“Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right,” declared U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (RINO-PA) today. “I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans.” As such, Specter announced that he was switching parties and will run for re-election next year as a Democrat.
Oh, puh-lease. Specter’s political philsophy has ALWAYS been more in line with the Democrats than Republicans. It’s not that the GOP has moved too far to the right; it’s that Specter has always been too far to the Left. Indeed, he was one of only three Republicans in the entire United States Congress who voted for Obama’s “spendulus” package.
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, Arlen!
Posted on April 28th, 2009 by chuckmuth
Filed under: Uncategorized
Probably a good career move on his part. The GOP brand is unlikely to be making a recovery any time soon.
Chuck,
I think there is something far more ominous going on. Considering that in the 2008 primaries John McCain (RINO) and Mike Huckabee (Different kind of RINO) received between the two of them majorities or close to majorities in most states. This would seem to imply that economic liberals (regardless on their stance on social issues) are the new majority in the Republican Party and that conservatives are the new RINOs! If that is the case then I vote we relocate to a more hospitable home (Independent American Party for example).
I am a Conservative first, a Republican second.
We need to get rid of all the RINOs. They stand in the way of true conservatives guiding the GOP. This is one small step back to take a giant step forward. As far as I’m concerned, our legislative RINOs could follow Specter into the D column – it’ll make it that much easier to beat them. Lynn Stewart, Dennis Nolan, Joe Hardy and the rest. Good riddance all of them.
Conservatism died in ‘08
Conservative, yeah I agree, but when I did research on the IAP there was some borderline racist materials on their website, and every second member of the leadership’s name is Hansen…. so I’m conflicted.
As for Arlen, I’m glad he finally came out of the closet! At least now we don’t have to PRETEND he ever was a Republican let alone any kind of conservative. GOP can choke and die for all I care, I just want conservatives to start standing up.
Tim – what do you mean? I did not see anything that could be called racist. Care to explain? I also only see three Hansens in the leadership:
http://www.iapn.org/contact_us.htm
http://www.iapn.org/officers.htm
IAP is a very serious alternative to a RINO-led GOP. True conservatives need to look at all options. I think the Libertarian Party is another place to consider. The candidates of those two parties got more than one-third of the vote in the AD22 race. Voters are increasingly recognizing the choices available.
Bob S,
I agree that your party needs to expel all of your moderates. It was not too long ago when the Democrats suffered most from an intolerance of anyone who was not ideologically pure. Thankfully Republicans now seem to suffer the most from this self-destructive behavior.
[...] (originally posted by Chuck Muth) [...]
Bob S,
I had to rub my eyes to make sure that I was seeing both “IAP” and “serious” in the same sentence. Anyway, I will avoid discussing the wacky aspects of the IAP and instead concentrate on the difficulty a third party had in getting elected. Because of Nevada’s single member districts which are elected by plurality it is extremely difficult for a third party candidate to gain office. That does not make it impossible to be elected if you a third party. The odds however are stacked against you. Plus their is the impact it has on people’s mentality. They do not want to “waste” their vote on a third party candidate.