Posted on 10/29/2004 2:12:00 PM PDT by Theodore R.
GOP Sen. Specter Vows to Block Bush's Nominees
Recall that alleged Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, upon winning the primary, immediately backstabbed President Bush, who had campaigned for him instead of actual Republican Pat Toomey. Turns out Specter was just getting started.
We now see that the usually pro-Democrat Pittsburgh Post-Gazette endorsed the sharp-horned RINO in Tuesday's general election for this reason: "Before the Post-Gazette editorial board, he promised that no extremists would be approved for the bench."
What the pro-abortion Specter and pro-abortion Post-Gazette mean by "extremist" is anyone who isn't pro-abortion or who otherwise follows the U.S. Constitution instead of making up legislation from the bench.
"Even if he votes nine out of 10 times for the administration, we trust his word that the 10 percent of difference will be a brake on the worst excesses of a second Bush term, if it comes to that," the pee-yoo P-G snarled.
H not = G in math, but Harkin is virtually equal to Ganske in politics. No real difference, I suppose.
I hope I am wrong but I believe he is to be the CHAIRMAN of the Judiciary Committee and if that is true then our increased majority (if true) won't matter a bit.
Politically and practically speaking I don't think President Bush had much choice in attaching himself to this prior State's AG, if he wanted a shot at PA's electoral count.
And that is why politics is likened to witnessing sausage being made; repellent to normal, common-sense people.
McCain is NOT conservative at all. He is a big time RINO, and that is why the RATS love him. I personally heard him say on TV that we need to repeal the top two tax brackets because they are a tax cut for the rich. That is all I needed to hear to know that this guy is no conservative. A conservative would never say that.
Correction: He was already a "Republican" when he was DA.
Don't know anything about Ganske, but Specter has not even attempted to help Bush in PA, and if anything he is running against Bush. He has not been a help at all to the Republicans. PA has Santorum, and if they could vote for him, they should have stood with Toomey. Bush helped get Specter win the primary, and this is how he gets repaid?
McCain may not be "conservative," but "conservative" AZ adores him. Why, he's more popular than Babbitt ever was there.
I wasn't planning on voting for anyone for the position. I wasn't voting for Hoeffel and I couldn't bring myself to pull the lever for Arlen. I was almost tempted to write in Toomey, but I may consider Clymer.
I have a somewhat different take on this ... I think Arlen is trying to help President Bush out here.
There's always going to be a certain % of the population who split their votes in the interest of preventing a single party from controlling all branches of the government.
Arlen may lose Conservative votes because of this (which he's in a good position to lose, given his current poll numbers), but in doing so he's opening up the possibility that the party-splitters who would vote for him and Kerry will see him as a check on the Bush Administration and decide not to split their votes.
In a really close race, it could make the difference.
Everyone can chill. Specter will lead and report out favorably all of Bush's nominations to the federal bench. He's just trying to run up his victory margin with RATs and independents.
Specter knows that his career was saved by the President.
I am fairly sure that I read that Arlen Specter switched from D to R in 1965 so that he could run for district attorney on the GOP ticket, which needed a candidate. The Democrats had a surplus of contenders.
It's the same scenario with Mayor Bloomberg. He became "Republican" because there was no room for him in the Democrat mayoral primary.
First, it is Ira Einhorn. And Spector didn't defend the worm out of some high-minded sense of fairness. More likely it was the high profile that his client brought to the case and Specter's aspirations for office. I don't remember the exact details but Specter was one of those who went to bat for Earth Day boy and secured his freedom while awaiting trial. Einhorn promptly went on a world tour that lasted twenty years or so and he was found guilty in absentia.
You are right. Many "conservatives" aren't really that "conservative," but they want winners and familiar names.
There are few today who would have done as Governor Taft's grandfather, the original Bob Taft, who, when a voter complained about high food prices, said, "Eat less."
Bush knows what can be expected of Spectre.
For whatever reason, Bush and his team calculated they needed Spectre to win the Senate seat. I'd rather have had Tomey, but the Penn voters made the final call. No one put a gun to their head and said "Vote Spectre", at least from the Bush camp.
Not being able to get judges through has been a sore spot. If we can add to our majority in the Senate, I don't think it's unreasonable to assume Bush isn't going to let Spectre stand in his way.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I assume they've calculated Spectre's interference into the equasion of getting their judges appointed.
They are prizes handed out at the whim of the Senate Majority Leader.
SO9
I get a kick out of the state of Utah, which claims to be real conservative. The state is conservative on social issues, but they have some of the highest taxes in the country. They are not fiscally conservative at all. Maybe SD and Arizona are like that as well.
It really doesn't do any good for Spectre to get elected after hearing this. Bush made a grave error in not backing Toomey for Senate and now he'll regret it. Truthfully, I'm almost hoping the demoratic candidate wins and I don't even know his name!
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