ARLEN SPECTER, DEMOCRATIZED!
As the tent of the Republican Party continues its deathly shrink, one of the few republicans with a moderate viewpoint, with half his brain tied to the front, devoid of rabid extremism, the senator from Pennsylvania, has jumped ship! With his departure, the residue now left of the Republican Party is a fully 'Talibanized' amalgamation of very few die-hard good old boys and their mistresses; transforming the well accommodating Republican party of the old into a religious, bigoted, club of right-wingers whose breed are rapidly dying off? Icheoku asks, does the present day republican party still qualifies as a political party? The senator of 29 years from Philadelphia, Arlen Specter, 79, is now a democrat! Alleluia! Icheoku says, welcome to your natural political home, Senator! Unfortunately the right-winger hacks, instead of a reality-check, are trying in vain to explain away the monumental loss which their party suffered today with this departure? Thankfully, the Democratic Party under the charismatic and dynamic leadership of President Barack Obama has become such a huge tent that there is space for Arlen Specter, as well as other fidgeting, intending 'departees'! Icheoku says, we shall not be surprised if Senator John McCain follows suit. In declaring his intent to cross-over, Senator Arlen Specter said, "Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans." Welcoming the move, President Barack Obama, in a telephone call to Arlen Specter said, "We are thrilled to have you!" Arlen Specter, like John McCain is a known maverick who votes mostly according to his conscience and not on party lines. He cast a deciding vote against the confirmation of Republican Party Judge Robert Bork for the Supreme court; voted "not proven, therefore not guilty" on the impeachment of Bill Clinton; voted for President Barack Obama stimulus package against his former party's objection and he is a rare pro-choice Republican? In the words of an observer, Arlen Specter did not make the switch early enough and surprisingly, Specter's growing doubts about the Republican Party took so long to percolate? Icheoku says, if he survives this move and gets re-elected to the Senate, Senator Arlen Specter would have become a truly all round living survivor: he survived an open heart surgery, brain cancer and lymphoma! Adding a political survivor to the resume will make Arlen an the legendary cat with nine lives and Icheoku's Survivor Extraordinaire! Once again, welcome Arlen! (Read Senator Arlen Specter's statement.)
As the tent of the Republican Party continues its deathly shrink, one of the few republicans with a moderate viewpoint, with half his brain tied to the front, devoid of rabid extremism, the senator from Pennsylvania, has jumped ship! With his departure, the residue now left of the Republican Party is a fully 'Talibanized' amalgamation of very few die-hard good old boys and their mistresses; transforming the well accommodating Republican party of the old into a religious, bigoted, club of right-wingers whose breed are rapidly dying off? Icheoku asks, does the present day republican party still qualifies as a political party? The senator of 29 years from Philadelphia, Arlen Specter, 79, is now a democrat! Alleluia! Icheoku says, welcome to your natural political home, Senator! Unfortunately the right-winger hacks, instead of a reality-check, are trying in vain to explain away the monumental loss which their party suffered today with this departure? Thankfully, the Democratic Party under the charismatic and dynamic leadership of President Barack Obama has become such a huge tent that there is space for Arlen Specter, as well as other fidgeting, intending 'departees'! Icheoku says, we shall not be surprised if Senator John McCain follows suit. In declaring his intent to cross-over, Senator Arlen Specter said, "Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans." Welcoming the move, President Barack Obama, in a telephone call to Arlen Specter said, "We are thrilled to have you!" Arlen Specter, like John McCain is a known maverick who votes mostly according to his conscience and not on party lines. He cast a deciding vote against the confirmation of Republican Party Judge Robert Bork for the Supreme court; voted "not proven, therefore not guilty" on the impeachment of Bill Clinton; voted for President Barack Obama stimulus package against his former party's objection and he is a rare pro-choice Republican? In the words of an observer, Arlen Specter did not make the switch early enough and surprisingly, Specter's growing doubts about the Republican Party took so long to percolate? Icheoku says, if he survives this move and gets re-elected to the Senate, Senator Arlen Specter would have become a truly all round living survivor: he survived an open heart surgery, brain cancer and lymphoma! Adding a political survivor to the resume will make Arlen an the legendary cat with nine lives and Icheoku's Survivor Extraordinaire! Once again, welcome Arlen! (Read Senator Arlen Specter's statement.)
