and circuses, anyone?
bulgaroctonus on April 29, 2009 at 9:04 AM
… and he can add my two wretch senators snowjob and collins.
They all fit the jackass uniform so very well.
ErinF on April 29, 2009 at 9:28 AM
Ain’t never gonna happen now the PR dude in chief running the show.
ErinF on April 29, 2009 at 9:29 AM
Well, perhaps, but I’ve never been so glad that we have term limits on the presidency as I am now.
Isn’t it funny how the only president to have served more than two terms was a Democrat? Those people are all about power and cults of personality.
bulgaroctonus on April 29, 2009 at 9:35 AM
“health-care and amnesty, to name just two — won’t be un-doable once the GOP’s back in control,”
I don’t believe this. Hasn’t the Won shown us the way on that too, with his incessant executive orders undoing everthing republicans have done in the last 30 years?
vapig on April 29, 2009 at 10:02 AM
What is the definition of “presser” as used here?
scullymj on April 29, 2009 at 10:21 AM
Two Words: Term Limits
DanaSmiles on April 29, 2009 at 10:39 AM
Hey Pennsylvania…. See how much backbone your Arlen Specter has? It’s not about you -you are stupid and he knows best. It’s all about him and keeping his power. You must be so proud. I think the PA democrats should throw him out too at primary time. He’s a joke and it’s time for him to ride into the sunset. He’s another dinosaur. We’re glad to be rid of him.
suzyk on April 29, 2009 at 10:42 AM
The real question is, is Specter’s change of party in conformity with the principles of ancient Scottish law?
bulgaroctonus on April 29, 2009 at 10:53 AM
How is it a purge when they jump and claim they were pushed?
Jim Treacher on April 29, 2009 at 10:57 AM
With the filibuster gone, there’s nothing left to lose.
Sorry, AP, but the filibuster was always theoretical before Specter’s flip-flop. We see how well the filibuster put a screeching halt to the Porkulus pacakge.
Oh, yeah, it didn’t.
I R A Darth Aggie on April 29, 2009 at 10:59 AM
And circuses are for clowns. It’s time for some actual leadership, house cleaning, and a return to conservative principles.
eanax on April 29, 2009 at 11:39 AM
Press conference.
eanax on April 29, 2009 at 11:41 AM
Ed:
Just a comment. I’ve read a lot of great open debate here over the last couple of days since you banned getalife. No one here has any problem debating the issues, that’s what this forum was for. But his inanities, however stupid, required a rebuttal.
There’s been some excellent swordplay here since then. Thanks for the boot.
BTW, everyone check Rasmussen. Not all the news is bad. In generic ballots, the Republicans are above the Democrats, 41% to 38%.
Focus on the message, Repubs. The country is desperate for leadership that is NOT just talk but rooted in the foundation of America.
Fiscal responsibility.
A strong defense.
The return to the rule of law.
The nation is dying for it.
itsspideyman on April 29, 2009 at 12:03 PM
Liberals are under the delusion that big gubbermint can bring a Utopia and they have killed millions of people trying to prove it
Bevan on April 29, 2009 at 12:37 PM
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