Posted on 11/05/2004 4:10:44 PM PST by Founding Father
Specter urges moderation to boost GOP gains at polls
Thursday, November 04, 2004
BY PETER L. DeCOURSEY AND CARRIE CALDWELL Of The Patriot-News
U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., proclaimed that his re-election on Tuesday was a "victory for moderate Republicans." He said he hopes to recruit more statewide Republicans to that banner.
Specter led all statewide Republicans as he swept to his fifth Senate term, a record for Pennsylvania. He rolled up more votes than President Bush statewide and in Dauphin and Cumberland counties.
With 99 percent of the vote counted in unofficial returns, Specter garnered 2,882,829 votes or 53 percent, well ahead of U.S. Rep. Joe Hoeffel, D-Montgomery, who earned 2,283,694 votes or 42 percent.
They were followed by Constitution Party nominee James Clymer, 216,378 or 4 percent, and Libertarian Betsy Summers, 77,310 or 1 percent.
Specter hopes Bush's "compassionate conservatism" will bring more funding to education and health care and motivate Bush to dramatically expand stem-cell research.
Specter believes stem-cell research saves lives, and he used a commercial by actor Michael J. Fox in his campaign. Fox, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, said stem-cell research gives people such as him hope and that "Arlen gets it."
Specter said that commercial and other appeals to moderates allowed him to escape the voter tide that swept President Bush and two statewide GOP candidates to defeat in Pennsylvania.
Specter attributed his success to his moderate politics and wants other candidates to follow his example.
He said his example proves that moderate Republicans are most successful in general elections, and that it is time for his party to stop nominating conservative candidates who lose to Democrats perceived to be moderate.
But Leslie Gromis-Baker, Bush's Mid-Atlantic coordinator, said Specter was wrong to say that moderates were the best model for statewide GOP candidates.
Gromis-Baker, who helped Attorney General-elect Tom Corbett win narrowly Tuesday, noted that Corbett is a more traditional conservative Republican.
"Moderates do better in the southeast. Conservatives do better in the west," she said.
While Specter outpolled Bush in Dauphin, Cumberland and other central Pennsylvania counties, Gromis-Baker pointed out that Hoeffel "was an unknown congressman, underfunded, and no one west of Chester County ever heard of him."
She also scorned Specter's often- expressed claim that he and former governor Tom Ridge are moderates.
Gromis-Baker said Ridge is a conservative, "but not pro-life. ... That is very different from Sen. Specter."
Specter previewed his expected role as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which reviews and votes on federal judicial nominees.
In his tough Republican primary, Specter courted conservative voters by saying he would confirm only "strict constructionist" judges, a term used by conservatives to denote judges they favor. Then, in the fall campaign against Hoeffel, Specter said he favored "centrist judges."
Yesterday, Specter defined what he wanted in a judge and said he hoped Bush would consult him before picking nominees.
Specter said the late Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Cardozo said, "The constitution is an evolving document based upon the values of the people."
"That's the kind of strict constructionist that I'm looking for" in a judge, Specter said, pointing out that such a judge would not be labeled a moderate or conservative.
Tell that trash to Santorum. I'll wager that the reason why the Constittutional and Libertarian Party nominees got almost 300,000 votes was because conservatives couldn't stomach that RINO. He is seriously out to lunch.
Like another John McCain.
The FFs may have used individual terms that, by their very generality, were intended for coming generations to evaluate in their time (what's "reasonable"? what's "cruel and unusual"?) but to replace the whole constitution with a mirror, that is an abomination.
And while we're at it we should push Lincoln Chafee out the door as well. These east coast RINO's are delusional to think that they matter in the Republican Party anymore.
Even if the life status of embryos weren't an issue, I have yet to hear any basis for believing embryonic stem cells are likely to be in any way (other than their "original design purpose") better than umbilical or adult stem cells, or any basis for believing research with human cells will be more cost effective than research with cells of other species.
Are there any pragmatic arguments in favor of the "research"?
"That's the kind of strict constructionist that I'm looking for" in a judge, Specter said, pointing out that such a judge would not be labeled a moderate or conservative.
I wonder if Specter would call a moth-infested overcoat a "living garment"?
Don't forget spectre was primarily responsible for the demeanig of Judge Bork. Spectre is sending signals regarding the moderate Supreme Court. If you do not want Arlen spectre in position of leaderhsip on the judiciary then call Senator Frist and urge him not to help nominate Spectre.
202-224-3344
The constitution is an evolving document based upon the values of the people."
Then it is not worth a S#$t.
Spectre's idea is the Constitution means one thing today and another tomorrow.
The founding Fathers meant for it to mean the same today, tomorrow, and a 1000 years from now.
Go PI$$ up a rope, you damned RINO...the Conservatives won this one...not your mealy-mouthed Ilk!
Republican turns on his party = praise, love, TV appearances, called a great, brave statesman
Democrat turns on his part = treated like a kook or a traitor
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Cardozo and Specter apparently believe that the US Constitution should be "interpreted" based on the chic political correctness of the day. "Evolving document" means that the document itself has no meaning and no standing.
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"That's the kind of strict constructionist that I'm looking for" in a judge, Specter said, pointing out that such a judge would not be labeled a moderate or conservative.
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No, such a judge would properly be labeled a liberal!
Do I have this straight - - Specter believes that a judge who "interprets" the US Constitution based on the chic (and fickle) political correctness of the day is a "strict constructionist"???
So much for my previous "benefit of the doubt" crap - - Specter absolutely has to go.
Specter is a typical Pa Republicrat and delusional besides. If he thinks this plays well anywhere but in PA then why did he get something like 1 vote (his) in the primaries for President, and why doesn't he have lots and lots of company in the senate?
"The founding Fathers meant for it to mean the same today, tomorrow, and a 1000 years from now."
Exactly.
This is why so many conservatives who were against gay marriage were still against amending the constitution to prohibit it.
If we change frequently to suit the current thinking, it ceases to have any meaning.
If that's what we want to do then we might as well burn it.
I'm aware of the promise of adult-cell therapies (which allow for autologous transpants without risk of rejection--something fetal cells will never allow). But I wish someone would offer something that would suggest that there's at least some reason to believe that embryonic stem cells might be in at least some conceivable way better than umbilican and adult ones. How can one debate an issue without both sides at least offering up some argument?
I agree.
Lincoln Chaffee is just as far to the right as it is possible to be in Rhode Island and be elected.
I don't share the leftish political views he espouses, but he helps us make a majority. And he helps us on low-profile issues. He can't help on high-profile issues because if he did he would be out of a job.
In New England Republicans must avoid being identified as Republicans; that can be the kiss of political death.
If the Constitution were changed weekly, it would still have meaning. Its meaning would be what the words say today, which might have little relation to what they said yesterday or what they will say tomorrow, but it would nonetheless have meaning today.
The danger lies not with amending the Constitution to address changing situations, but rather with trying to 'interpret' it to deal with changing situations without actually amending it. The former approach is risky, to be sure, but the latter is downright dangerous.
One thing I wish could be established as a rule would be a requirement that all court decisions be supportable using only cited constitutional and statutory references, without reference to stare decesis. Stare decesis could be used to justify the selection of one possible interpretation over another, but could not be used to justify anything which could not be justified from the original text.
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