Senator Specter Just Doesn't Get It

Senator Specter from Pennsylvania added his two cents worth to the post-election hand-wringing. He blamed the Republican fiasco on not being liberal enough.

Could this be true? First of all, exit polls show that a core Republican group only supported Republicans at a 70% level - down from their up to 85% support of the last election. What group? Christian conservatives. They are recognizing that the Republican leadership has been, is now, and will continue to lie to them. So why support them? (I have no response to that question other than the weak "lesser of two evils" wimp-out) So right off the top, 10% of the christian conservatives in Virginia and Missouri would have kept the Senate Republican. So Specter is wrong right off the top (as usual).

But there really seems to be a liberal shift in America. Look at the support numbers for Democrats vs. Republicans. There has been a big shift in these numbers which have been pretty equal for the last 10 years. Bush and the neo-cons have managed to undo a half-century of gains in one fell swoop. But did America really become liberal in just the last few months? Nonsense.

But a large number of voters became non-Republicans - and the Republicans have no one to blame but themselves. First of all, conservatives are becoming less and less welcome in the Republican party - and the conservatives are recognizing it. The Republicans have taken a more liberal position than the Democrats in several areas - illegal immigration, spending, education, jobs, loss of sovereignty, and health care. In addition, war in Iraq was never a conservative position. All the conservatives I knew opposed the war in Iraq and were against nation-building in Afghanistan. Yes, we were for wiping out the Taliban which supported Al queda, but that was it. Bush managed to put in power the very faction the Russians had tried to put in power in the 80's. As proof, the first thing the Afghani new president did was go to Russia and China. We should have blown up the Taliban and got out of there, leaving it to the Afghanis to fight (or not) amongst themselves. And that war looks more and more like Vietnam all the time, now that Pakistan is providing a guerrilla sanctuary where we can't go right next to Afghanistan. (And yes we should get out of Iraq and Afghanistan now. We're not doing any good in either place. The dominant government in both places is evil. In Iraq, the government has even forced us to leave Sadr city - in essence leaving the terrorists alone and giving them a sanctuary - shades of North Vietnam. And while I sympathize with the view that we would be cutting and running, if we can't even keep the terrorists in Sadr City in control, then there's no reason to be there and may the Iraqi government die a quick and painful death. But in the Iraqi government defense, they've got to realize it's just a matter of time before we cut and run, so they'd better start pretending to be anti-American (a popular position in Iraq) and better start sucking up to powers like Sadr. I don't really blame them - I just realize that they are going to lose anyway unless they kill Sadr and a few thousand others before the Americans leave.)

So what does a voter do when confronted with these new Republican positions? He begins to think of himself as non-Republican. And then there were the never-ending scandals. Abramoff, Foley, Armey, Lott, Gingrich, etc. etc. Now I realize that these scandals also included Democrats. I also realize that none of these are as bad as Bill Clinton's raping women or Barney Frank's gay bordello. But the mainstream media is still king and they never let up on the Republican parts of these scandals. Look at the coverage numbers for the big 3 networks versus other stuff. Like it or not, there is still a liberal media bias and most voters still get their info from the big 3. That means that in this election the "throw the rascals out" sentiment was concentrated on the Republicans.

And whatever you may say about Democrats, they have really got the October Surprise stuff down with Foley and the outing of other Republicans. Wow are they good!

And then there is the fiscal conservative who is culturally liberal - and this group is really growing. The Republicans lost them completely. So Specter's "cure" for the Republicans would really just alienate the groups that the Republicans most need. Now, realize that Specter isn't that stupid. He doesn't care what happens to the Republican party. He's a liberal. But Specter is scared he'll lose like Santorum (and Santorum was a good conservative). Casey would have really whipped Specter's butt. So Specter is trying to go left and pick up liberal's support. Will it work? Not a chance. The liberals will still vote Democratic and liberal and all Specter will do is lose support of the groups I've already mentioned. But Specter has to try something and this is the best he could do. He's doomed. And good riddance. (Specter's only chance, in my opinion, would be if he could get a solid Green Party guy to run in Pennsylvania so that the more-liberal vote would be split. Who knows? Stranger things have happened.)

So, in short the liberal shift isn't as liberal as it seems. But there is a smaller shift in truly liberal support because the Republicans have, since GWB, stopped pushing conservative philosophy, leaving the liberals in control of the playing field. And if you repeat a lie often enough, without hearing a contrary view, eventually the lie will be accepted. Ask Goebbels and the gay lobby if you don't believe me.

In the end a fair number of voters (including myself) threw open their windows, yelled "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" (a reference to the old movie "Network", if you don't know or have forgotten), yawned and went back to sleep.

Vincet Veritas, MEB