A new Democrat

[Vince]

Just a little while back Spector was saying he was staying a Republican. It's Senators like him that bring the trustworthy ratings of Congress down lower than G.W. Bush.

Spector was the @&*!* that helped get Ira Einhorn out on bail , so he could run off and hide in Europe before standing trial for killing his girlfriend and stuffing her in a box in his closet until the smell got so bad it was noticed by other people.

He's a good fit for the Democrats. We might be surprised at the next Senate races.

[gm]

Sorry, TD, but people who care enough to open and read through these threads are pretty much incapable of "sensible" non-partisan discussion, IMO. It's why I basically never discuss politics with friends any more.

[bad hammy]

When LBJ signed the Civil Rights Bill, he said, "We (the Democrats) have lost the South for a generation". He correctly predicted that there would be a backlash by Southern Democrats, a.k.a. Dixiecrats, which manifested itself over the next couple of decades by an exodus to the Republican Party.

Interesting comment from Chris Matthews yesterday (who had considered a run for that PA Senate seat and was very critical of Spector's move), that in about the same timeframe that the south was becoming solidly Republican the northeast went from fairly solid Republican to all Democrat. Only two members of the current Congress from the northeast are Republican, and those two are really independents from Maine.

[TrackDaddy]

Re: A new Deomcrat

[One of the prime reasons we don't allow politics: it makes normally sane people mad.

I don't know if you mean mad insane or mad angry but the frustration of keeping quiet can certainly lead to apoplexy.
This would be a happier, more congenial forum if we stay away from politics and religion

You don't have to quiet, you have to be nice.

It would be nice if the people who can't do that would stay away and not ruin it for those who can.

The parameters or structure of religion and politics can be discussed sensibly if specific partisan preferences aren't aggressively asserted.

IMO

[Mighty Favog]

Saw a good line in the paper this morning where it was noted that Specter's switch was reflective of the Senate's becoming "purple," reflecting on a mixing of both sides of the spectrum being politically expedient these days.

Not to argue too much, but when was the Senate ever anything but? The House, sure, but the Senate?

[Mighty Favog]

I am a solid, and a citizen, but not a "solid citizen".

The direction the Republican Party went was inevitable once the Movement Conservatives took over in the late 70s. If you believe gov't in general is a problem, you won't do a good job running it, and eventually the electorate won't let you be in charge of it anymore. The GOP's great political successes of the last 30 years came at this great expense. I think the Republican Party will survive but only when cooler heads come to prevail several (very bad) election cycles from now. They're in for a long-time wandering in the wilderness.

[lonewolf]

Re: A new Deomcrat

[One of the prime reasons we don't allow politics: it makes normally sane people mad.

I don't know if you mean mad insane or mad angry but the frustration of keeping quiet can certainly lead to apoplexy.
This would be a happier, more congenial forum if we stay away from politics and religion

[gh]

Saw a good line in the paper this morning where it was noted that Specter's switch was reflective of the Senate's becoming "purple," reflecting on a mixing of both sides of the spectrum being politically expedient these days.

[Daisy]

Thank you Arlen. I crossed the bridge about 5 years ago. Thanks for coming across too.

I have to say I can see that as the party moves to the right anyone in the middle does have some tough choices. Maybe the republicans are reaching the point of no return?

the trouble is usually, IMHO, caused by normal solid-citizen posters who rarely cause any problems at all

Boy, oh boy, how hard it is to keep my mouth shut

Ah, another solid citizen enters the scene

[dukehjsteve]

Thank you Arlen. I crossed the bridge about 5 years ago. Thanks for coming across too.

[Pego]

Re: A new Deomcrat

....the over-under for the thread's making it far into tomorrow are.....

As long as the usual trouble makers don't join the thread it will be fine.

Actually, the trouble is usually, IMHO, caused by normal solid-citizen posters who rarely cause any problems at all, but react to political opinions of the opposite stripe like a stick in a beehive.

One of the prime reasons we don't allow politics: it makes normally sane people mad.

Boy, oh boy, how hard it is to keep my mouth shut with some of the comments on this thread. I am black and blue all over from pinching myself :twisted: .

[Brian]

Let me see...

Specter is the senior Senator from Pennsylvania who consistently won primaries and general elections as a republican for 30 years, but he was a democrat all along? :?

So the switch is a formality that doesnt really matter?

Thats seeing the glass as half full.

The issue is that the general electorate in PA is Dem/moderate, while the Republican base is rabid right. And Specter's upcoming hurdle was the Rep nomination. It's not a matter of him "drifting left" but of the Rep base veering right.

Can't say I've always agreed with him, but Spector has always seemed the type that when push comes to shove would vote according to conscience rather than party. Actually, to me at least, he seemed more Libertarian at heart than standard Republican. That said, was one of the big guns behind regulation to halt over the counter Ephedrine sales and the testing and labeling of vitamin/supplement contents--considerable anti-regulation squacking at the time, but now generally seen as a good and necessary move in order to slow the trickle down to kids.


Some politicos on the Right haven't agreed with the direction their party has been taking for quite a while now, but it seemed political death to dissent [The "either you're with us or you're agin us" idea, real or imagined]. Perhaps Spector will be part of the wake-up call (for those who see it that way within the party) to re-take the GOP from the perceived extremists.

[Daisy]

Re: A new Deomcrat

Actually, the trouble is usually, IMHO, caused by normal solid-citizen posters who rarely cause any problems at all

I was being ironic. Just read the list of posters who had already entered the fray

[jazzcyclist]

Goldwater did not support the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and he lost the presidential election by one of the largest landslides in history. Hardly someone whose legacy I would want to hang my hat on, and a man I have nothing but distaste for.

My mentioning of Goldwater had nothing to do with my opinion of him. I only mentioned him because I feel that, like Specter, he would also be ostracized from the Republican Party if he were around today, and he was the de facto leader of the Republican Party when LBJ signed the Civil Rights Bill.

[gh]

Re: A new Deomcrat

....the over-under for the thread's making it far into tomorrow are.....

As long as the usual trouble makers don't join the thread it will be fine.

Actually, the trouble is usually, IMHO, caused by normal solid-citizen posters who rarely cause any problems at all, but react to political opinions of the opposite stripe like a stick in a beehive.

One of the prime reasons we don't allow politics: it makes normally sane people mad.