April 30, 2009 at 08:53:14

My Take on the Specter Defection

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By Michael Shaw (about the author) Page 1 of 1 page(s)

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For OpEdNews: Michael Shaw - Writer

Arlen Specter's recent defection to the democratic party for me had no surprise. As a fiscal conservative, Specter has often been the anti-thesis to many of my own progressive values. In spite of that I have always respected Arlen Specter and there are few(if any) current republicans who would get bragging rights to that.

Though often I have found myself at odds with Arlen Specter (I used to reside in Philadelphia and was raised in the Delaware Valley) my respect for him has remained intact, especially when he had the courage to buck his own party concerning habeas corpus, card check legislation and water boarding.

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Of course whenever a Republican finds himself anywhere outside of neocon lockstep he is demonized as a traitor and cut off at the knees by his own party. Today's GOP believe in lockstep and will accept nothing less. Logic or even moral decency never stand in their way. That makes it very difficult for a guy like Specter who in fact was often his own man, though I will not argue even he was made to toe the line by his former party's sentinels. Yet here we see the GOP sending the now "immortalized (in laughter")" Joe the Plumber, to stomp for Specter's republican opponent which in actuality brings sanity to all the reasoning behind Specter switching party's. It also shows us how out of touch with reality the current GOP is.

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Why just one look at the right wing rag, Crossaction News says it all really. "The three Republican Senators who plan to support Pelosi's Marxist power grab are Olympia Snowe of Maine, Susan Collins of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. - Republicans"-? "

Arlen Specter

* Favors Abortion on Demand
* Favors Affirmative Action
* Favors Gay Rights
* Opposes three strike stiffer sentencing
* Favors nationalizing Heath Care
* Favors Amnesty for illegal immigrants
* Opposes Patriot Act


"While all three Senators are indeed members of the Republican Party,
you can see that all three have far more in common with left-wing
Democrats than with the party they belong to. All three are typical
blue state Republicans."


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So there you have it! Of course we will continue to hear from some that Specter is merely a politician who knows which way the wind blows. We will also hear some say, who cares? The two party system is merely one and the same. But others will say this is significant and it shows in real time that the assessment of the GOP being so far out of the loop is far more then mere progressive speculation. Also, you have to laugh (ur ass off) when those in the GOP call Specter a liberal democrat and Pelosi a marxist rebel. And they call people like me crazy!

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I'm a concerned, middle aged blogger and member of the ACLU. I hail from the Bay Area. I Lobbied congress with the ACLU over the more unconstitutional elements of the USA Patriot Act. Marched in peace protests, lost a former school chum in the world (more...)

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