Analysis: Specter leaves a shrinking GOP tent
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Slideshow:Sen. Arlen Specter Play Video Video:Sen. Specter Switches Sides ABC News Play Video Video:Dems, GOP React To Specter's Party Switch KDKA Pittsburgh AP – Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Penn., sits on the Democratic side of the aisle during an emergency hearing on … By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer Charles Babington, Associated Press Writer – Tue Apr 28, 8:22 pm ET
WASHINGTON – With Sen. Arlen Specter's switch to the Democrats, the Republican Party is increasingly at risk of being viewed as a mostly Southern and solidly conservative party, an identity that might take years to overcome.
Specter's move, which rocked Congress and the political world Tuesday, is the latest blow to Republicans, especially in the Northeast, once a GOP stronghold. The region's Republicans now have been reduced to a scant presence in the House and a dwindling influence in the Senate.
But Specter's defection has symbolic and immediate ramifications for the GOP nationwide. It makes it easier for Democrats, fairly or not, to paint the party as ideologically rigid and alien to large swaths of the country.
Olympia Snowe of Maine, one of the Senate's few remaining moderate Republicans, called Specter's decision another sign that her party must move toward the center.
"Ultimately, we're heading to having the smallest political tent in history," Snowe said. "If the Republican Party fully intends to become a majority party in the future, it must move from the far right back toward the middle."
But Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was defiant.
"I do not accept that we are going to be a regional party," he said. "We're working very hard to compete throughout the country."
Specter's departure follows recent Republican losses in once-reliable states. While Barack Obama was cruising to the White House last fall, Republicans were losing long-held Senate seats in Alaska, Colorado, New Mexico, North Carolina and Virginia. A moderate Republican lost his seat in Oregon, and the same seems likely to happen when Minnesota's long recount is settled.
In the House, Republicans have suffered deep losses in the last two elections, especially in the Northeast. Last week, Democrat Scott Murphy won a special election in a heavily Republican congressional district in upstate New York. Murphy will be sworn in Wednesday, giving Democrats' 256 House seats to 178 for Republicans with one vacancy.
The congressional Republicans' base is shrinking, leaving them with strongholds only in the South and parts of the mountain West.
With the departure of each centrist, including Pennsylvania's Specter, the party also appears more firmly right-of-center. Polls show most Americans nearer the political center, and Democratic leaders were happy Tuesday to promote the GOP's image as narrow-minded.
"This is now officially a Republican Party where moderates need not apply," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.
Specter made similar remarks. "The Republican Party has moved farther and farther to the right," he said, adding to the trend with his switch.
Specter accused party leaders of abandoning moderate Republicans in tough races, saying, "there ought to be an uprising."
In the 1970s, '80s and early '90s, the nation's political realignment favored the GOP. Voters in many of the 11 former Confederate states ousted Democrats by the dozens, no longer accepting the old odd-bedfellows alliance of Southern conservatives and more dominant Northern liberals.
With the Northeast still home to many "Rockefeller Republicans" — centrists in the mold of former New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller — the realignment pinched Democrats hard.
In recent years, however, the tide has reversed. Moderate-to-liberal voters in the Northeast and Pacific West felt increasingly at odds with the national Republican Party, and they began electing more Democrats to local and federal posts. Obama won surprising victories in Virginia, North Carolina and Indiana, though it's far from clear that Democrats can hold those states.
The result is a shrinking and increasingly right-leaning GOP, throughout the nation and in Congress. There, moderate Republicans are almost an endangered species. While lonely, they may play pivotal roles in brokering legislative deals, especially in the Senate.
Snowe and her Republican colleague from Maine, Susan M. Collins, now are the Senate's most prominent GOP moderates.
Collins said she was "very, very disappointed and surprised" by Specter's defection. "It's something I would never do," she said, but she called on her party to be more inclusive.
"The Republican Party has been most successful when it has adopted the big tent approach that was favored by Ronald Reagan, by Gerald Ford" and others, Collins said.
Obama hailed Specter's switch, but its blessing may prove mixed. The president vowed a more bipartisan era in Washington, and the loss of another GOP centrist will make Congress more partisan than before.
Republican leaders, meanwhile, faced an uphill battle in next year's Pennsylvania Senate race even before Specter made the switch. In that sense, they probably have lost little. Besides, only 15 years ago some pundits predicted permanent minority status for Democrats, following their huge losses in the 1994 elections.
Political fortunes can change rapidly, and unexpectedly. But for now, Republicans hold distinct minority status in the House and Senate, where Democrats and independents hold 59 seats to 40 for the GOP. They confront a popular Democratic president, and they face numerous ill-timed retirements in next year's Senate races.
Tuesday was another bad day in a political season that some Republicans must feel cannot possibly get worse.
Congress adopts budget plan endorsing Obama goals
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Play Video Video:Republican View of the Budget CNBC Play Video Video:Obama marks 100 days Reuters Play Video Barack Obama Video:At 100 days, Obama confident, but not content AP AP – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pause during a news conference about … By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer Andrew Taylor, Associated Press Writer – Wed Apr 29, 7:10 pm ET
WASHINGTON – Democrats in Congress capped President Barack Obama's 100th day in office by advancing a $3.4 trillion federal budget for next year — a third of it borrowed — that prevents Republicans from blocking his proposed trillion-dollar expansion of government-provided health care over the next decade.
Wednesday's House and Senate votes to adopt the nonbinding budget blueprint were only a first step toward Obama's goal of providing health care coverage for all Americans. The budget plan for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 sets the parameters for subsequent tax and spending bills expected to boost clean energy programs and student aid and extend many of former President George W. Bush's tax cuts.
"It's a budget that reduces taxes, lowers the deficit and creates jobs," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said. "It honors the three pillars of the Obama initiatives: energy, health care and education."
Obama cheered passage of the plan, saying in a statement that it "builds on the steps we've taken over the last 100 days to move this economy from recession to recovery and ultimately to prosperity."
The budget outline also makes it plain that Democrats won't let a mountain of deficits and debt interfere with advancing Obama's ambitious but costly agenda.
It gives Democrats the option of moving Obama's health care plan through Congress without the threat of a Republican filibuster, though Democrats promise to try to find bipartisan agreement.
The Senate adopted the plan by a 53-43 vote just hours after a 233-193 House tally.
Newly-turned Democrat Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania voted against the measure as he did earlier this month when it initially passed the Senate. Three other Democrats also voted no: Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Robert Byrd of West Virginia and Evan Bayh of Indiana.
Seventeen House Democrats, mostly from GOP-leaning districts, voted against the budget.
Not a single Republican in the House or Senate voted for the measure.
Obama inherited an economy in deep recession and a financial bailout costing hundreds of billions of dollars, and even some Republicans didn't fault him for deficits rocketing to $1.7 trillion for the ongoing budget year and a still-stunning $1.2 trillion in 2010.
"We inherited a colossal mess," Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said.
As a result, Democrats opted against extending Obama's signature $400 tax cut for most workers beyond next year and cut $10 billion from his budget for non-defense programs. Also gone are revenues from Obama's "cap-and-trade" plan for curbing global warming by auctioning permits to emit greenhouse gases.
Republicans assaulted the plan as just the latest example of a spending spree by Democrats that started with Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus bill. It was followed by an omnibus appropriations bill that showered generous increases on domestic programs and included 8,000 pet projects for lawmakers' districts and states.
"It spends money we don't have, piles unprecedented debt on our children and grandchildren, and raises taxes on families and small businesses, while taking away the middle-class tax cut the president promised during the campaign," House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said.
Under the plan, the deficit would drop to $523 billion in 2014, but even that figure depends on several unrealistic assumptions, notably that Congress will devote only $50 billion a year for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for 2011 and beyond, and unrealistic projections of costs for core Pentagon operations.
There's considerable accounting legerdemain in the plan as well, reflecting a struggle by Democrats to cut the budget deficit to 3 percent of the size of the economy within five years — a figure economists say is sustainable without adding crippling debt to the nation's books.
Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said a report Wednesday that the economy had shrunk by 6.1 percent in the first quarter highlighted the likelihood that the deficit numbers were even worse than predicted in the budget.
"Put reality into the budget and the deficits and debt go much higher," Ryan said.
House Democrats promise that completion of the budget will be followed by a pay-as-you-go law that would require — after some major exceptions for Bush-era tax cuts — that new tax cuts and increases in federal benefit programs like food stamps, unemployment insurance and Medicare are "paid for" with tax increases or offsetting spending cuts.
If the new pay-as-you-go law is violated, automatic spending cuts would be imposed to bring the deficit back into line.
Also permitted to advance under filibuster-free rules is Obama's plan to eliminate student loan subsidies for banks and other lenders, with the savings being used to increase Pell Grants for needy students.
The budget plan skirts difficult decisions on how to pay for Obama's health care plan, which is expected to cost more than $1 trillion over the next decade. It allows the new president's signature $400 tax credit for most workers to expire in 20 months but devotes $512 billion over five years to extend tax cuts passed during Bush's first term for middle-class workers, investors and families with children.